Alcohol And Drug Impaired Driving Enforcement

Under existing law, the office of transportation safety within the office of the executive director of the department of transportation (department) receives funding from money remaining in the law enforcement assistance fund after two required annual appropriations are made to provide funding to local governments that have established a qualified drunk driving prevention enforcement program. However, the department has not received funding from the first-time drunk driving offender account since state fiscal year 2020-2021.

The bill expands these programs to include both alcohol and drug impaired driving and requires the general assembly transportation commission to annually appropriate allocate $1.5 million from the marijuana tax cash fund the state highway fund to the department for allocation to the office of transportation safety, which will then distribute the money to local governments that implement high-visibility alcohol and drug impaired driving enforcement.The bill also requires local law enforcement agencies to follow written policies and procedures about racial profiling and use of force, complete in-service training annually, implement a recognizable pattern by which vehicles are stopped to prevent a bias-motivated stop, and locate checkpoints in areas where drunk or impaired driving crashes are likely to occur. No money may be allocated to a law enforcement agency subject to a judicially-ordered consent decree. In collaboration with the department of public safety, the department will publish an annual report. A law enforcement agency not complying with the requirements of the bill may lose funding or must pay back funding already received. The attorney general may bring a civil action to enforce the bill.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)