New Texas Law Drops the Hammer on Drunk Drivers Who Kill Parents - They'll Be Made to Pay
Whatever it is that you may think of Texans, it’s hard to deny that they’re not a pragmatic bunch (the Alamo notwithstanding).
The Lone Star State has long been a shining beacon of how healthy a state can be, even in President Joe Biden’s America, with sensible Republican leadership.
Gov. Greg Abbott has long been one of the most effective governors in the country, and one of his latest moves is just further proof of that.
House Bill 393 officially went into effect on Friday, and it is, essentially, a distillation of the “play stupid games, win stupid prizes” adage.
The bill, which enjoyed bipartisan support, is a rather straightforward one: Convicted drunk drivers will be required to pay child support if they kill a parent or guardian.
Specifically, the bill focuses on any victims of intoxication manslaughter.
Texas penal code defines “intoxicated” as “not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the body” or, more simply, “having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.”
As far as what “intoxication manslaughter” entails, it is when a person “operates a motor vehicle in a public place, operates an aircraft, a watercraft, or an amusement ride, or assembles a mobile amusement ride” and “is intoxicated and by reason of that intoxication causes the death of another by accident or mistake.”
If found guilty of the above and the victim in question is a parent or guardian, the perpetrator will be responsible for child support payments.
Good.
Look, this writer isn’t naive enough to think that this is some perfect solution or salve to adult idiocy.
But, at the very least, HB393 puts the onus of self-responsibility back on the adult — and not forcing the suddenly orphaned child to bear the brunt of it.
Oh, want to partake in some alcoholic libations and then operate some heavy machinery?
Nothing’s stopping you, but you had better be prepared to end up like a divorcee and pony up some child support.
Frankly, the grand lesson of HB393 is something that can and should be extrapolated and utilized by all 50 states.
It doesn’t have to be as granular, but there really is something to attaching an air of personal responsibility to these legal ramifications.
(There’s certainly a joke to be made that if there’s one thing Gen Z abhors, it’s self-responsibility, so it makes total sense to do this.)
Drinking and driving? If convicted, you better be ready to pay for child support.
Looting and shoplifting? If convicted, you must work at the store providing free labor until the stolen good are paid back tenfold.
Sexual assault? You must now go through radical gender reassignment surgery.
Okay, that last one was a half-joke, but you get the idea.
In a world where criminals and youths are rapidly losing respect for authority and the rule of law, in a world where breaking the law increasingly has lesser and lesser consequences — maybe it’s time to start getting creative with the consequences.
Whatever the country’s leaders are currently doing clearly isn’t working.
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