Law enforcement rallies support for DWI bills

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Law enforcement rallies support for DWI bills

Ellen Pitt organized the press conference on the Jackson County Historic Courthouse steps. She was joined by law enforcement from around the region. Kyle Perrotti photo

As the May 4 deadline for crossover approaches in the North Carolina General Assembly, a last-minute push has begun to get a series of bills to crack down on drunk driving to the House floor.

In an effort to increase public awareness — and ultimately political pressure — for the bills, high-ranking law enforcement officers from around Western North Carolina, including several sheriffs, gathered on the steps of Jackson County’s historic courthouse for a small press conference. Jackson County Sheriff Doug Farmer kicked things off.

“The reason for this bill is to save lives,” Farmer said of one bill that would lower the legal limit for blood alcohol content while driving from .08 to .05. “That’s what law enforcement is all about.”

WNC Regional DWI Taskforce Director Ellen Pitt organized the presser and spoke after Farmer. Pitt noted that the National Transportation Safety Board recommended in 2013 that all states lower the legal limit to .05. So far, Utah is the only state to have followed that guidance. Pitt said that law has saved lives while not noticeably hurting businesses that rely on alcohol sales.

“Tourism and alcohol sales continued an upward trend, and everybody felt safer,” Pitt said.

Pitt told reporters that it’s time for legislators to consider how to save lives on the road and touted a recent endorsement from the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association.

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“Our sheriffs have said ‘enough is enough,’” she said. “It's time for every elected official and appointed officials to salute and support these visionary sheriffs. In this life saving endeavor, North Carolina can help Utah lead the nation and highway safety.”

The final speaker was Cherokee County Sheriff’s Capt. David Williams, a former North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper who has been instrumental in drawing attention to Clampitt’s bills. Williams discussed some of the companion bills to H 148. For example, H 146 would allow law enforcement to use roadside portable breathalyzer test results during probably cause hearings related to DWI charges. Right now, they can only say whether alcohol was present but may not introduce the actual number. Several states have already made this change.

Williams also discussed H 147, which would allow for a civil revocation of a driver’s license if a driver is impaired on a narcotic other than alcohol.

“This will bring parity to that,” Williams said.

H 211 would eliminate a mitigating factor that currently exists in DWI cases. Right now, if a driver is between .08 and .1, they are not punished as harshly as those who have more alcohol in their system.

“We don’t think that should be a mitigating factor when they’re still violating the law,” Williams said.

Finally, he discussed H 212, which would help those who complete sobriety court to dispose of a DWI charge to pay for reinstatement of their license while also helping pay for certain measures during the process such as an ignition interlock.

“If they're able to do that, then we feel that they're making a good faith effort, then we feel if they're able to do this in a sobriety court, then we feel that they should be punished through, or they should be rewarded for that,” he said.

Mike Clampitt, R-Haywood, brought the series of bills to the General Assembly at the beginning of this year. Those bills all currently sit in committee and must be heard by the May 4 deadline for crossover, at which point bills have to be out of the House to be heard in the Senate and vice-versa. Although that deadline is rapidly approaching, Clampitt told The Smoky Mountain News he remains confident.

“We’ve been mostly tied up with budget stuff,” Clampitt said. “I feel like we have good momentum right now and at the moment I’m very optimistic.”

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