States eye legislation affecting drinkings

Lawmakers in several states are looking to put the brakes on drunken-driving offenders with the use of ignition interlocks, but some industry members fear the growing momentum of such measures could stall alcohol beverage sales to responsible drinkers.

So far this year legislators in Colorado, Maine, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia have passed laws that encourage expanded use of ignition interlocks on vehicles operated by drunken-driving offenders. In Arizona and Massachusetts, interlock laws already are on the books, and at least 11 additional states are considering similar legislation.

Ignition interlocks are intended to combat drunken driving by requiring drivers to blow into a handheld alcohol sensor that is attached to a vehicle’s dashboard. Vehicles will not start if the driver’s blood alcohol content, or BAC, is above a previously preset level.

The devices have drawn mixed reactions from the restaurant industry. Some parties fear that the technology could become a common feature on U.S. automobiles. More worrisome, they say, is that the devices could be set to detect lower BAC levels than those many states currently designate as the legal threshold of intoxication. And they are particularly opposed to laws that would mandate interlocks on the cars of consumers who are convicted of drunk driving in states whose BAC threshold is 0.08 percent or less. Any of those scenarios would have a negative impact on the restaurant industry’s alcohol beverage sales, even to law-abiding customers, they said.

Meanwhile, some foodservice officials support ignition interlock legislation when it pertains to repeat offenders whose BAC was 0.15 or more.

Under Maine’s new law, which the state Senate passed March 24, motorists with repeat drunken-driving offenses and a BAC of at least 0.15 would be allowed to have their driver’s licenses reinstated only if they install interlock devices on their automobiles for a required period of time. The law also would increase license suspensions for drunken-driving offenders.

“The interlock device legislation that passed in Maine is a step in a helpful direction toward curbing serious substance abuse,” said Dick Grotton, president and chief executive of the Maine Restaurant Association. “We know from our work here that it’s the problem drinker that we really need to get off the road, those who have had multiple convictions. I am pleased that our legislature in its wisdom passed the bill and has put those curbs on. We look forward to [the bill’s] implementation in Maine.”

In Virginia, the House and Senate passed a similar bill March 8, but Gov. Timothy Kaine has not yet signed it into law. He has 30 days to sign the bill.

In Michigan, House representatives also passed repeat offender legislation, but the bill now is stalled in the Senate’s transportation committee.

In Washington state, however, a law that was approved by the legislature March 7 would apply to all convicted drunken drivers, including first-time offenders with BAC levels of 0.08.

In Nebraska, state lawmakers on March 26 gave first-round approval to a bill that would require first-time and repeat offenders with a BAC of 0.15 to install interlock devices in their vehicles. The bill has now moved on to its second stage of discussion. Under Nebraska’s proposed law, the offender’s license would first be revoked for 90 days. Following a period of 30 days, application for the interlock device could be made. The device would be installed in the vehicle for 120 days.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, or DISCUS, a national trade association representing marketers and manufacturers of distilled spirits, applauded Maine’s passage of the ignition interlock bill.

The road to ignition interlock legislation

“Interlocks are appropriate for repeat and high-BAC offenders who clearly have no regard for highway safety,” said Mark Gorman, senior vice president of DISCUS. “It’s of the utmost importance to get repeat drunk drivers off the roads.”

But Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group advocating responsible on-premise consumption, said the passage of bills targeting first-time offenders and those with low BAC levels was unfair.

“It will have a chilling effect on people having even one glass of wine or beer or spirits with dinner, which thereby will affect sales,” she said. “We as an industry are supportive of high-offender legislation. What we’re opposed to are low-BAC, first-time offender mandates. That means someone who is one sip over 0.079 can now get an ignition interlock [installed] in their car.”

She cited the first-time-offender law that passed last year in Arizona as suppressing beverage sales at restaurants. The law requires all drunken-driving offenders to install ignition interlocks in their cars for at least one year after regaining their driving privileges. Previously, the state required ignition interlocks only for repeat or extreme drunken-driving offenders.

“Restaurateurs in that state are seeing their sales plummet because customers are afraid to have even one drink with dinner,” Longwell said.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts state Rep. James Fagan, DTaunton, proposed a bill in mid-March that would lower the state’s legal limit from a BAC of 0.08 to 0.02, putting drivers who consume only one beer or glass of wine over the limit. A spokesman for Fagan said the bill is in limbo for the rest of the year.

In Vermont, state Sen. Hinda Miller, D-Chittenden, took the first step toward reducing the state’s legal drinking age from 21 to 18 by introducing a bill that would establish a task force to weigh the pros and cons of making such a recommendation to the Legislature later this year.

Miller said the current law does not work and that a large number of young adults binge drink as a result.

Last year New Hampshire rejected a measure to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18 for active military personnel.