Bill Text: HI SR45 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Highly Intoxicated Driver; Penalties

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-10 - (S) Referred to TIA, JGO. [SR45 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-SR45-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	45
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING A RECOMMENDATION ON INCREASED PENALTIES FOR THE OFFENSE OF OPERATING A VEHICLE WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AN INTOXICANT AS IT PERTAINS TO HIGHLY INTOXICATED DRIVERS.

 

 

     WHEREAS, driving while intoxicated continues to be a serious problem in Hawaii, which averages about six thousand driving under the influence arrests each year; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2008, forty per cent of the car crash deaths in Hawaii involved a driver who had .08 per cent blood-alcohol content (the legal limit) or higher, and there were forty-two such deaths in 2008, all of which were preventable; and

 

     WHEREAS, liquor establishments should not be serving alcohol to patrons who already exhibit obvious signs of being under the influence of alcohol; and

 

     WHEREAS, for a drunk driving offense committed by a highly intoxicated driver (defined under section 291E-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as having a measurable amount of alcohol of 0.15 or more grams of alcohol per one hundred milliliters or cubic centimeters of the person's blood, or 0.15 or more grams of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of the person's breath), not preceded within a five-year period by a conviction for drunk driving, the defendant's motor vehicle should be impounded, in addition to other penalties currently provided; and

 

     WHEREAS, for a drunk driving offense that occurs within five years of a prior conviction for drunk driving, the court should order impoundment for one year of the defendant's motor vehicle, and the defendant should be required to enroll in and complete a substance abuse rehabilitation program, in addition to other penalties currently provided; and

 

     WHEREAS, for a drunk driving offense that occurs within five years of two prior convictions for drunk driving, the defendant should serve a mandatory minimum sentence of one year imprisonment, the defendant's motor vehicle should be impounded for five years, and the defendant should enroll in and complete a substance abuse rehabilitation program,

 in addition to other penalties currently provided; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, that the Department of Transportation is requested, in collaboration with the Honolulu Police Department, to recommend increased penalties for the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant, including but not limited to, increased mandatory terms of imprisonment and impounding of the vehicle; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the liquor commissions of the respective counties are encouraged to adopt rules to prohibit the serving of alcohol to patrons who already exhibit obvious signs of being under the influence of alcohol; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation, the Chief of Police of the Honolulu Police Department, the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney, and the Liquor Commission of each county.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Highly Intoxicated Driver; Penalties