Critics say impaired driving bill overly broad

DES MOINES - Although they generally support the intent of a bill to crack down on distracted driving, civil liberties advocates said it creates a likely unintended expansion in judicial powers.

They also said House Study Bill 109, which comes from Gov. Terry Branstad's office, doesn't address the prevention of impaired driving.

The bill was endorsed by the overwhelming majority of the two dozen speakers, including those who had lost loved ones to drunken drivers.

'It's time to take action,” Gregary Franck of Ankeny told the lawmakers. His son was killed by a driver who had been arrested three times for drunken driving but was driving because of Iowa's 'catch-and-release” drunken driving law, Franck said.

The proposed bill would provide that cellphone use while driving would be considered evidence of reckless driving 'with willful or wanton disregard” for public safety. A driver who struck and killed someone would commit a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of no more than $10,000.

'We believe this puts some teeth in the law” with regards to texting while driving, said Susan Cameron, lobbyist for the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association.

Pete McRoberts said the ACLU of Iowa doesn't object to the teeth but said the intent of Branstad and lawmakers 'is not matched by the language in the bill.”

A person arrested for any alcohol-related offense, not just driving violations, could be required to submit to twice-a-day alcohol testing even before having their day in court.

'It is a significant expansion of government power for a person to be enrolled in such a thing when liberty interests are at stake before they have been adjudicated,” McRoberts said. 'This is far too broad in terms of the restriction of liberty and the power it gives to that judge.”

He pointed out that people arrested for disorderly conduct, a bar fight or 'yelling outside the bar at night” would be subject to mandatory testing and use of an ignition interlock device on their vehicle.

Rep. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, who has sponsored similar legislation, agreed impaired driving 'is a big issue, and it has worsened over the years.

'If we're going to do it, I want us to really strengthen it and make a dent in it,” Salmon said.

One way to do something would be to prevent impaired driving, said Lisa Davis-Cook of the Association for Justice.

Strengthening dram shop laws and point of last drink laws could 'actually help with impaired driving before it happens,” she said.

'If we really want to look at impaired driving as a whole, especially drunken driving, we need to start looking at the front end as well and what we can do to prevent those people from being on the road in the first place, from being overserved and start addressing that part of the problem as well,” Davis-Cook said.

Subcommittee Chairman Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, plans to move the bill to full committee to meet the March 3 deadline for bills to be approved by a committee in either the House or Senate.

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