U. S. Transportation Secretary Mineta Announces $86.4 Million in Incentive Grants To States, Others With Tougher Drunk Driving Laws

Topics:  Norman Y. Mineta

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
October 3, 2003

NHTSA 43-03
Friday, October 3, 2003
Contact: Tim Hurd
Telephone: (202) 366-9550

Forty-four states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have received their incentives for lowering the legal threshold for impaired driving to .08 percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Together the grants total $86.4 million, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta in an announcement today.

"State legislatures that lowered the threshold for drunk driving have sent a strong message that they will not tolerate alcohol-impaired drivers," said Mineta. "We strongly encourage all states to adopt a tougher standard for drunk driving. It would improve safety and save lives. Safety is the Bush administration’s highest transportation priority."

The fiscal year 2003 incentive grant recipients from the U.S. Department of Transportation are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The grant recipients include 13 new jurisdictions that did not qualify for the fiscal year 2002 grants: Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Each of these 13 states qualified for the grants by enacting conforming .08 BAC laws that went into effect by

September 30, 2003. The funds may be used for highway safety or highway infrastructure projects and the federal share for the cost of any eligible project is 100 per cent. They range from $495,132 to $9,519,493 per state.

The funds announced today are incentive grants, authorized under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). It authorized $500 million in federal grants to states over six years beginning in 1998, as incentives to enact and enforce laws that make it illegal to operate a motor vehicle with a BAC of .08 or greater.

A list showing eligible recipients and grant amounts follows:

FY 2003 Funding for States with .08 Law

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