I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2681

To amend title 23, United States Code, to increase penalties for individuals 

who operate motor vehicles while intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2003

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. BOEHLERT, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, and Ms. 

NORTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL

To amend title 23, United States Code, to increase penalties 

for individuals who operate motor vehicles while intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Higher-Risk Impaired 

5 Driver Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Of the total 42,850 people who died in 

9 motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States 
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1 during 2002, alcohol-related traffic deaths accounted 

2 for 42 percent—preliminary data shows that 17,970 

3 people died in these crashes. 

4 (2) Alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the 

5 United States have been rising since 1999. 

6 (3) About one-third of all drivers arrested or 

7 convicted of driving under the influence are repeat 

8 offenders. 

9 (4) A report released by the alcohol industry 

10 showed that 58 percent of alcohol-related traffic fa11 talities in 2001 involved drivers with a blood alcohol 

12 concentration level of .15 percent and above. 

13 (5) Research funded by the alcohol industry has 

14 concluded that repeat offenders of alcohol-impaired 

15 driving laws and first offenders with high blood alco16 hol concentration (BAC) levels are at greatest risk 

17 of committing a subsequent drunk driving offense. 

18 (6) It should be the policy of the federal gov19 ernment, among other aims, to target these repeat 

20 offenders and high BAC level offenders to help re21 duce the risk of fatality due to alcohol-impaired driv22 ing. 
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1 SEC. 3. INCREASED PENALTIES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter I of title 23, United 

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘§ 165. Increased penalties for higher risk drivers for 

6 driving while intoxicated or driving 

7 under the influence 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 

9 definitions apply: 

10 ‘‘(1) BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION.—The 

11 term ‘blood alcohol concentration’ means grams of 

12 alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or the equivalent 

13 grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. 

14 ‘‘(2) DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED; DRIVING

15 UNDER THE INFLUENCE.—The terms ‘driving while 

16 intoxicated’ and ‘driving under the influence’ mean 

17 driving or being in actual physical control of a motor 

18 vehicle while having a blood alcohol concentration 

19 above the permitted limit as established by each 

20 State. 

21 ‘‘(3) LICENSE SUSPENSION.—The term ‘license 

22 suspension’ means the suspension of all driving 

23 privileges. 

24 ‘‘(4) MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term ‘motor vehi25 cle’ means a vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical 

26 power and manufactured primarily for use on public 
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1 highways but does not include a vehicle operated 

2 solely on a rail line or a commercial vehicle. 

3 ‘‘(5) HIGHER-RISK IMPAIRED DRIVER LAW.—

4 ‘‘(A) The term ‘higher-risk impaired driver 

5 law’ means a State law that provides, as a min6 imum penalty, that an individual described in 

7 subparagraph (B) shall—

8 ‘‘(i) receive a driver’s license suspen9 sion for not less than 1 year, including a 

10 complete ban on driving for not less than 

11 90 days and for the remainder of the li12 cense suspension period and prior to the 

13 issuance of a probational hardship or work 

14 permit license, be required to install a cer15 tified alcohol ignition interlock device; 

16 ‘‘(ii) have the motor vehicle driven at 

17 the time of arrest impounded or immo18 bilized for not less than 90 days and for 

19 the remainder of the license suspension pe20 riod require the installation of a certified 

21 alcohol ignition interlock device on the ve22 hicle; 

23 ‘‘(iii) be subject to an assessment by 

24 a certified substance abuse official of the 

25 State that assesses the individual’s degree
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1 of abuse of alcohol and assigned to a treat2 ment program or impaired driving edu3 cation program as determined by the as4 sessment; 

5 ‘‘(iv) be imprisoned for not less than 

6 10 days, have an electronic monitoring de7 vice for not less than 100 days, or be as8 signed to a DUI/DWI specialty facility for 

9 not less than 30 days; 

10 ‘‘(v) be fined a minimum of $1,000, 

11 with the proceeds of such funds to be used 

12 by the State or local jurisdiction for im13 paired driving related prevention, enforce14 ment, and prosecution programs, or for the 

15 development or maintenance of a tracking 

16 system of offenders driving while impaired; 

17 ‘‘(vi) if the arrest resulted from in18 volvement in a crash, pay court-mandated 

19 restitution to the victims of the crash; 

20 ‘‘(vii) be placed on probation by the 

21 court for a period of not less than 2 years; 

22 ‘‘(viii) if diagnosed with a substance 

23 abuse problem, during the first year of the 

24 probation period referred to in clause (vii),

25 attend a treatment program for a period 
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1 of 12 consecutive months sponsored by a 

2 State certified substance abuse treatment 

3 agency and meet with a case manager at 

4 least once each month; and 

5 ‘‘(ix) be required by the court to at6 tend a victim impact panel, if such a panel 

7 is available. 

8 ‘‘(B) An individual referred to in subpara9 graph (A) is an individual who—

10 ‘‘(i) is convicted of a second or subse11 quent offense for driving while intoxicated 

12 or driving under the influence within a 

13 minimum of 5 consecutive years; 

14 ‘‘(ii) is convicted of a driving while in15 toxicated or driving under the influence 

16 with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 

17 percent or greater; 

18 ‘‘(iii) is convicted of a driving-while19 suspended offense if the suspension was 

20 the result of a conviction for driving under 

21 the influence; or 

22 ‘‘(iv) refuses a blood alcohol con23 centration test while under arrest or inves24 tigation for involvement in a fatal or seri25 ous injury crash. 
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1 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL DUI/DWI FACILITY.—The term 

2 ‘special DUI/DWI facility’ means a facility that 

3 houses and treats offenders arrested for driving 

4 while impaired and allows such offenders to work 

5 and/or attend school. 

6 ‘‘(7) VICTIM IMPACT PANEL.—The term ‘victim 

7 impact panel’ means a group of impaired driving vic8 tims who speak to offenders about impaired driving. 

9 The purpose of the panel is to change attitudes and 

10 behaviors in order to deter impaired driving recidi11 vism. 

12 ‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS.—

13 ‘‘(1) FISCAL YEAR 2008.—On October 1, 2007, 

14 if a State has not enacted or is not enforcing a high15 er-risk impaired driver law, the Secretary shall with16 hold 2 percent of the amount required to be appor17 tioned for Federal-aid highways to the State on that 

18 date under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 

19 section 104(b). 

20 ‘‘(2) FISCAL YEAR 2009.—On October 1, 2008, 

21 if a State has not enacted or is not enforcing a high22 er-risk impaired driver law, the Secretary shall with23 hold 4 percent of the amount required to be appor24 tioned for Federal-aid highways to the State on that 
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1 date under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 

2 section 104(b). 

3 ‘‘(3) FISCAL YEAR 2010.—On October 1, 2009, 

4 if a State has not enacted or is not enforcing a high5 er-risk impaired driver law, the Secretary shall with6 hold 6 percent of the amount required to be appor7 tioned for Federal-aid highways to the State on that 

8 date under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 

9 section 104(b). 

10 ‘‘(4) FISCAL YEAR 2011.—On October 1, 2010, 

11 and on October 1 of each year thereafter, if a State 

12 has not enacted or is not enforcing a higher-risk im13 paired driving law, the Secretary shall withhold 8 

14 percent of the amount required to be apportioned for 

15 Federal-aid highways to the State on that date 

16 under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of section 

17 104(b).’’.

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