I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2598 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to establish requirements relating 

to marijuana-impaired driving, to direct the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue comprehensive 

guidance on the best practices to prevent marijuana-impaired driving, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2015 

Mr. POLIS (for himself and Mr. PERLMUTTER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To amend title 23, United States Code, to establish requirements relating to marijuana-impaired driving, to direct 

the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue comprehensive guidance on 

the best practices to prevent marijuana-impaired driving, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Lucid Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SAFETY INCENTIVES TO PREVENT OPERATION OF 

2 MOTOR VEHICLES BY INTOXICATED PER3 SONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 163 of title 23, United 

5 States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub7 section (g); and 

8 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(f) MARIJUANA-IMPAIRED DRIVING.—In addition to 

11 the other requirements of this section, in the case of a 

12 State in which the possession or use of marijuana is legal 

13 under the laws of the State with or without medical jus14 tification, the State shall be eligible for a grant under sub15 section (b), and shall be exempt from withholding under 

16 subsection (e), for a fiscal year only if the State— 

17 ‘‘(1) has in effect a law that prohibits an indi18 vidual from driving or being in actual physical con19 trol of a motor vehicle while impaired by marijuana, 

20 as determined using measures established by the 

21 State; and 

22 ‘‘(2) enforces that law using training and meth23 ods for determining cognitive or physical marijuana 

24 impairment.’’. 

25 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub26 section (a) shall apply to— 


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1 (1) the earlier of— 

2 (A) the second fiscal year beginning after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act; and 

4 (B) the first fiscal year beginning after the 

5 90th day following the date of publication of 

6 the report required under section 4(b); and 

7 (2) each fiscal year thereafter. 

8 SEC. 3. MINIMUM PENALTIES FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS 

9 FOR DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED OR DRIV10 ING UNDER THE INFLUENCE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 164(a)(2) of title 23, 

12 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(2) DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED; DRIVING

14 UNDER THE INFLUENCE.—The terms ‘driving while 

15 intoxicated’ and ‘driving under the influence’ 

16 mean— 

17 ‘‘(A) driving or being in actual physical 

18 control of a motor vehicle while having an alco19 hol concentration above the permitted limit, as 

20 established by each State; and 

21 ‘‘(B) in the case of a State in which the 

22 possession or use of marijuana is legal under 

23 the laws of the State with or without medical 

24 justification, driving or being in actual physical 

25 control of a motor vehicle while impaired by 


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1 marijuana as determined using measures estab2 lished by the State, if the State has imple3 mented such measures.’’. 

4 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub5 section (a) shall apply to fiscal years beginning after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 4. EVALUATION OF MEASURES TO TEST FOR MARI8 JUANA IMPAIRMENT. 

9 (a) STUDY.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

11 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 

12 shall conduct scientific testing to determine— 

13 (A) the extent to which marijuana impairs 

14 an individual’s ability to drive a motor vehicle; 

15 (B) how the magnitude of such impairment 

16 varies among individuals depending on certain 

17 characteristics, including age, sex, body mass 

18 index, health status, and history of marijuana 

19 use; 

20 (C) whether or not it is possible to reliably 

21 determine whether and to what extent an indi22 vidual is cognitively or physically impaired by 

23 marijuana solely by measuring the concentra24 tion of tetrahydrocannabinol (in this subsection 


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1 referred to as ‘‘THC’’) and derivatives in the 

2 individual’s bloodstream or saliva; 

3 (D) the most accurate methods for law en4 forcement officers to measure THC concentra5 tion in the body of an individual who is sus6 pected of marijuana-impaired driving, including 

7 blood testing and oral fluid testing; 

8 (E) how the effectiveness of such testing 

9 methods is compromised if there is a delay be10 tween when an individual is pulled over on sus11 picion of impaired driving and when the indi12 vidual is subjected to a physical test to deter13 mine the individual’s level of impairment; and 

14 (F) the most accurate field sobriety tests 

15 to determine the level of physical and cognitive 

16 impairment of drivers who have ingested mari17 juana. 

18 (2) NATURE OF STUDY.—The testing described 

19 in paragraph (1) shall— 

20 (A) include— 

21 (i) laboratory experimentation that 

22 measures the impact of marijuana on the 

23 physical and cognitive performance areas 

24 involved in driving, such as reaction time, 

25 tracking, motor coordination, visual funcVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:15 Jun 02, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2598.IH H2598

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1 tions, divided attention, signal detection, 

2 concentration, and hazard perception; and 

3 (ii) experimentation on a driving 

4 course or driving simulator (or both) that 

5 measures the impact of marijuana on driv6 ing performance; and 

7 (B) be completed not later than 2 years 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

9 (3) AVAILABILITY OF MARIJUANA TO NHTSA

10 FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES.—Not later than 60 days 

11 after receiving a request for research-grade mari12 juana from the Administrator, the National Institute 

13 on Drug Abuse shall make marijuana available to 

14 the Administrator in an amount sufficient for the 

15 Administrator to carry out the requirements of this 

16 subsection. Such marijuana shall be as similar as 

17 practicable in THC concentration to marijuana typi18 cally sold at marijuana dispensaries in States in 

19 which the use of marijuana is legal with or without 

20 medical justification. 

21 (b) REPORT.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis24 trator shall issue a report that— 


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1 (A) contains recommendations to States on 

2 how to prevent marijuana-impaired driving, in3 cluding— 

4 (i) the most effective measures for de5 termining marijuana impairment; 

6 (ii) the most effective methods for 

7 testing for marijuana impairment at the 

8 roadside, including an analysis of the af9 fordability and feasibility of such testing 

10 for State and local law enforcement agen11 cies; and 

12 (iii) strategies for addressing the dan13 gers posed by drivers who are impaired si14 multaneously by marijuana and other sub15 stances such as alcohol and prescription 

16 opioid medications; 

17 (B) incorporates the results of other avail18 able cognitive, experimental, and epidemiolog19 ical studies; and 

20 (C) summarizes any findings from the 

21 study conducted under subsection (a) that are 

22 available at the time of the report. 

23 (2) PUBLICATION.—The Administrator shall— 


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1 (A) make the report described in para2 graph (1) available without cost in an elec3 tronic, publicly accessible format; 

4 (B) publish updates to the report every 6 

5 months to account for further findings derived 

6 from the study conducted under subsection (a) 

7 and other relevant cognitive, experimental, and 

8 epidemiological research; and 

9 (C) make all raw statistical data derived 

10 from the study conducted under subsection (a) 

11 available in an electronic, publicly accessible 

12 format, which shall be— 

13 (i) made available without charge, li14 cense, or registration requirement; 

15 (ii) capable of being searched and ag16 gregated; 

17 (iii) permitted to be downloaded, in18 cluding downloaded in bulk; and 

19 (iv) updated every 6 months until the 

20 study is completed and the entirety of the 

21 results of the study has been published. 

Æ 


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