Tennessee Bill Requires Drunk Drivers Who Kill Parents of a Minor to Pay Child Support

[ripcord]

Source: NBC4 Los Angeles

A Tennessee bill requiring a drunk driver to pay child support if they kill a parent during a crash passed unanimously in the state’s Senate.

Tennessee lawmakers passed House Bill 1834 on Wednesday, and is now headed to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk for his expected signature, according to News Channel 3 in Memphis, Tennessee.

The legislation would force anyone convicted of vehicular homicide due to intoxication or aggravated vehicular homicide to pay restitution if the victim is the parent of a minor child.

The bill was known as "Bentley's Law" after a child in Missouri whose parents were killed in an accident involving a drunk driver.

Read more: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/tennessee-bill-requires-drunk-drivers-to-pay-child-support-if-they-kill-parents/2875800/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_LABrand&fbclid=IwAR0Fks_tKPwinlyWZ2hOhS1jP1XTIoQcusxABQdH85IzccqoB63kDKqZXoM

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I don't have a problem with this.

[Lunabell]

2. There's zero excuses anymore to drive under the influence.

Uber, Lyft, tipsy taxi, designated drivers!

[Farmer-Rick]

26. Not so much in rural areas

I mean there are practically no alternatives but to drive home yourself. But a cheap motel may do the trick.

I looked up Uber to take me to town, 12 miles about a 20 minute drive was $65 one way. Yeah, a hotel would be better.

But yeah, holding people who kill while drunk driving accountable is a good idea. So maybe the Waltons who own Walmart should be held to the same standards?

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Soon to be an insurance rider

and then a mandated coverage when drunken scofflaws prove too low-life poor to pay

Gimme more bills. Use government to eliminate risk as long as you pay and pay.

[oldsoftie]

4. As I read the headline my thought was exactly yours. nt

[Emile]

5. Finally a fair law coming from a red state, unbelievable!

[TeamProg]

20. +1

[modrepub]

6. Dollars to Donuts

The drunk driver will not have the resources to pay. Vehicular homicide will put them in jail for a long time and drain any resources they have paying for court expenses.

A feel good statement, but not practically usable. The state/federal government will more likely be holding the bag paying for child support in this situation.

That said, go ahead try it out but at least put a time limit on it. If it truly works it can be renewed.

[Roy Rolling]

7. Feel-Good GOP Legislation

Be careful, it’s nice to think there’s 18 years of justice the government will impose on a drunk driver. Highly satisfying…but totally impractical and not legislation created with a state’s justice department in mind who must enforce the 20 years of rules.

Messaging doesn’t belong in justice. Justice is real, that is the message. The reason some people are lawbreakers is because laws are administered arbitrarily and corruptly. Bad laws created by corrupt politicians.

That’s a message Republicans will not understand.

[sop]

16. Perfect example of Performative Politics.

The more intractable the problem, the more voters prefer theater, performance and outrage.

[TeamProg]

22. That's awfully bigoted. You think it's only the poor who are out there driving drunk?

There are plenty of rich people, home owners, business owners, etc. out there drunk driving, too.

Drunk drivers, like a lot of characters, exist in every cross-section of society.

If the convicted driver cannot pay, we can deal. If they have money, make them pay.

ModRepub (ah geeez, again?) wrote::

"""The drunk driver will not have the resources to pay. Vehicular homicide will put them in jail for a long time and drain any resources they have paying for court expenses.

A feel good statement, but not practically usable. The state/federal government will more likely be holding the bag paying for child support in this situation.

That said, go ahead try it out but at least put a time limit on it. If it truly works it can be renewed."""

[modrepub]

28. I Don't Think So

There are a lot more folks with DUI convictions than most people realize. It's become quite a money maker for local and state coffers. And it's an automatic at fault if you're in an accident. Doesn't matter if you are stopped at a red light drunk and someone runs into you and puts you in a hospital. You are at fault because you're in the vehicle at DUI levels, which are now much lower in most states than they were 20 years ago. And that's for alcohol; if it's pot or something else any level in your blood will put you over.

Any run of the mill DUI is going to run you $12k easy. Homicide, sh-t if I know? I would guess it ain't cheap.

So what's the average joe/jane running around making in your mind? In my county MEDIAN income is around $60k/yr. So an average DUI would eat up 1/5th your yearly income. Homicide is going to cost you much more and you're working career is probably over if you're a professional. Don't know how you're going to pay "child support" wile you're in jail or afterwards when you get out (support will end when the person turns 18).

And for most DUI cases, the folks charged are on the low end of the income spectrum. Rich folks can thwart the system and they do all the time. Who's that representative from NC who's been caught driving with a suspended license multiple times? Do you think he's going to go to jail? Pa-leeeze...

[TeamProg]

29. That's a lot of generalizations that most of us are familiar with. Bottom line: why should taxpayers

constantly pay the bill for child support when their parents are killed by drunk drivers or gun violence?

To suggest that the payments won't come from the convicted who have money is a very cynical and defeatist way to look at the law.

Now, I think we can agree and facts back it up, that gun violence does seem endemic among the poor, but DUI, not so much.

[twodogsbarking]

8. There will be an exemption for politicians and those who own politicians.

[Mysterian]

15. Just like South Dakota attorney general scumbag Jason Ravnsborg

who got misdemeanors for hit and run drunk driving with the deceased victim IN HIS WINDSHIELD and the victim's glasses recovered from the vehicle.

[Farmer-Rick]

27. And Alice Walton

See money can make it easier for you to kill people while drunk. And lots of money makes it even easier.

[LenaBaby61]

19. THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Now pass one requiring child support if you shoot and kill a parent.

[Delmette2.0]

13. Just what I was thinking !!

[sop]

17. The NRA would oppose that.

[Dial H For Hero]

21. As long as the shooting is criminal in nature, I have no problem with that.

[LiberalFighter]

10. Will the implementation be effective?

What if the child only had one parent when it happened?

Did they include that the person paying child support does not have visitation rights?

[twodogsbarking]

11. You can't fix a major problem with one law.

[TeamProg]

25. One law? There are other DUI laws on the books.. n/t

[twodogsbarking]

33. One more law. Now ya happy?

[RobinA]

35. You Can't Fix

social problems with a law. It just doesn't work. If you manage to fix one problem you end up with two others as a result of the fix.

[twodogsbarking]

36. Well stated.

[Marthe48]

12. Saw this news on fb last night

I commented, wondering if there would be a law that if someone shot and killed someone with dependent children, would the shooter become financially responsible for the dependent children?

There are 89 responses, only one negative.

One person commented that the state of tn. doesn't want to shell out money to support the victims and is putting the financial responsibility on the drunk driver. I agree there should be restitution, but the comment shines a different light on the state's motivation.

And if someone is responsibile for wrongful death from one kind of bad choice, why can't gun murders by non-police have the same kind of law?

[70sEraVet]

14. NRA would quash a law like that before a pen hit paper.

Something to do with the Government taking your guns.

[haele]

30. More like "why should you pay child support when you shoot a criminal?"

Because that's how the NRA lobbyists will spin a similar to protect their trigger happy cult followers. They rush to protect Racists and Misogynists every time there's an effort to protect the less powerful from gun violence.

Shoot a non-white male, you're shooting a criminal or some other sub-human, even if it was "your woman" you shot. The gun cult default position, crudely put, is that one shouldn't have to pay child support to the brats of criminals or whores who deserved shooting.

I've met enough gun cultists in my long life -not just gun owners, but actual fetishists/cultists - that I have heard sentiments like that too many times to count. They truly believe that anyone who is not totally supportive of their rights to have and use firearms as they see fit deserves to be killed -if not by them, but by some random thug/rapist that they precieve are roaming city streets with impunity.

On edit -sorry for the thread hijack.
As for the vehicular homicide proposal - I actually agree that should be part of the sentencing - with a caveat. The support be awarded like a divorce settlement - even if the impaired driver gets off on a more minor charge, that is like a "no fault" divorce. So that the wealthy can't just poke holes and blame other contributing factors when their driving kills someone. Support should also be means tested, just as any other Child Support award is.


Haele

[SKKY]

18. I'm ok with this.

[Buckeyeblue]

23. The idea is good. However, the person committing the crime will be in prison

So I guess if you can seize assets for child support that would be fine. I think if there are no assets to seize maybe the auto insurance should have to cover.

But I think this should be in place for all crimes where a parent of a child is killed.

[Initech]

24. I'm actually OK with this.

[C Moon]

31. There must to be fine print removing well-to-do drunk drivers from this law--

as well as white Republican politicians.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

32. Related: A man who impregnates a woman is financially responsible

until the child is 18 years old. That includes prenatal care.

In addition to their financial responsibility, rapists and men who are related in any way to the victim will be designated "sexual predators," and they will be subject to the laws pertaining to these crimes, including but not limited to being listed in a public database available to prospective employers and neighbors.

A woman cannot give her consent to have sex before her 18th birthday, unless she and the father are married. No exceptions.

If the father is unable to meet his financial obligations, he will be imprisoned until the child is born and reaches their 18th year, and the State will pay for the costs of bearing and raising the child.

The State will pay for non-religious psychological counseling related to the woman's being forced to bear a child conceived through rape or incest.

Politicians and clergy who have advocated for a total ban on abortion will be required to tithe to a fund to pay for the expenses related to their decision. No exceptions. No choice.

[Sgent]

34. The kids will get

100% of the insurance policy before the law, and 100% after the law, I don't see much change. It will increase the kids priority over other potential claimants like a spouse or parents in a wrongful death situation, but its not going to magically create a money tree.

An actual useful law would have been to increase the minimum liability limits in TN, which are 25,000 per person.