DUI Legislation Sent to Governor Bredesen

By Gail Myers

In January Kelly Dagenhart, president of the Oak Ridge/Anderson Co. chapter of RID, sent a DUI Legislation packet to Gov. Bredesen, the House and Senate leaders, State Senator Randy McNally, House Representative Jim Hackworth and others. This packet included several bills that were before the legislature last year, but are still active. They are (1) Open Container law, (2) Mandatory BAC by the police, (3) Repeat Offenders, (4) Testing blood for Alcohol AND Drugs, (5) Repeat Offenders – punishment, (6) Social Host, and (7) Administrative License Revocation. RID supports each of these bills except for (3) Repeat Offenders. In our opinion, it should take longer than 5 years to obtain a clear record, if ever! These bills are supported jointly by RID and MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers). We are both striving for the same result—to make our streets safer for our friends and loved ones by getting and keeping drunk drivers off the roads.

RID also had a couple of new proposals that they hope will get sponsored and presented to the Judiciary Committee. They are (1) Time Limit for Blood Tests and (2) Mandatory Drug Testing. The Time Limit proposal will place a certain time limit on the TBI labs to get the testing finished and the results back to the police. Because of a backlog at the labs, I have heard stories of results taking 18 months to get back. In our case, when my son was involved in a serious wreck, the blood tests on the other driver took 7 to 8 months to get back. We were told the night of the wreck that the blood alcohol would take 6 to 8 weeks to get back. This was considered to be a "normal" frame of time. That is too long! We want a 2–week time limit set on simple blood tests, such as for alcohol and certain drugs. The longer it takes to get results back just keeps the impaired driver on the road longer, charges can’t be brought until results are back, and these drivers are still out on the roads. Or in our case, they moved out of state!

The Mandatory Drug Testing proposal would require that when a blood alcohol is requested, a routine drug test would be performed at the same time on the same sample. This in itself would make the waiting time for results shorter. If there is probable cause to check the blood alcohol content, then there is probable cause to check for drugs also. This was contained in a previous bill, but should not get lost if that bill is not passed.

The costs of DUI accidents in the state of Tennessee are about $2.5 Billion and we could certainly save about $1 Billion if all this legislation is passed. State Senator Randy McNally contacted me during the time that bills were being drafted. He said they were having bills drafted for RID and MADD as well as others. He will send us a list of all the bills, their sponsors, and current actions when it is complete. McNally also said they were working on a bill that would make people liable who sell or serve alcohol to an individual who then harms another, which is the "Social Host" bill. They are also working on an Administrative License Revocation Bill. It looks like it will be a long session.