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.