A Berks County lawmaker wants to create a registry of repeat DUI offenders and a database for state store employees, who would deny sales to those listed.

State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, D-Berks, is proposing the two-bill package.Caltagirone's legislation, H.B. 1441, would create the Pennsylvania Habitual DUI Offender Registry and would require a person convicted of five or more DUIs, within 20 years before enactment, to register. It would also apply to convictions for operating a watercraft under the influence. The registry would be modeled after the Ohio Habitual DUI Offender Registry."This is about raising public awareness. We have an impaired-driving problem in Pennsylvania and the general public has a right to know with whom the problem lies," Caltagirone said. "The overarching goal is to keep everyone safer drivers, boaters, passengers, pedestrians."We are coming up on the July 4 holiday, and all too often it is linked to an increase in drunk-driving crashes. This bill would help combat alcohol-related accidents not just around holidays, but 365 days a year," he said.Under the administration of the Department of Transportation, the registry would include the name, date of birth, residence, and employment address of an offender. It would also require the number of DUI convictions, and the date and location of each DUI conviction to be listed.A second bill would create the Persons Not to Consume Alcohol Database in Pennsylvania. Under the direction of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, the database would be used by state liquor store employees to deny habitual DUI offenders alcoholic beverages. The database would include names listed on the habitual DUI registry as well as individuals who would apply to be self-excluded from purchasing alcohol from Pennsylvania state stores."We need to get serious about keeping alcohol out of the hands of habitual DUI offenders. Period," Caltagirone said.How about bars and restaurants that serve alcohol?"They won't have access to that information at the point of sale," he said. "It would be difficult to enforce, and law already bars sales of alcohol to someone who is visibly intoxicated."Caltagirone introduced the bills last week, so they have just begun the often lengthy, winding journey through the Legislature.One question to be resolved is who would be able to access the registry. Caltagirone said he would like to see public access."Personally, I'd like to see that. It should be public," he said.Nesquehoning Police Chief Sean Smith, who on Thursday was mobilizing his department to be on duty today, Saturday and Sunday of the Fourth of July holiday, likes the idea."I would agree with a registry and database. It would be one more measure to assist police and all law enforcement," he said.The proposed bills were triggered by two recent fatal crashes believed to have been caused by repeat DUI offenders, Caltagirone said.Paula Jones, a 31-year-old mother training for an Ironman triathlon, was running along Harveys Lake Drive in Luzerne County when she was struck by Michael Scavone, who, according to court records, has been charged with five DUIs and another for operating a boat at a high rate of speed with a blood-alcohol level of 0.158.Scavone's blood was drawn two hours after he left the area where he hit Jones, and his blood alcohol level was still 0.214, Caltagirone said.The Rev. Lynn Koch and her husband were riding a motorcycle in Berks County when they were struck by a sport utility vehicle driven by Sean Michael Eyrich, 31, whose blood alcohol level was 0.329 percent, more than four times the 0.08 percent threshold for impaired driving. Eyrich in 2007 pleaded guilty to DUI."The motivation behind these bills includes honoring the lives of these women who will be remembered as loving mothers, dear friends and pillars of strength," Caltagirone said."It's slaughter. Enough is enough. What more do we have to do to get these people of the roads?" he said.Data collected by the federal government indicates the problem of repeat DUI offenders is still a threat, although not as large as it once was.In 1995, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that one-third of all drivers arrested or convicted of driving under the influence were repeat offenders. But an updated study found that since then, the proportion of recidivism among drivers arrested for DUI has decreased by 19 percent, from 1.6 million in 1992 to 1.2 million in 2011.Alcohol-related crashes are down in Pennsylvania from 11,041 in 2013 to 10,550 last year. Alcohol-related deaths from those crashes have also dropped from 381 to 333, according to figures released on June 25 by Carbon County District Attorney Jean A. Engler.