Out to fix one of the oddities of Arizona law, Senator Jim Waring has developed something of a reputation for injecting common sense into Arizona's DUI laws.

He's the guy who saw last year's "Expect the max" signs on freeway billboards and wondered when, exactly, we were supposed to expect it. He's the guy who spearheaded a successful drive last spring to require a driver convicted of extreme DUI to actually serve the sentence set in law. He's the guy who now wonders what the heck is with the state's "administrative per se" law.

If you drive drunk, you can lose your driver's license. But if you drive drunk and kill someone, your right to get behind the wheel and careen down the streets remains intact.

The quirk in the law came to light earlier this year, after a Phoenix grandmother died after being hit by a driver who was toasted more than four times over.

It was just before noon on Feb. 16 and Phyllis Martin had just picked up her 4-year-old grandson from preschool. She was headed north on 43rd Avenue toward Thunderbird when a southbound pickup crossed the center line and hit her head on.

Lori Ann Gilbert, 36, told police she'd had two beers. Blood tests put her alcohol level at 0.328 percent.

Police didn't take her driver's license that day, despite a law that allows them to begin proceedings to suspend the driving privileges of suspected drunken drivers.

Four months later, Gilbert was still legally licensed to drive. Marana police spotted her just before midnight on June 27, driving up onto a sidewalk then drifting across several lanes and onto the center median. A breath test put her at 0.243 percent.

They didn't take her license either, deciding to wait on blood test results. In August, they were still waiting.

Finally, after the story hit public view, a judge seized her license.

Waring, meanwhile, was astonished that Gilbert was still licensed to drive, seven months after police found her with a dead grandmother at her feet and a 0.328 percent alcohol level in her blood.

Arizona law allows police to seize a suspected drunken driver's license and notify the state Motor Vehicle Division so that it can administratively suspend said license. But the so-called "administrative per se" law applies only when a person is arrested for DUI. Police don't pursue DUI charges in manslaughter cases, for fear of jeopardizing the more serious charges.

Thus, you can drive drunk in Arizona and lose your license. But you can drive drunk and kill someone and keep on driving right up until the time when you go to prison.

For now. Waring has a bill aimed at closing that loophole when the Legislature convenes Jan. 14.

"You shouldn't have people out driving around who have just committed such an incident," he said. "We want to make sure that at least if they're going to do it again they're not going to be doing it with a valid driver's license."

Senate Bill 1008 would allow police to take the license of those suspected of driving drunk and killing or maiming someone. In addition, the suspension would be immediate, eliminating the current 15-day lag in the law, there to allow the driver time to take his case to an administrative judge. (The driver still could appeal to a judge under Waring's bill, he just wouldn't be driving again until a judge OK'd it.)

Waring predicts smooth sailing for his bill. I'm not so sure, given the prospect of on-the-spot suspensions without first going before a judge.

"We've had big fights with lobbyists about these kinds of bills in the past but I wouldn't think this would be a target-rich environment for them," he said. "What are you really going to say. We want these people to drive?"