It’s been at least five years since courts have questioned charging people with a second DUI offense if they had previously completed the state’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition system.

More commonly known as the ARD program, the program is designed to help those who go through diversion programs to avoid having a DUI conviction on their driving record. The problem comes when those who go through ARD are pulled over for another DUI. Police often charge those drivers with a second offense DUI charge that comes with stiffer penalties than a first offense DUI charge. But courts – including a 2020 Superior Court decision and another 2025 case in state Supreme Court – have been ruling that a DUI charge resolved through the ARD process isn’t a conviction.

By a plain reading of the law, the court is right. There is no conviction in an ARD case, so drivers shouldn’t face heightened sentences based on multiple convictions for DUI. But, acceptance in the ARD program assumes that something illegal happened in the first instance.

It’s encouraging, then, that the state House of Representatives unanimously approved House Bill 1615, sponsored by Rob Kaufman, R-Franklin, to establish a new “DUI Following Diversion” offense for individuals who drive under the influence within 10 years of completing an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) program for a DUI offense. Let’s not give state lawmakers too much credit – this issue has been around for at least five years, after all. But at a time when we can’t get state lawmakers to agree on basic spending priorities, we’re glad to see lawmakers coalesce behind an issue the public cares about. We hope Senate passage comes quickly.

Now, about the budget …