Wisconsin is poised to lose millions of dollars in federal highway money if the Legislature does not accept a federal law to change the blood-alcohol limit from .1 to .08 percent.
Jim Condelles of the state Department of Transportation Public Affairs office said that if Wisconsin does not concur with the federal law passed in 2000, it could lose more than $124 million in the next five years.
According to an analysis by the DOT, if Wisconsin does not change its law by September 2003, they would face a 2 percent penalty in 2004, which would equal $9.1 million. The penalty would rise by another 2 percentage points every year until 2007 when it would cap out at 8 percent, an estimated $35.3 million loss. Condelles said that the state would continue to be penalized at that level for each year afterward.
\In the short run, it would affect any kind of projects that we've got planned. Nine million dollars is a large chunk of money,"" Condelles said.
According to Nina Emerson, director of the Resource Center on Impaired Driving at the UW-Madison Law School, the change is only about a one-drink difference.
""It's based upon research in the arena that's been done from a traffic safety standpoint,"" Emerson said. ""The research suggests that all people are impaired to some degree at .08.""
State Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, said the issue in question is that the federal government is forcing states to accept the law by holding federal highway dollars hostage.
""An exact parallel is the drinking age,"" Pocan said.
Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman state Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Greenfield, said the Legislature does not want to change the law because the drunken driving laws underwent a major overhaul two years ago, which Stone thinks will have more of an impact on highway safety than the federal law.
""We increased the fines and penalties for both repeat offenders and for those with high levels of blood-alcohol content,"" Stone said.
Stone said that he is concerned about losing federal money, but if the state can show that it has safer highways, then they will possibly apply for a waiver.
""All the statistics I've been able to find on drunk driving show that there is a small group of hardcore drunk drivers that continue to reoffend,"" Stone said. ""The more we can do to focus our attention on that group the more impact we will have on drunk driving.""
However, Emerson said that repeat offenders make up only 20 to 24 percent of offenders driving under the influence.
""It's hard to know how effective the changes will be because that's just one component,"" Emerson said. ""You can have a .08 law, but if the law enforcement is not enforcing it or making drunk driving arrests, then how effective is it?\
