For the fifth consecutive year, bills have been introduced in the state Legislature to reduce the blood-alcohol content threshold for a drunken driving charge from 0.08% to 0.05%.
At least six bills — Senate Bills 346, 1285, 1403 and 1683 and House Bills 1084 and 1387 — have passed their first floor reading and have received committee referrals, but none were scheduled for hearings as of Monday.
Two of the measures, SB 1403, introduced by Senate President Ron Kouchi, and HB 1084, introduced by House Speaker Nadine Nakamura, are companion bills and part of Gov. Josh Green’s legislative package.
Green has said in the past that those who oppose legislation to lower the BAC threshold deserve “a place in hell.” An emergency room physician on the Big Island for two-plus decades, Green said he’s treated patients injured by drunken drivers, as well as intoxicated drivers who insisted they weren’t drunk.
There’s also another set of companion measures. They are SB 1643, introduced by Sen. Kurt Fevella, an Oahu Republican, and HB 1387, introduced by Rep. Andrew Garrett, an Oahu Democrat.
The other two bills are SB 346, introduced by Sen. Karl Rhoads, an Oahu Democrat and the Senate Judiciary chairman, and SB 1285, introduced by Sen. Chris Lee, an Oahu Democrat and Senate Transportation chairman.
Rhoads’ bill called impaired driving “a significant problem in Hawaii” and said intoxicated driving is “the leading cause of traffic fatalities and impacts the lives of innocent people.”
According to the Hawaii Alcohol Policy Alliance, or HIAPA, at least 40% of traffic fatalities in Hawaii between 2011 and 2022 involved alcohol. During the same timeframe, the national average for alcohol-related traffic fatalities hovered between 35% and 36% and bumped up to 37% in 2022.
“We don’t like this trend at all; we’re moving in the wrong direction,” said Rick Collins, HIAPA director.
Collins added that he’s “encouraged to see that our legislators have introduced” legislation “again this session that would lower the BAC.”
HIAPA said lowering the BAC from 0.08% to 0.05% will serve as a general deterrent to intoxicated driving and prevent future deaths.
Hawaii Police Department Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz said Monday research shows a “significant increase” in the chances of being involved in a collision with just a 0.05% BAC.
“The National Institutes of Health says the risk of being involved in a crash from 0.05% to 0.079% BAC is 21 times higher than a driver at zero BAC,” said Moszkowicz. “My own experience from decades of doing traffic enforcement in Hawaii tells me that people at a 0.05% to 0.079% BAC are impaired.
“Are they as impaired as someone over 0.08%? No. But to me, driving down the road on my day off with my kids and my family in the car, do I want somebody next to me in traffic who’s less impaired or more impaired — or do I want somebody who’s not impaired next to me in traffic?
“The answer, of course, is not impaired. There’s enough other things that can go wrong on the roadway, that we don’t need people who are impaired … operating vehicles that weigh 3,000 or 4,000 pounds at 60 miles an hour.”
A year ago this week, the House Committee on Transportation received written testimony from 79 individuals and organizations in support of a 0.05% BAC bill and only one in opposition.
Among notable organizations testifying were the Hawaii Police Department, Hawaii County prosecutor’s office, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Hawaii Bicycling League, National Transportation Safety Board and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. While that measure cleared several legislative hurdles, it ultimately failed.
Most of the world’s countries have legal intoxication thresholds lower than 0.08%. In the U.S., 49 of 50 states have a 0.08% BAC threshold. Utah — which lowered its threshold to 0.05% in 2018 — is the only exception.
“It’s time Hawaii lowered the blood-alcohol level for drunk driving from 0.08% to 0.05% like most of the rest of the world,” Arkie Koehl, MADD Hawaii board member, said on the organization’s Facebook page.
“The death of these bills means more deaths on our roads,” added Collins. “It’s time to save lives, and our Hawaii Legislature has a prime opportunity to make this a reality right now.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
