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 Com-
mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend title 23, United States Code, to increase penalties 
for individuals who operate motor vehicles while intoxi-
cated or under the influence of alcohol.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Higher-Risk Impaired 
Driver Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Of the total 42,850 people who died in 
motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States
during 2002, alcohol-related traffic deaths accounted 
for 42 percent—preliminary data shows that 17,970 
people died in these crashes. 
(2) Alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the 
United States have been rising since 1999. 
(3) About one-third of all drivers arrested or 
convicted of driving under the influence are repeat 
offenders. 
(4) A report released by the alcohol industry 
showed that 58 percent of alcohol-related traffic fa-
talities in 2001 involved drivers with a blood alcohol 
concentration level of .15 percent and above. 
(5) Research funded by the alcohol industry has 
concluded that repeat offenders of alcohol-impaired 
driving laws and first offenders with high blood alco-
hol concentration (BAC) levels are at greatest risk 
of committing a subsequent drunk driving offense. 
(6) It should be the policy of the federal gov-
ernment, among other aims, to target these repeat 
offenders and high BAC level offenders to help re-
duce the risk of fatality due to alcohol-impaired driv-
ing.
SEC. 3. INCREASED PENALTIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter I of title 23, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 165. Increased penalties for higher risk drivers for 
driving 
while 
intoxicated 
or 
driving 
under the influence 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following 
definitions apply: 
‘‘(1) BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION.—The 
term ‘blood alcohol concentration’ means grams of 
alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or the equivalent 
grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. 
‘‘(2) DRIVING
WHILE
INTOXICATED; DRIVING 
UNDER THE INFLUENCE.—The terms ‘driving while 
intoxicated’ and ‘driving under the influence’ mean 
driving or being in actual physical control of a motor 
vehicle while having a blood alcohol concentration 
above the permitted limit as established by each 
State. 
‘‘(3) LICENSE SUSPENSION.—The term ‘license 
suspension’ means the suspension of all driving 
privileges. 
‘‘(4) MOTOR VEHICLE.—The term ‘motor vehi-
cle’ means a vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical 
power and manufactured primarily for use on public
highways but does not include a vehicle operated 
solely on a rail line or a commercial vehicle. 
‘‘(5) HIGHER-RISK IMPAIRED DRIVER LAW.—
‘‘(A) The term ‘higher-risk impaired driver 
law’ means a State law that provides, as a min-
imum penalty, that an individual described in 
subparagraph (B) shall—
‘‘(i) receive a driver’s license suspen-
sion for not less than 1 year, including a 
complete ban on driving for not less than 
90 days and for the remainder of the li-
cense suspension period and prior to the 
issuance of a probational hardship or work 
permit license, be required to install a cer-
tified alcohol ignition interlock device; 
‘‘(ii) have the motor vehicle driven at 
the time of arrest impounded or immo-
bilized for not less than 90 days and for 
the remainder of the license suspension pe-
riod require the installation of a certified 
alcohol ignition interlock device on the ve-
hicle; 
‘‘(iii) be subject to an assessment by 
a certified substance abuse official of the 
State that assesses the individual’s degree
of abuse of alcohol and assigned to a treat-
ment program or impaired driving edu-
cation program as determined by the as-
sessment; 
‘‘(iv) be imprisoned for not less than 
10 days, have an electronic monitoring de-
vice for not less than 100 days, or be as-
signed to a DUI/DWI specialty facility for 
not less than 30 days; 
‘‘(v) be fined a minimum of $1,000, 
with the proceeds of such funds to be used 
by the State or local jurisdiction for im-
paired driving related prevention, enforce-
ment, and prosecution programs, or for the 
development or maintenance of a tracking 
system of offenders driving while impaired; 
‘‘(vi) if the arrest resulted from in-
volvement in a crash, pay court-mandated 
restitution to the victims of the crash; 
‘‘(vii) be placed on probation by the 
court for a period of not less than 2 years; 
‘‘(viii) if diagnosed with a substance 
abuse problem, during the first year of the 
probation period referred to in clause (vii),
attend a treatment program for a period
of 12 consecutive months sponsored by a 
State certified substance abuse treatment 
agency and meet with a case manager at 
least once each month; and 
‘‘(ix) be required by the court to at-
tend a victim impact panel, if such a panel 
is available. 
‘‘(B) An individual referred to in subpara-
graph (A) is an individual who—
‘‘(i) is convicted of a second or subse-
quent offense for driving while intoxicated 
or driving under the influence within a 
minimum of 5 consecutive years; 
‘‘(ii) is convicted of a driving while in-
toxicated or driving under the influence 
with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 
percent or greater; 
‘‘(iii) is convicted of a driving-while-
suspended offense if the suspension was 
the result of a conviction for driving under 
the influence; or 
‘‘(iv) refuses a blood alcohol con-
centration test while under arrest or inves-
tigation for involvement in a fatal or seri-
ous injury crash.
‘‘(6) SPECIAL
DUI/DWI
FACILITY.—The term 
‘special DUI/DWI facility’ means a facility that 
houses and treats offenders arrested for driving 
while impaired and allows such offenders to work 
and/or attend school. 
‘‘(7) VICTIM IMPACT PANEL.—The term ‘victim 
impact panel’ means a group of impaired driving vic-
tims who speak to offenders about impaired driving. 
The purpose of the panel is to change attitudes and 
behaviors in order to deter impaired driving recidi-
vism. 
‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS.—
‘‘(1) FISCAL YEAR 2008.—On October 1, 2007, 
if a State has not enacted or is not enforcing a high-
er-risk impaired driver law, the Secretary shall with-
hold 2 percent of the amount required to be appor-
tioned for Federal-aid highways to the State on that 
date under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 
section 104(b). 
‘‘(2) FISCAL YEAR 2009.—On October 1, 2008, 
if a State has not enacted or is not enforcing a high-
er-risk impaired driver law, the Secretary shall with-
hold 4 percent of the amount required to be appor-
tioned for Federal-aid highways to the State on that
date under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 
section 104(b). 
‘‘(3) FISCAL YEAR 2010.—On October 1, 2009, 
if a State has not enacted or is not enforcing a high-
er-risk impaired driver law, the Secretary shall with-
hold 6 percent of the amount required to be appor-
tioned for Federal-aid highways to the State on that 
date under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 
section 104(b). 
‘‘(4) FISCAL YEAR 2011.—On October 1, 2010, 
and on October 1 of each year thereafter, if a State 
has not enacted or is not enforcing a higher-risk im-
paired driving law, the Secretary shall withhold 8 
percent of the amount required to be apportioned for 
Federal-aid highways to the State on that date 
under each of paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of section 
104(b).’’.
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