Bill to lower legal blood-alcohol limit for WA drivers clears major hurdle

Senate Bill 5067, which would lower the limit from .08 to .05, passed the state Senate Wednesday.

“This legislation is about community safety,” Democratic Senator John Lovick, a prime sponsor of the bill, said. “It’s about changing the culture of driving in our state.”

Lovick has served as the Snohomish County Sheriff and as a Washington State Trooper.

“I investigated thousands, and I mean thousands of DUI collisions during my career,” he said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “Every single DUI collision was preventable.”

Republican senator opposes bill: ‘We’re addressing people who aren’t impaired’

Republican Senator Jeff Holy voted no.

Before serving in the legislature, he served as a Spokane police officer. He told his colleagues in the Senate that he had had similar experiences to Lovick.

“Part of that has been scraping dead kids, dead drivers out of cars, people off pavement, knocking on parents’ doors at 3 o’clock in the morning and notifying them that their 17-year-old was just killed,” he said. “Things that you take to the grave with you, matters of the heart.”

Holy said he wants to keep drunk drivers off the road, but he does not believe this bill is the way to go.

“My argument with this bill is we’re at the point of diminishing returns,” he said. “We are addressing people who are not impaired.”

The bill now moves to the House.

Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.