Senate Panel Defies Barker's Bills for National DUI Standards

By Catherine Leth
Capital News Service

Senate committee has killed two bills that would have brought Virginia up to speed with national DUI standards.

With little debate, the Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted 14-1 that Senate Bill 1075 be “passed by indefinitely.” The bill would have changed the administrative license suspension period for DUI offenders from seven days to 60 days – still below the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recommended 90-day suspension.

Forty-three states have ALS provisions. Four have a suspension period of less than 90 days; Virginia’s is the shortest.

An administrative license suspension happens when somebody is arrested for allegedly driving under the influence – before the person is convicted. Opponents argued that revoking a license before trial is unfair and could be challenged by DUI defense lawyers.

Such objections are surmountable, said Sen. George Barker, D-Prince William, who sponsored both of the failed bills. “Obviously other states have found they could manage that type of thing.”

Barker’s other proposal, SB 1035, failed on a 6-7 vote. It would have made possessing an open container of alcohol in the passenger area of a vehicle a $25 civil infraction.

Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have open container laws. Opponents on the committee cited a person’s right to enjoy an alcoholic beverage if they’re not operating a vehicle.

A federal statute making open containers illegal is already in place. States that don’t comply must redirect federal highway construction dollars to highway safety funding. According to Barker, Virginia has lost about $140 million in funding for construction projects in the past decade.

“I think there’s a reasonable chance that, at some point, that type of thing will pass – particularly given how desperate we are for transportation funding,” Barker said.