Under the Dome: Lawmakers look to lower the legal alcohol limit for drivers
Good morning and welcome to Under the Dome. I’m Emmy Martin.
Lawmakers are working across the aisle to advocate for a bill introduced earlier this year to lower the legal blood alcohol concentration limit for operating vehicles from 0.08 to 0.05.
Democratic Rep. Eric Ager will lead a press conference on Tuesday at noon about the bill with the WNC Regional DWI Task Force president Ellen Pitt, law enforcement officials and family members of victims affected by drunken driving.
Ager is a primary sponsor of the bill alongside Republican Rep. Mike Clampitt, who introduced House Bill 108 in February. Republican Reps. Keith Kidwell and Brian Echevarria are also primary sponsors on the bill.
This isn’t Clampitt’s first attempt. He filed a bill that would lower the legal limit in 2023, The News & Observer reported at the time.
HB 108 also strengthens penalties for adults who enable underage alcohol purchases involved in serious injury and creates a pathway for repeat offenders to regain limited driving privileges by proving sobriety.
It also requires the recording of district court proceedings and public reporting on impaired-driving cases.
Utah lowered its limit in 2017 when it passed a bill changing the limit to 0.05%. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a study that found a nearly 20% reduction in car crashes in Utah between 2016 and 2019.
In a statement, Clampitt called the bill “the most comprehensive and potentially the most lifesaving legislation” in nearly two decades.
OPEN UP LEGISLATORS’ DOCUMENTS?
Republican Rep. John Blust filed a bill on Thursday that would increase state lawmakers’ transparency.
Provisions within the 2023 budget gave legislators the power to shield records from the public, exempting them from the state public records law.
Critics of the provisions called the move a drastic reinterpretation of precedent, The News & Observer reported at the time.
House Bill 900 would modify that exemption to omit the following:
Federal grand jury subpoenas
Requests for information from investigative authorities
Correspondence regarding bills appropriating state funds to businesses and nonprofits
Correspondence with lobbyists and lobbyist principals about legislation
Compensation records of the legislator’s staff
Correspondence with state agencies regarding the business interests of the legislator
TRICIA COTHAM’S PAVE ACT
Republican Rep. Tricia Cotham filed a bill on Thursday that aims to improve Mecklenburg County’s transit system, allowing the county to put a sales tax increase to a vote.
House Bill 948, titled the “Projects for Advancing Vehicle-Infrastructure Enhancements (PAVE) Act”, is focused on improving the county’s transportation infrastructure.
Republican Sen. Vickie Sawyer filed a similar bill with Republicans Bill Rabon and David Craven Jr. titled the “Mecklenburg Transportation Referendum,” earlier this year.
Cotham’s bill calls for 40% of the funds allocated to public transportation from a sales tax increase of 1 cent to go to roads and 60% to all other forms of public transit. This is different from Sawyer’s bill, which capped funds allocated for rail at 40%.
“Our region has been discussing and envisioning transportation opportunities for years. Today, my legislation, The P.A.VE. Act, brings those visions to reality,” Cotham said Thursday in a post on X.
HB 948 also calls for a study of the light rail project known as the Silver Line East and the establishment of a Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority for Mecklenburg County.
In a joint press release, the managers of Mecklenburg County, the city of Charlotte, and the towns of Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Mint Hill and Pineville applauded Cotham’s bill.
The Charlotte Observer’s Mary Ramsey has more on the bill.
RICHARD OJEDA RUNS FOR NC’ 9TH DISTRICT
Democrat Richard Ojeda, a retired major in the U.S. Army, is running for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.
Ojeda served at Fort Bragg during his time in the Army, which is within the 9th district. He has raised more than $300,000 from more than 10,000 individual donors, according to his campaign.
He served in West Virginia’s state Senate from 2017 to 2019 and ran a short campaign for president in the 2020 election.
He will challenge U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Hudson recently advised his Republican colleagues not to hold in-person town halls due to criticism at the events, POLITICO reported.
In response, Democrats are hosting a town hall in Hudson’s district on April 24.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic National Committee, and Association of State Democratic Chairs have hosted similar town halls across the country to “call out House Republicans in target districts who’ve refused to meet with their constituents in-person,” they say.
WHAT ELSE WE’RE WORKING ON
Lawmakers are trying to ban the sale of hemp and hemp-derived products to anyone under 21 through a bill titled “The Protect Children from Cannabis Act,” Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi reports.
The Trump administration recently awarded an $8.3 million federal grant to TMSA Public Charter Schools through the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program grant administration, T. Keung Hui reports. The grant will help schools in Wake, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Guilford counties.
Today’s newsletter was by Emmy Martin. Check your inbox Sunday for more #ncpol.
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