Lowering of DUI level pushed

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 9:44 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Fearing that a bill to lower the state's blood alcohol limit for drivers will languish and die in committee, a DUI group is urging lawmakers to take action.

Jim Holmes, chairman of the Northern Nevada DUI Task Force, said Nevada stands to lose up to $900,000 per year in federal incentive grants if the legislation setting the state's blood alcohol content at 0.08 is not passed.

Assembly Bill 166, sponsored by Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, is awaiting a hearing and vote in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. The bill was referred there because of the fiscal impact reducing the blood alcohol content from 0.10 to 0.08 will have.

That fiscal impact relates to the expected increase in people arrested on DUI charges and the effect that will have on both law enforcement and the legal system.

Holmes said that since the bill has already cleared the policy committee -- Assembly Judiciary -- Ways and Means should sign off on it.

The Task Force recently commissioned a study that found states that enact 0.08 laws see a reduction in traffic deaths by 15 percent. Holmes said Nevada could potentially save 24 lives per year, saving state, county and local governments up to $31 million annually.