Blood Alcohol Level Of .08 to Be New National Standard

Congress has passed its new transportation bill for fiscal year 2001. The bill strongly encourages a nationwide .08 blood alcohol level standard be used in determining whether drivers are legally intoxicated. The 32 states that currently employ some other standard must adopt the .08 standard by 2004 or see their federal funding decline by 2%. Noncompliant states will see their federal funding reduced by an additional 2% each year, up to an 8% reduction in 2007. Noncompliant states may recoup any lost federal funds by adopting the .08 blood alcohol standard before 2007.

The...