HBA-KDB H.B. 3324 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3324 By: Solomons Criminal Jurisprudence 3/29/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a defendant convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) two or more times is required, as a condition of community service, to have an ignition interlock device installed on the motor vehicle owned by the defendant or on the vehicle most regularly driven by the defendant. Such a device uses a deep-lung breath analysis mechanism to make impractical the operation of the motor vehicle if ethyl alcohol is detected in the breath of the defendant. However, there is concern that a first-time DWI defendant that is considered to be a hardcore drunk driver, which is a driver who has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .15 or more, should also be required to have such a device installed. According to the National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project, in 1996, the average BAC level of offenders arrested was approximately .17. House Bill 3324 requires a DWI defendant with a BAC of .15 to have an ignition interlock device installed on the motor vehicle owned by the defendant or on the vehicle most regularly driven by the defendant. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 3324 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to also require a defendant who is convicted of driving while intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration of .15 or more, as a condition of community supervision, to have installed an ignition interlock device on the motor vehicle owned by the defendant or on the vehicle most regularly driven by the defendant and prohibit the defendant from operating any motor vehicle that is not equipped with such a device. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.