A bill headed to the desk of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee could require drunk drivers involved in accidents that claim the lives of parents to pay child support.
The bill – known as Ethan, Haile, and Bentley’s Law – has already been passed unanimously in the state’s House of Representatives and Senate.
According to WTVF, the bill was drafted following a 2019 drunk driving incident.
During the accident, a drunk driver identified as Janet Hinds struck and killed a Chattanooga police officer. She was sentenced to 11 years for the fatality, but her lawyers have requested a new trial.
“I am proud of our leadership, in both the House and the Senate, to get this bill pushed forward to the point that it is heading to our Governor Bill Lee for his signature,” said Republican State Rep. Mark Hall of the bill in a Facebook post. “Tennesseans care for each other and we will… do everything in our power to hold people accountable who chose to do harm.”
The proposed bill calls for defendants who have been “convicted of vehicular homicide due to intoxication or aggravated vehicular homicide,” to “pay restitution in the form of child maintenance to each of the victim’s children,” determined by a sentencing court.
If the bill becomes law, defendants would be required to pay child support until each child reaches 18 years of age and has graduated from high school, or when the class of which the child is a member when the child reached 18 years of age has graduated.
Factors the court could use to determine the amount of child support include: the financial needs and resources of the child; the financial resources and needs of the surviving parent or guardian of the child, including the state if the child is in the custody of the department of children's services; and the standard of living to which the child is accustomed.
Incarcerated individuals unable to pay child maintenance would be allowed one year following their release to begin payment. If a defendant’s child maintenance payments are set to terminate but the defendant’s obligation is not paid in full, they would need to continue payments until paid in full.
No child maintenance payments would be ordered if a surviving parent or guardian brings a civil suit and obtains a judgment prior to an order of child maintenance payments by the sentencing court. If a surviving parent brings a suit after the sentencing court orders payments, those payments will be offset by the amount awarded in civil action.
If signed by Lee, the law would immediately go into effect, said WTVF.
Tennessee is believed to be the first state in the nation to pass such legislation, according to The New York Times.
A spokesperson for Lee told ABC News that the governor plans to review the legislation when it reaches his desk.
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