The Tennessee Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill that would require a drunken driver convicted of killing a parent or caregiver pay child support for the victim's children.
The bill unanimously passed in Tennessee's House of Representatives earlier this year.
"Under this bill, if a defendant is convicted of vehicular homicide due to intoxication or aggravated vehicular homicide and the victim of the offense was the parent of a minor child, then the sentencing court must order the defendant to pay restitution in the form of child maintenance to each of the victim’s children until each child reaches 18 years of age," the bill's summary says.
The reasonable amount of child support would be based on the financial needs of the child, the financial resources of the surviving parent or the state and the standard of living that the child is used to, the bill says.
If the offender is incarcerated, they will have up to a year after release to pay the required amount, according to the bill.
The bill was amended from “Bentley’s Law” to “Ethan’s, Hailey’s, and Bentley’s Law," all children of victims killed in drunken driving crashes.
The office of Gov. Bill Lee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
