NY State Senate Bill 2021-S131

Senate Bill S131

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Lowers the blood alcohol concentration required for driving while intoxicated from .08 of one per centum to .05, and for aggravated driving while intoxicated from .18 per centum to .12

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Transportation Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to transportation
Jan 06, 2021	referred to transportation

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2021-S131 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A7197
Current Committee:: Senate Transportation
Law Section:: Vehicle and Traffic Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §1192, V & T L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2013-2014: A7565
2015-2016: A4369
2017-2018: A2302
2019-2020: S5117, A3208
2023-2024: S776, A1627
2025-2026: S53

2021-S131 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Lowers the blood alcohol concentration required for driving while intoxicated from .08 of one per centum to .05, and for aggravated driving while intoxicated from .18 per centum to .12.

2021-S131 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S131

SPONSOR: LIU
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to lowering the
blood alcohol concentration required for driving while intoxicated from
.08 of one per centum to .05, and for aggravated driving while intoxi-
cated from .ct.18 of one per centum to .ct.12

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to reduce alcohol-impaired driving acci-
dents.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Subdivision 2, paragraph (a) of subdivision 2-a of section 1192 of the
vehicle and traffic law is amended to: Change the definition of "driving
while intoxicated" from .08 blood alcohol content (BAC) to
 Change the definition of "aggravated driving while intoxicated" from

.18 blood alcohol content to .12; Subdivision 6 of section 1192 of the
vehicle and traffic law is amended to change the maximum allowable BAC
for drivers of commercial motor vehicles from .06 to .05.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Each year in the United States, nearly 10,000 people are killed in cras-
hes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and more than 173,000 are
injured. Since the mid-1990s, even as total highway fatalities have
fallen, the proportion of deaths from accidents involving alcohol-im-
paired drivers has remained constant at around 30 percent of all highway
fatalities; nearly 440,000 people have died in alcohol related crashes.

The National Transportation Safety Board has recently issued a recommen-
dation to states to lower the blood alcohol content that constitutes
drunk driving. Since 2004 all 50 states have set a BAC level of .08,
reflecting the percentage of alcohol, by volume, in the blood.

The United States trails the rest of the world in lowering the drunken
driving standard. The United States has a more lenient RAC for drunk
driving than 100 other countries; nearly all the European, Asian, and
South American countries have adopted a standard lower than provinces
reported a 5-18 percent drop in highway fatalities.  This bill would
lower the allowable BAC by roughly 33% from the current level. New York
State would be the first in the nation to adopt the lower standard and
would set an example for the rest of the country that it has the will to
make practical policy changes to reduce alcohol-related crashes.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None to the State

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
30 days after becoming law

2021-S131 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    131
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  LIU  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
 
 AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to lowering the
   blood alcohol concentration required  for  driving  while  intoxicated
   from  .08  of  one per centum to .05, and for aggravated driving while
   intoxicated from .18 of one per centum to .12
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision 2, paragraph (a) of subdivision 2-a, subdivi-
 sion 5 and subdivision 6 of section 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law,
 subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 3 of the laws of 2002, paragraph (a)
 of subdivision 2-a as amended by chapter 496 of the  laws  of  2009  and
 subdivisions  5 and 6 as amended by chapter 236 of the laws of 2003, are
 amended to read as follows:
   2. Driving while intoxicated; per se. No person shall operate a  motor
 vehicle  while  such  person  has [.08] .05 of one per centum or more by
 weight of alcohol in the person's blood as shown by chemical analysis of
 such person's blood, breath, urine  or  saliva,  made  pursuant  to  the
 provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-four of this article.
   (a)  Per se. No person shall operate a motor vehicle while such person
 has [.18] .12 of one per centum or more by weight  of  alcohol  in  such
 person's  blood  as  shown  by chemical analysis of such person's blood,
 breath, urine or saliva made pursuant to the provisions of section elev-
 en hundred ninety-four of this article.
   5. Commercial motor vehicles: per se - level  I.  Notwithstanding  the
 provisions  of  section  eleven  hundred ninety-five of this article, no
 person shall operate a commercial motor vehicle while  such  person  has
 .04  of  one  per  centum or more but not more than [.06] .05 of one per
 centum by weight of alcohol in the person's blood as shown  by  chemical
 analysis  of such person's blood, breath, urine or saliva, made pursuant
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03394-01-1

 S. 131                              2
 
 to the provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-four of this article;
 provided, however, nothing contained in this subdivision shall  prohibit
 the  imposition  of  a  charge of a violation of subdivision one of this
 section, or of section eleven hundred ninety-two-a of this article where
 a person under the age of twenty-one operates a commercial motor vehicle
 where  a  chemical  analysis  of  such person's blood, breath, urine, or
 saliva, made pursuant to the provisions of section eleven hundred  nine-
 ty-four of this article, indicates that such operator has .02 of one per
 centum  or more but less than .04 of one per centum by weight of alcohol
 in such operator's blood.
   6. Commercial motor vehicles; per se - level II.  Notwithstanding  the
 provisions  of  section  eleven  hundred ninety-five of this article, no
 person shall operate a commercial motor vehicle while  such  person  has
 more  than  [.06]  .05 of  one  per centum [but less than .08 of one per
 centum] by weight of alcohol in the person's blood as shown by  chemical
 analysis  of such person's blood, breath, urine or saliva, made pursuant
 to the provisions of section eleven hundred ninety-four of this article;
 provided, however, nothing contained in this subdivision shall  prohibit
 the  imposition  of  a  charge of a violation of subdivision one of this
 section.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.

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