KALISPELL — According to the Montana Department of Transportation, 191 people died on Montana's highways last year with reports showing that impaired driving behaviors contributed to 108 of those deaths.

A new bill before the legislature this year hopes to lower those numbers.

“It sends a message to everybody in Montana that Montana is now starting to take it seriously that when you're driving really, really drunk, that you are really putting all of us in danger,” said Montana Bar Fairies executive director Beth McBride.

LC 1340 — also known as Bobby’s Law — proposes that anyone who kills someone while driving drunk with a blood alcohol level of .16 would be charged with aggravated vehicular homicide while under the influence.

"If you're point one, six or higher, you know you shouldn't be behind the wheel. It's not questionable like, 'Oh, I feel a little buzz' you know? You're making that choice. Therefore, the consequences need to be more severe,” said McBride.

McBride is working with Columbia Falls' state representative Braxton Mitchell to put this bill in front of the legislature.

"As the Majority Whip in the House, I believe my colleagues will strongly back this effort. My colleagues recognize our state is an embarrassment nationally. With this statistic of 72% of all DUI fatalities in Montana involving a high BAC, it’s common sense," Mitchell said in a statement to MTN. "We’ve reached a point to where this can’t continue to go unaddressed. I plan to do everything in my power to make sure people like Bobby Dewbre get justice here in the Flathead and across Montana.”

The law includes a minimum of three years in jail, a $10,000 or more fine, and the inability to have a deferred sentence.

“It's more severe. There's so much more work that needs to be done with our Montana drinking and driving laws. But it's a start, and honestly, it's common sense. And many other states in the country carry this similar law. So it's not that it's unprecedented,” said McBride.

It would also ensure blood alcohol concentration is used as a factor in sentencing drunk drivers.

“And the reason why we think this is important to us is because the driver that killed my son drunk driving. His blood alcohol was .20, and since it wasn't a cut-and-dry case, the blood alcohol concentration would have made a difference if that had been able to be used as evidence or matter in regard to the case," said McBride.

McBride has been working to stop drunk drivers following the death of her son Bobby Dewbre in 2023. The effort began through the Montana Bar Fairies last year started by McBride and her daughter Carli Dewbre.

The Bar Fairies leave coffee gift cards on cars left at bars overnight by people who have chosen a safe ride home. The Bar Fairies have expanded into Bozeman and Tacoma, Washington in just a year and have given around 900 coffee cars to those making safe choices.

McBride doesn't want anyone to experience the loss she and her family have gone through.

“This is something that affects every single Montanan, and that's why I'm so passionate about this. I don't want anybody, any other family member, any person, to ever feel what we've had to feel and what we've had to go through," McBride told MTN.

"And so, I will fight for everybody in our state, whether they realize it's important or not, whether they feel like they've been affected or not," McBride continued. "Because if they haven't been affected, It's only time that they will be,” said McBride.