BY DEMETRA GANIAS
GLENS FALLS, NY -- A Capital Region man still has a drivers license after he's found guilty of driving while intoxicated.
That man's case is part of the reason some lawmakers are pushing for changes to new york's laws.
About a month ago, 45-year old Robert Carota of Moreau, was arrested for driving while intoxicated for the ninth time.
The first arrest happened 20 years ago.
He spent a couple years in jail on one conviction and has paid thousands of dollars in fines.
And after all this, he still has a valid drivers license.
Robert Carota is in the Warren County Jail. He hasn't made bail since his January arrest in Glens Falls, just a quarter mile from dozens of downtown bars.
Captain Will Valenza of the Glens Falls Police Department says, "He just refuses to accept responsibility for what he's done."
Valenza says cops have the same reaction as the rest of us, knowing Carota's record of nine DWI arrests.
"Why is this person still on the street? Why is this person still doing this?"
The answer is a complicated one.
Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan says, it's a combination of loopholes, and confusing laws, so she's working to change them.
Hogan says, "There should be a set number of DWI convictions and if you've reached that number you should no longer be allowed to drive on the road."
Right now, New York law states a person has to have killed or hurt someone at least twice before a license can be revoked.
And even people with convictions, like Carota, can reapply for another.
Assembly members Tony Jordan and Teresa Sayward are throwing their support behind new legislation to make our laws tougher and easier to understand.
Jordan says, "A statute that deals with revocation of licenses shouldn't be in 6 point font and take 4 pages of a large book to explain."
The goal, says Sayward, is to hold drunk drivers accountable: "When there's someone who is a habitual drunk driver that we are going to take their license away permanently."
Carota
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