U.S. Transportation Secretary Slater Announces $69.7 Million in Incentive Grants To 17 States, D.C., With .08 BAC Laws

Topics:  Rodney E. Slater

NHTSA
August 24, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NHTSA 35-00
Thursday, August 24, 2000
Contact: NHTSA, Tim Hurd, (202) 366-9550

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced incentive grants totaling $69.7 million to 17 states and the District of Columbia for lowering the legal threshold for impaired driving to .08 percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

President Clinton said, "The people of these states and the District of Columbia have sent a strong message they will not tolerate impaired drivers on their roads. I challenge Congress to enact stronger legislation requiring states to make .08 BAC their threshold for drunk driving or risk losing highway construction funds. State .08 BAC laws have proved to be effective in preventing crashes and improving safety, our highest transportation priority."

The Clinton-Gore Administration favors a provision in the Senate transportation funding bill that would withhold certain federal highway construction funds from states that do not adopt and enforce a .08 BAC threshold as the level at or beyond which a driver is too impaired to drive safely. Secretary Slater has urged Congress that this provision be included in the fiscal 2001 transportation funding bill.

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 6 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.

"The science is clear. At .08 BAC, a person is too impaired to drive safely," Secretary Slater said. "Safety is everyone's responsibility, and President Clinton and Vice President Gore have made it their highest transportation priority. Every state should have a .08 law to help get unsafe drivers off the road."

The states receiving fiscal 2000 incentive grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are: Alabama, $3 million; California, $16.4 million; District of Columbia, $858,000; Florida, $7.6 million; Hawaii, $858,000; Idaho, $1 million; Illinois, $7 million; Kansas, $2.6 million; Maine, $858,000; New Hampshire, $858,000; New Mexico, $1.4 million; North Carolina, $4.3 million; Oregon, $2.3 million; Texas, $11.5 million; Utah, $1.3 million; Vermont, $858,000; Virginia, $3.8 million; and Washington, $3.2 million.

The total amount awarded this year is $12 million more than awarded in 1999.

Kentucky and Puerto Rico enacted .08 BAC laws during 2000. Their laws will become effective after the Sept. 30, 2000 deadline for a fiscal 2000 grant.

Two states (Texas and Kentucky), the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have enacted .08 BAC laws since TEA-21 established the incentive grant program in June 1998.

States can use these incentive grant funds for any highway safety or highway infrastructure project eligible under title 23 of the United States Code. Last year, states used 69 percent of federal .08 BAC incentive funding for highway safety programs and 31 percent for federal highway projects.