Sober Operator Act to go before General Assembly: Law would lower maximum BAC while driving from .08 to .05
Among other things, the proposed law would lower the maximum allowed blood alcohol content while driving from .08 to .05. Stock photo
A group of law enforcement officers, elected officials and concerned citizens is renewing its years-long effort to get a series of new laws through the General Assembly this year.
While previous efforts came in the form of a series of shorter bills, the latest attempt to get the measures passed — measures that include lowering the legal blood alcohol content while driving from .08 to .05 — will all fall under one bill known as the Sober Operator Act. Although the bill hasn’t yet officially been filed and doesn’t yet have a number, members of the Western North Carolina DWI Taskforce expect it will in the coming days.
In recent years, Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-Swain), known in the General Assembly as one of the strongest advocates for new, stricter legislation aimed at curbing impaired driving, has proposed five separate bills that would tighten impaired driving laws.
Along with lowering the legal limit for driving, those bills sought to allow the portable breath test (PBT) result to be used for probable cause determination by a judge. In addition, they would have allowed for law enforcement to screen for narcotics other than alcohol while driving. They would have also allowed for civil driver’s license revocation for drivers impaired on narcotics; right now, such a statute only exists for drunk drivers.
Finally, Clampitt previously proposed a bill that would provide a legal pathway for those who complete sobriety court and other court-mandated actions to obtain a driver’s license.
Taskforce leader Ellen Pitt, who has worked for over 20 years with police and lawmakers to crack down on impaired driving, said she thinks this should have been done last year.
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“Sometimes, it’s frustrating to think that you can’t get all these people to agree on something that saves lives, taxpayer dollars and officer time,” she said.
Ellen Pitt leads the Western North Carolina DWI taskforce. File photo
The push toward stricter impaired driving laws in North Carolina mirrors much of what has been seen in other states in the years following a 2013 NTSB recommendation to lower the legal limit from the .08 standard to .05. Utah has already passed such a law, and Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington and New York all have proposals on the books to lower their legal limits.
That’s in addition to 21 states currently using the PBT numericals for probable cause.
Along with including all the elements that were part of the individual bills Clampitt has introduced in the past, the Sober Operator Act would create a Class F felony charge (typically punishable by one to three years in prison. It would also mandate that District Court hearings are recorded in the manner Superior Court is currently using, allowing what Clampitt and Pitt call a greater measure of transparency of public proceedings.
As with the previous bills, Clampitt talked enthusiastically about the Sober Operator Act and said he is optimistic that it will be received warmly in the General Assembly despite the previous bills having never made it to the floor. Clampitt noted that new House Republican leadership may be more receptive than the prior establishment, adding that having everything under one bill will also make it easier for legislators to jump onboard.
Although that move always comes with the risk of a less popular item hurting the chances of something more people can get behind getting passed, Clampitt went back to his fundamental argument.
“The life you save may be your own,” Clampitt said. “You may be a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, an aunt or uncle, and think about the number of lives your life touches and what kind of void would be there if you weren’t there. Then apply that to a victim of a DWI and their family members.”
Clampitt’s initial co-sponsor on the bill is Rep. Eric Ager (D-Buncombe). Ager said he thinks the Sober Operator Act is a “good start,” something that will initially make roads safer while also possibly paving the way for future measures.
“It does much more than obviously the headline that it takes the BAC from .08 to .05 … it provides some help for folks who are trying to get their licenses back after being charged and convicted with DWIs,” he said.
Ager said he is happy to work across the aisle on legislation that helps folks statewide and especially in Western North Carolina, adding that it’s important to not allow the partisan gridlock to get in the way of good legislation.
“In this hyper-partisan environment, there are still a lot of issues we can work on together,” he said.
Ultimately, Ager said he is happy to work with Clampitt, but he especially wanted to thank Pitt — along with law enforcement officers on the taskforce — for all the work they put in to try to influence policy changes at the state level.
“It’s easy in Raleigh to forget that the people who understand problems best are the ones on the ground dealing with them,” he said.
Pitt said she appreciates the support from Clampitt and Ager but added that she hopes enough people will come onboard to finally pass this item that she considers “common sense” legislation.
“We’re not telling people to not drink,” Pitt said. “We’re just telling them to not drink and drive. Other states have already done this or are trying to do it. I have high hopes that our legislators will want to do the right thing.”
