FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear ceremonially signed a bill into law Monday that will require convicted drunk drivers to pay child support to their victims.

Senate Bill 268 was inspired by a July 2022 crash on Shelbyville Road in east Louisville when Melanie Hull — while driving her son to school — was hit by a driver under the influence. The crash rendered Hull "totally disabled," according to her mother, Diana Yates, and she'll likely spend the rest of her life in a nursing home.

"She was wonderful, the absolute best mother you could ever imagine," Diana Yates, Melanie's mother, said Monday in Frankfort. "I was a good mom. My other daughter is a good mom. Melanie was a fantastic mom."

"This is a true legacy for her."

Melanie and Nolan Hull

Melanie Hull and her son, Nolan

Known as "Melanie's Law," the bill allows for restitution by child support if a parent is killed or disabled and the driver is convicted of DUI. If victims win a civil lawsuit that covers the damages, child support won't be ordered. If child support is ordered, the defendant would pay child support for each of the victim's children or dependents until they turn 18, or 19 if they're still in high school.

If a defendant ordered to pay restitution in the form of child support is incarcerated, they will have up to a year after their release to begin payments. Payments will be made out to the clerk of court who will provide the payments to the victim and/or victim's child or children.

"If someone has the means and has a job and can pay the child support, it could mean everything for families," Yates said Monday. "Normally, you have two household incomes everywhere. And when you take one person out of that equation, it puts a serious financial hardship on the other working family member. So this could really benefit them."

Yates and Hull's 8-year-old son, Nolan, stood beside Beshear on Monday as he signed the bill into law.

"We're here to keep her legacy moving forward and helping other people not to go through what this family has been through," Beshear said.

The sponsor of the bill was Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, who is Hull's cousin. He hopes the bill can not only bring attention to the issue of drunk or drugged driving but hold more people accountable when they do, making convicted DUI drivers think about the children like Nolan, who are left without their parent.

"This is something that happens way too often in Kentucky," he said Monday. "They will be writing those checks, and, hopefully, every time they do, every time they stroke their name, they'll think about that surviving child and what they have done to that family." 

This bill won't heal Nolan's mom, but her family is hopeful of the good it can accomplish for others.

"Maybe it'll help someone that really needs it," Diana Yates said.

A few other states, including Tennessee, have already passed similar bills. David Yates said since "Melanie's Law" passed, he's received phone calls from other states looking to do the same thing.

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