(UPDATE) OVERLAND, Mo. (AP) -- Gov. Jay Nixon announced plans to overhaul the way Missouri handles drunken-driving cases. The Democratic governor and House Judiciary Committee chairman Bryan Stevenson, a Republican, announced the proposals on Wednesday.

Several legislative solutions include requiring repeat and other serious offenders to be charged in state court rather than municipal court, expanding the use of ignition-interlock devices, and making it a crime for any driver to refuse to submit to a blood-alcohol test.

Last month, more than a dozen Missouri prosecutors, judges and other officials concluded that better record-keeping was crucial to deterring repeat drunken drivers. Nixon convened the group after the St. Louis Post-Dispatch highlighted problems with tracking drunken drivers.
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SPRINGFIELD -- Driving while intoxicated in Missouri could result in much swifter, harsher penalties as soon as next year.  On Wednesday, Gov. Jay Nixon will join lawmakers at stops in Hannibal, Overland and Jackson to detail new legislation that would crack down on offenders.

Following an investigation by the St. Louis Post Dispatch that showed repeat drunken drivers getting away with the crime, Nixon called the status quo unacceptable and convened a panel for ideas to improve the system.  That panel recommended possibly making it a crime to refuse to take a Breathalyzer test and seizing the vehicles of drunken drivers.

The details of the legislation that Nixon backs was unclear on Tuesday night but interested parties were already surveying what the potential changes could mean. 

The most controversial potential idea could be the Breathalyzer crackdown. In at least three states, a person can go to jail for refusing the test on the first offense. In others, there are a growing number of fines and civil penalties.

Safety groups support any measure seen as a deterrent.

"I think the harsher the consequences are to driving while intoxicated, the less likely someone will be to a commit the offense or repeat that offense," said Cheryl West of the Safety Council of the Ozarks.

Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Darrell Moore says he's "not necessarily a fan" of that approach.

"We need to not to hit with a big fly swat on something that happened in one area of the state," Moore said in an interview, referring to the problems in St. Louis.

Defense attorneys also raise constitutional concerns.

"I think there's definitely going to be some issues if they make it a crime to refuse to take the breath test because you have a right not to incriminate yourself," said defense attorney Ryan Cole of Springfield.

Another potential piece of the legislative package is the seizure of vehicles of repeat drunken drivers, which raises another batch of questions.

"What if you and your wife own a car and your wife gets pulled over and arrested, or you get pulled over and arrested and it's not your car, and you're taking property from someone else," said Cole.

These details will begin to be hashed out early Wednesday morning as the governor tours the state.

Moore said he wasn't privy to what would be in the proposed legislation but said he'd be surprised if there weren't provisions included to try to improve record-keeping.

"There are instances that if you were in St. Louis County and got a DWI but it got reduced to a taillight problem, I may not know that.  I hope it includes better record-keeping.  Not all records of convictions are being maintained," Moore said.

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