NV: Bills Aims To Increase Sobriety, Awaits Governor’s Signature
A bill that would enact a program to get people sober is close to becoming law.
By Paul Nelson
May 30, 2019
Last week, the Nevada Senate unanimously passed AB316, a bill sponsored by Assem. Jill Tolles of Reno. If Governor Sisolak signs it into law, it would enact the Nevada 24/7 Sobriety and Drug Monitoring Program Act.
It is based on Washoe County’s “Sober 24” program. It requires some people with alcohol or drug-related crimes to undergo continuous testing for at least six months. Drug offenders are randomly tested at least twice per week, while some DUI offenders and people guilty of other alcohol related crimes are required to take a breathalyzer test twice a day, seven days a week.
“Where I see the benefit of that is we can offer this program statewide because we know with our stats that this program works,” Chief Joe Ingraham, Washoe County Department of Alternative Sentencing said.
Washoe County modeled its program after the 24/7 program in South Dakota. It started in 2016, and Ingraham says Washoe County’s DUI fatal car crashes dropped from 24 to seven in the first year.
“It’s only one year of data but I feel certain that 24/7 Sober 24 had a hand in that,” Ingraham said.
Ingraham says the program has the tests have a 99 percent success rate and less than 10 percent of the participants re-offend within the first year. He has also seen, first-hand, how Sober 24 can turn people’s lives around.
“That light turns on and they maintain sobriety and they go on to be successful people like Stephanie,” Ingraham said.
Stephanie Funderburk says her life was in a downward spiral, just two years ago. She says she was hooked on meth, spent time with the wrong crowd, and eventually got arrested for possession of stolen property.
“I didn’t know where I was going to be at from day to day, didn’t know where I was sleeping,” Funderburk said. “I had no contact with my kids. I felt worthless and I was hopeless. They arrested me and I was currently high and using. So they put me on Department of Alternative Sentencing.”
She graduated from the Sober 24 program in September, 2017 and has been clean for 21 months. A big part of that was the mandatory drug tests. Anyone who fails a drug or alcohol test faces jail time, community service or increased testing.
“It kept me on my toes,” Funderburk said. “At first, I was scared. I didn’t want to go use. I didn’t want to go back to jail, and then it was more because I wanted to do it.”
AB316 would allow other jurisdictions to implement the program throughout Nevada. It would also allow DUI offenders to get a restricted driver’s license for going to work, testing, court appearances and medical appointments. Ingraham says that is a good move because about 85 percent of them drive with a suspended license.
“Keeping their license, being able to be productive still, being out there working, it doesn’t tax the other services that the county puts on in terms of social services or the hospitals, the jail,” Ingraham said.
“People are still going to be driving anyway because they have work, they have school, they have kids,” Funderburk said. “They’ve got to make ends meet, so them driving on suspended licenses is going to get them more jail time.”
Ingraham says Sober 24 operates on a small budget. Since participants pay for their own drug and alcohol testing, it offsets public funding. He says this model should make it easy to implement in other cities and counties around Nevada.
“It’s very easy in my mind to get that program started an I would encourage anybody to reach out and we’ll do whatever we can to help them,” Ingraham said.
Funderburk says giving more people the opportunity to use this program will change lives for the better. She has a job, helping young women with similar backgrounds.
“It definitely turned my life around,” Funderburk said. “I mean, I’m working now, I go to school, I’m working on getting my kids back. I have two out of four or them.”