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S1303................................................by JUDICIARY AND RULES DRIVING UNDER INFLUENCE - COMMERCIAL VEHICLES - Amends existing law to provide that it shall be unlawful for a person with an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or higher but less than 0.08 to drive a commercial vehicle. 01/20 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing 01/21 Rpt prt - to Jud 02/02 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg 02/03 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg 02/04 3rd rdg - PASSED - 32-0-3 AYES--Andreason, Boatright, Branch, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron, Crow, Danielson, Darrington, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes, Hansen, Hawkins, Ingram, Ipsen, Keough, King, Lee, McLaughlin, Noh, Parry, Richardson, Riggs, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder, Sorensen, Thorne, Wheeler, Whitworth NAYS--None Absent and excused--Stennett, Sweeney, Twiggs Floor Sponsor - Riggs Title apvd - to House 02/05 House intro - 1st rdg - to Jud 03/10 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg 03/11 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg 03/12 3rd rdg - PASSED - 65-0-5 AYES -- Alltus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bell, Bieter, Bivens, Black(15), Black(23), Boe, Bruneel, Callister, Campbell, Chase, Clark, Crane, Cuddy, Deal, Denney, Ellsworth, Field(13), Field(20), Gagner, Geddes, Gould, Hadley, Henbest, Hornbeck, Jaquet, Jones(22), Jones(20), Judd, Kellogg, Kempton, Kendell, Kjellander, Kunz, Lake, Linford, Loertscher, Mader, Marley, Meyer, Miller, Mortensen, Newcomb, Pischner, Pomeroy, Reynolds, Richman, Ridinger, Robison, Sali, Schaefer, Stevenson, Stoicheff, Stone, Stubbs, Taylor, Tilman, Tippets, Trail, Watson, Wheeler, Wood, Zimmermann NAYS -- None Absent and excused -- Crow, Hansen, Jones(9), McKague, Mr Speaker Floor Sponsor - Boe Title apvd - to Senate 03/13 To enrol 03/16 Rpt enrol - Pres signed Sp signed 03/17 To Governor 03/18 Governor signed Session Law Chapter 70 Effective: 07/01/98
S1303|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session - 1998IN THE SENATE SENATE BILL NO. 1303 BY JUDICIARY AND RULES COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE; AMENDING SECTION 18-8004, IDAHO CODE, 3 TO PROVIDE THAT IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON WITH AN ALCOHOL CONCEN- 4 TRATION OF 0.04 OR HIGHER BUT LESS THAN 0.08 TO DRIVE A COMMERCIAL VEHI- 5 CLE. 6 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 7 SECTION 1. That Section 18-8004, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 8 amended to read as follows: 9 18-8004. PERSONS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL, DRUGS OR ANY OTHER 10 INTOXICATING SUBSTANCES. 11 (1) (a) It is unlawful for any person who is under the influence of alco- 12 hol, drugs or any other intoxicating substances, or who has an alcohol 13 concentration of 0.08, as defined in subsection (4) of this section, or 14 more, as shown by analysis of his blood, urine, or breath, to drive or be 15 in actual physical control of a motor vehicle within this state, whether 16 upon a highway, street or bridge, or upon public or private property open 17 to the public. 18 (b) It is unlawful for any person who is under the influence of alcohol, 19 drugs or any other intoxicating substances, or who has an alcohol concen- 20 tration of 0.04through 0.07or higher but less than 21 0.08 , as defined in subsection (4) of this section, as shown by 22 analysis of his blood, urine, or breath, to drive or be in actual physical 23 control of a commercial motor vehicle within this state, whether upon a 24 highway, street or bridge, or upon public or private property open to the 25 public. 26 (c) It is unlawful for any person who is under the influence of alcohol, 27 drugs or any other intoxicating substances, or who has an alcohol concen- 28 tration of 0.08 or higher, as defined in subsection (4) of this section, 29 as shown by analysis of his blood, urine, or breath, to drive or be in 30 actual physical control of a commercial motor vehicle within this state, 31 whether upon a highway, street or bridge, or upon public or private prop- 32 erty open to the public. 33 (d) It is unlawful for any person under the age of twenty-one (21) who 34 has an alcohol concentration of at least 0.02 but less than 0.08, as 35 defined in subsection (4) of this section, to drive or be in actual physi- 36 cal control of a motor vehicle within this state, whether upon a highway, 37 street or bridge, or upon public or private property open to the public. 38 Any person violating this subsection shall be subject to the penalties 39 provided in section 18-8004A, Idaho Code. 40 (2) Any person having an alcohol concentration of less than 0.08, as 41 defined in subsection (4) of this section, as shown by analysis of his blood, 42 urine, or breath, by a test requested by a police officer shall not be prose- 43 cuted for driving under the influence of alcohol, except as provided in sub- 2 1 section (3), subsection (1)(b) or subsection (1)(d) of this section. Any per- 2 son who does not take a test to determine alcohol concentration or whose test 3 result is determined by the court to be unreliable or inadmissible against 4 him, may be prosecuted for driving or being in actual physical control of a 5 motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or any other 6 intoxicating substances, on other competent evidence. 7 (3) If the results of the test requested by a police officer show a 8 person's alcohol concentration of less than 0.08, as defined in subsection 9 (4) of this section, such fact may be considered with other competent evi- 10 dence of drug use other than alcohol in determining the guilt or innocence of 11 the defendant. 12 (4) For purposes of this chapter, an evidentiary test for alcohol concen- 13 tration shall be based upon a formula of grams of alcohol per one hundred 14 (100) cubic centimeters of blood, per two hundred ten (210) liters of breath 15 or sixty-seven (67) milliliters of urine. Analysis of blood, urine or breath 16 for the purpose of determining the alcohol concentration shall be performed by 17 a laboratory operated by the Idaho department of law enforcement or by a labo- 18 ratory approved by the Idaho department of law enforcement under the provi- 19 sions of approval and certification standards to be set by that department, or 20 by any other method approved by the Idaho department of law enforcement. Not- 21 withstanding any other provision of law or rule of court, the results of any 22 test for alcohol concentration and records relating to calibration, approval, 23 certification or quality control performed by a laboratory operated or 24 approved by the Idaho department of law enforcement or by any other method 25 approved by the Idaho department of law enforcement shall be admissible in any 26 proceeding in this state without the necessity of producing a witness to 27 establish the reliability of the testing procedure for examination. 28 (5) It is unlawful for any person who is an habitual user of, or under 29 the influence of any narcotic drug, or who is under the influence of any other 30 drug or any combination of alcohol and any drug to a degree which impairs the 31 driver's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle, to drive or be in actual 32 physical control of a motor vehicle within this state, whether upon a highway, 33 street or bridge, or upon public or private property open to public use. The 34 fact that any person charged with a violation of the provisions of this sub- 35 section is or has been entitled to use such drug under the laws of this state 36 shall not constitute a defense against any charge of a violation of the provi- 37 sions of this subsection. 38 (6) "Actual physical control" as used in this section, shall be defined 39 as being in the driver's position of the motor vehicle with the motor running 40 or with the motor vehicle moving. 41 (7) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any evidence of convic- 42 tion under this section shall be admissible in any civil action for damages 43 resulting from the occurrence. A conviction for the purposes of this section 44 means that the person has pled guilty or has been found guilty, notwithstand- 45 ing the form of the judgment(s) or withheld judgment(s).
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE RS07490 This bill is one of a series of bills that the Justices of the Supreme Court transmitted to the Governor in their annual "defects in the laws" report under Art. 5, Sec. 25 of the Idaho Constitution. This bill amends I.C. ยง 18-8004(1)(b) which deals with blood alcohol levels for operators of commercial vehicles. Presently subsection l(b) makes it unlawful to operate a commercial vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0.04 through 0.07. Subsection (l)(c) makes it unlawful to operate a commercial vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher. Some approved blood alcohol concentration devices carry the reading out to the thousandths, i.e. 0.071 through 0.079, and there is an issue as to whether an alcohol concentration above 0.070 and below 0.080 is covered by either of the two subsections. This bill eliminates this possible gap by amending subsection (l)(b) to specify an alcohol concentration range of 0.04 or higher but less than 0.08. FISCAL NOTE This bill will have only a very minimal impact, if any, on state or local funds. Contact Person: Patricia Tobias Administrative Director of the Courts Idaho Supreme Court (208)334-2246 Statement of Purpose/Fiscal Note S 1303