New Jersey Restaurant Association Urges Review of Penalties Before Enacting .08 BAC

The bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Weinberg will be considered by the Assembly Law & Public Safety Committee. In an ironic coincidence, on the same day as the DWI deliberations, the NJ Senate will be voting on a measure, with unenforceable rules, that will allow free wine to be served to the public in liquor stores across the State.
"NJ ranks among the top ten safest States in the nation even with the current .10 per se limit. Effective October 1, 2003, the federal government withheld 2% of federal highway dollars which is $7 million per year. Those funds are escrowed until the year 2007. If NJ enacts the law by then, we get the money back," reported Deborah Dowdell, president of the NJ Restaurant Association.

"If the State intends to lower the BAC, we hope we will take the time to think through the consequences of the new law."

Tom Schmierer, owner of The Alchemist & Barrister Restaurant in Princeton who is a member of the NJRA Board of Directors reports that "people will consume less alcohol if the State enacts .08 BAC. Just $100 in lost revenue per day for the 8000 license holders in the State is $292 million. This is $17.5 million in lost sales tax revenues, or $10 million more than will be held in escrow and is another economic hit this industry can't take at a time in the State when we're facing budget shortfalls."

NJRA reports that other States, in order to address concerns about employed citizens, provide for interlock devices and restricted drivers licenses, which allow them to continue to drive to work. Some States will restore driving privileges within the term of their conviction. This is not the case in NJ.

Many States provide 90 day license revocation, 60, 30 days. In Virginia, a person convicted of a drunk driving offense will lose his license for only 7 days. This compares to NJ where current law provides for an automatic 6 month loss of license, no early restoration, no restricted license and very high fines, penalties and insurance surcharges adding up to close to $20,000 for a first time offender.

"Lowering the BAC to .08 in NJ will not be an equalization of our law with other States, because our penalty is far more severe and the consequence to NJ citizens is far greater," said Deborah Dowdell.

NJ's penalty structure compared to other States is a fairly new discussion in this debate, and it raises questions about fairness, whether or not a change in penalty structure will comply with the federal mandate, whether or not we will receive the funds anyway since our current law makes DWI a civil versus criminal offense.

The median level where accidents & fatalities occur is .17. People with alcohol addiction who continue to drive and are charged with a 2nd and 3rd offense and who continue to drive while their licenses are suspended are the culprits. Alcohol related accident statistics show that the problem is the high BAC drinker at .17, .20, .25, mostly consuming alcohol at home or in unregulated environments. These are the people causing the vast majority of accidents. .08 to .09 is not the problem. NJRA contends that in order to truly impact public safety, the laws should target the repeat offender and the high BAC drinker.

.08 BAC, even the current .10 BAC limit, are arbitrary measurements and do not determine impairment, because alcohol affects different people differently depending on many factors. A woman with a slight build consuming 2 glasses of wine on an empty stomach may reach .08 BAC in one hour. Whether she and other responsible patrons of restaurants should face such severe consequences is of concern to the NJRA.

NJRA believes the consequences of changing the law concerning DWI are so important that there should not be a rush to act.

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