Caledonia Argus

From the Capitol: Senates passes .08 legislation

Posted: 2/17/04

The Senate Thursday, Feb. 12, passed long-debated legislation to lower the stateís blood alcohol limit to .08.

The bill, which was passed by a vote of 48 to 18, was the first legislation passed by the Senate this session.

Gov. Pawlenty supports the initiative. According to administration officials, he wants .08 passed this session.

The legislation has passed both the House and Senate in previous years but failed in conference committee.

Lowering the stateís standard has been a goal for Sen. Leo Foley, DFL-Coon Rapids, for more than a decade.

A former state patrol officer, Foley, who on the Senate floor said he arrested thousands of drunk drivers during his law enforcement career, argued against delaying implementation of .08 as some Senate colleagues wanted to do.

Fourteen people a year would die on state highways were the federally-driven legislation delayed until a 2007 deadline, Foley argued.

ìIt can save lives right away,î said Foley.

But some senators wanted to delay for three years ó the cutoff for avoiding federal transportation funding sanctions.

Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, argued in favor of delaying.

He called the bill an ìunfunded mandateî on local government, one that would drive up local property taxes, and result in millions of dollars of additional cost to the state.

Tomassoni said the lower standard could result in 5,000 additional DUI arrests a year.

But Foley countered by saying statistics from other states that have adopted .08 ó only Minnesota and two other states havenít ó clearly refute Tomassoniís assertion.

Attempts at delaying implementation failed.

Local lawmakers spoke on the issue.

Sen. Mike McGinn, R-Eagan, a retired police officer, called .08 ìgood public policy.î

Sen. David Knutson, R-Burnsville, argued on the Senate floor that delaying .08 delays its ìlifesaving potential.î

But Senate Minority Leader Dick Day, R-Owatonna, chided the senators for their ìpious talkî about the need for .08 while just last session the Legisalture voted to allow the extention of bar closing times until 2 a.m.

One amendment successfully amended onto the bill calls for a study of DUI arrests

Local lawmakers voting for .08: Bachmann, Belanger, Betzold, Chaudhary, Knutson, Limmer, McGinn, Nienow, Wergin, Foley.

Voting against: Jungbauer, Kierlin, Ourada, Pariseau, and Reiter.type

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