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| Legislative Watch | 
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Colorado |
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10/16/03-The
Transportation Legislation Review Committee gave tentative
approval Oct. 15 to support lowering
the state’s drunken-driving threshold from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent.
The measure will be introduced when the Legislature convenes in January 2004.
A 2000 federal law required each state’s legislature to adopt the 0.08 limit by Oct. 1, 2003, or lose 2 percent of its highway money. Colorado is one of only four states (Delaware, Minnesota and West Virginia being the others) to defy the federal mandate.
Colorado’s previous refusal to adhere to the standard cost the state $4.9 million in highway dollars when lawmakers ignored the Oct. 1 deadline. Next year, the loss will be $9.9 million, with the penalty growing to nearly $20 million each year beginning in 2007.
States that adopt the new limit by Oct. 1, 2006, can recover the withheld funds.
The measure will be introduced when the Legislature convenes in January 2004.
A 2000 federal law required each state’s legislature to adopt the 0.08 limit by Oct. 1, 2003, or lose 2 percent of its highway money. Colorado is one of only four states (Delaware, Minnesota and West Virginia being the others) to defy the federal mandate.
Colorado’s previous refusal to adhere to the standard cost the state $4.9 million in highway dollars when lawmakers ignored the Oct. 1 deadline. Next year, the loss will be $9.9 million, with the penalty growing to nearly $20 million each year beginning in 2007.
States that adopt the new limit by Oct. 1, 2006, can recover the withheld funds.