A few days ago, Jim Baca of Santa Fe gave himself an early Christmas present — an Oldsmobile Achieva.

"I was so excited," he said. "But it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to drive it any time soon."

A new law that went into effect on July 1 says that anyone whose license has been revoked for drunken driving use an ignition interlock for six months before getting it back.

Baca, who pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in 2007, completed his sentence, which included a mandatory victim-impact panel, 24 hours of community service, counseling and a DWI class that he attended over three weekends.

Although the state requires all DWI offenders to install ignition interlocks for a year, Baca had a waiver. Because his car was totaled in the drunken-driving accident, he decided to sit out the year and use public transportation or ask friends to take him places. Like many DWI offenders, he signed an affidavit saying he would not drive. And he didn't, he said.

After buying the car, Baca, 35, expected that all he had to do was pay a $100 fee to have his license reinstated.

Instead, he said he will have to pay more than $100 a month for installation and servicing of the interlock, which he says he cannot afford.

But he also feels that he's being punished all over again. "It seems like extortion," he said. "I didn't know about the deadline. I didn't know a law could be passed retroactively. It's like having two DWIs ... I know what I did was wrong, illegal, but wow."

Baca, who has been preaching to his "nephews and everyone else" about the perils of drinking and driving, added that, "If I had known I needed to get this done (the interlock), I would have done it."

During this period, he was also in arrears on his child-support payments and MVD suspended his license until he paid up. That matter delayed him from applying for license reinstatement before July 1, he said.

The new law, which was approved this year by the Legislature, is designed to close a loophole in the ignition interlock laws and discourage people from lying to the court about whether they own a car.

Richard Roth, executive director of Impact DWI, said he drafted the law in part to "address the fact that so many people are lying when they say they are not driving."

His research shows that people who claim they don't have a car and are not driving have a DWI rearrest rate four times that of interlock users.

The New Mexico law was modeled after those in Arizona, Washington and other states, he said.

"Having an interlock is one of our best ways of reducing drunken driving. It gives (drunken drivers) a period of behavior modification," Roth said, while allowing them the opportunity to continue to use their cars for work.

Of 12,000 people convicted of DWI that he surveyed, 85 percent think it is a fair sanction, Roth said.

The six-month interlock requirement is connected to a person's driver's license. That means that any vehicle you drive must have an interlock — including the truck you use on the job or your parents' car.

State IDs are available as an alternative to the driver's license if all you want is an identification card.

Michael Sandoval, head of the state Motor Vehicle Division, said that many people weren't aware of the new law or how it would affect them. And a substantial number of those who signed waivers saying they weren't driving are now applying for interlock licenses.

He said he didn't have an exact count, but he believes the law is "having a pretty big impact on people. (Now) even if you sit out the year, you have to get an interlock. You can do it from the beginning; or you can do it at the end. Either way, you are going to have to do it."

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.