North Dakotans who frequently drive when they're drunk should be at more risk of a felony conviction and having their vehicles seized, a state legislator says.

Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, is advocating legislation that would allow a felony charge against a driver facing his or her third drunken-driving conviction in 10 years. The crime would carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

If a third DUI in 10 years is a felony, the driver's vehicle could be seized and sold because it is considered property used to commit a crime, Ruby said at a House Transportation Committee hearing Friday.

"I just think that North Dakota needs to look at this, to make sure that we are at least as tough on this law as states around us," Ruby said. "Generally, all the states around us have a lower bar set for a repeat offense to become a felony."

Tom Hallamyer, of Minot, whose daughter was seriously injured in an accident caused by a drunken driver, said he uses a simple standard in judging DUI legislation: "If the goal is to get the menace off the highway, then either you take action, or you don't."

"If we can confiscate a vehicle for poaching, how come it never happened to a drunk driver?" Hallamyer said.

No one opposed the legislation at Friday's hearing, and Transportation Committee members will decide later whether to recommend that the North Dakota House approve it.

North Dakota law now punishes a first and second drunken driving conviction within five years with a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

For the third DUI, the offense is still a misdemeanor, with the most severe punishment being a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Someone who is arrested for a fourth DUI in seven years may be charged with a felony, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Ruby's legislation would make a driver's second DUI offense within five years punishable by a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. A third DUI within 10 years would be a felony.

"A lot of our (road accident) deaths are attributed to alcohol," Ruby said. "This is a bill, I think, whose time has come."

Lynn Heinert, the state Department of Transportation's traffic records manager, said 56 of the 123 deaths on North Dakota's roads in 2005 were alcohol-related. In 2006, 48 of the 111 traffic deaths were alcohol-related, Heinert said.

Rep. Ed Gruchalla, D-Fargo, a former highway patrolman, said he arrested more than 1,000 drunken drivers during his career. On one occasion, he arrested a Minnesota man who was driving in Fargo; it was the man's 24th DUI arrest, Gruchalla said.

"I think anything that we can do to make this a deterrent, and really show that we're serious about it, is the right way to go," Gruchalla said.

The bill is HB1259.