CENTRAL OHIO -- From speed traps in the Village of Brice, to lax drunken driving convictions in Chauncey, NBC 4 has reported on the numerous problems with our state's mayor's courts.

But now state lawmakers are considering legislation that would eliminate mayor's courts in villages with less than 200 residents.

Cruiser video showed Andrew Cali, a two-time convicted drunk driver as he sent police from four departments on a high-speed chase. He was caught, but the consequences were minimal. That's an issue that one state lawmaker is trying to change.

"The whole concept of justice is to be treated fairly and not to have any indication of the problem of applying justice," said Rep. Larry Wolpert.

That's why he is proposing a bill that would eliminate mayor's courts in Ohio.

Ohio is one of two states in the country that still has the process in place. Generally, the court handles first-time offenders, traffic violations and often drunk driving charges.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, mayor's courts in Ohio plead down more than 50 percent of DUIs and keeps the revenue from the fines.

Previously, along with abolishing mayor's courts, the bill proposed that the villages would only reap 50 percent of that revenue.

Wolpert said an updated version of the law would give them 100 percent, as long as the village is more than 200 people.

"Financially, nothing much changes for these villages. Actually, they might do better off because they won't have an overhead of court," Wolpert said.

But despite the changes, many villages and townships aren't happy with the bill.

The mayor of Worthington is one of them.

"I think we want to approve the justice system to fix the problems, rather than throw out the system that has worked for over 80 years," he said.

The bill is expected to be voted on by the house by the end of May. A final vote could come this fall.

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