The national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is urging Wisconsin lawmakers to hold a hearing on a bill that would toughen drunken driving penalties in the state.

The proposal would legalize sobriety checkpoints and make a first-offense drunken driving arrest a crime instead of just a traffic violation.

MADD President Laura Dean-Mooney asked the co-chairs of the Legislature's budget committee in a letter dated Tuesday to hold a hearing on the bill.

A spokesman for committee co-chair Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, says it doesn't make sense to move ahead with the costly bill before another proposal toughening drunken driving penalties passed last year takes effect.

Also, the budget committee generally doesn't hold hearings on bills.