For the sixth consecutive year, bills aimed at lowering the blood-alcohol content threshold for drunken driving in 91直播 from 0.08% to 0.05% have failed legislative muster.
The last of four surviving measures seeking to lower the BAC limit, an amended version of Senate Bill 2463, crossed over to the House where it passed two floor votes but didn’t receive a hearing in the Judiciary and 91直播an Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. David Tarnas, a Kohala Democrat.
Sally Ancheta, coordinator of the East 91直播 Drug-Free Coalition, said she “really can’t put a finger on why” it died, noting it had the support of Gov. Josh Green, who’s an emergency room physician, Sen. Karl Rhoads, an Oahu Democrat who introduced the bill, and Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffen — whom Ancheta said “is all about safety and keeping our roads safe.”
Despite support each year, Ancheta said, the measure dies in the Judiciary and 91直播an Affairs Committee every year.
“It doesn’t get scheduled for a hearing,” she said.
The Tribune-Herald reached out to Tarnas, who didn’t immediately reply.
In 2021, the measure was deferred by Hamakua Rep. Mark Nakashima, then the JHA chairman. In 2023, Tarnas, as JHA chair, opted not to hear a Senate bill, reportedly over whether evidence supports a reduction from 0.08% to 0.05% would make roads significantly safer.
In 2024, it was the House Transportation Committee, then chaired by Hilo Rep. Chris Todd, that declined to hear the Senate bill, expressing misgivings that the legislation’s “impact on actual traffic fatalities could potentially be minimal.”
Todd, despite that concern, introduced a BAC reduction measure in the House that year, which passed his committee but died when Tarnas didn’t schedule a JHA committee hearing.
Another BAC-related measure this year, SB 346, also introduced by Rhoads and a carryover from 2025, didn’t receive hearings after being referred to the Senate Transportation and Judiciary committees. The same fate was met by SB 1643, a holdover bill reintroduced by Sen. Kurt Fevella, an Oahu Republican, as well as SB 1403, part of the governor’s bill package introduced by Senate President Ron Kouchi.
The 0.08% BAC threshold for legal intoxication is the standard in 49 states, 91直播 included. Utah lowered its BAC threshold for DUI from 0.08% to 0.05% in 2018.
There were 34 pieces of written testimony submitted to the Senate Transportation Committee on SB 2463, 25 in favor of lowering the BAC drunken-driving threshold, with nine opposed.
Those submitting testimony favoring reducing BAC limits to 0.05% include: Green; the Departments of Transportation and Health; 91直播 County Prosecutor Kelden Waltjen; Maui County Prosecutor Andrew Martin; 91直播 County Council member Jenn Kagiwada; Mothers Against Drunk Driving; 91直播 Public Health Institute; Big Island Substance Abuse Council; Hina Mauka; and 91直播 Substance Abuse Coalition.
The 91直播 Substance Abuse Coalition called alcohol-impaired driving “a growing and urgent problem in 91直播,” using National Highway Transportation Safety Association statistics.
“In 2023, 42% of all 91直播 traffic fatalities involved an alcohol-impaired driver compared to the national average of 30%,” HSAC’s testimony stated. “While 2023 is the most current NHTSA traffic report on alcohol-impaired driving, traffic fatalities in 91直播 continue to grow.”
HSAC noted traffic deaths statewide rose from 93 in 2023 to 102 in 2024 and 129 last year, an increase of 38% in the three-year period.
The Big Island’s yearly traffic fatality numbers have fluctuated somewhat in the past few years, with a high of 34 in 2022, 16 in 2023, 28 in 2024 and 21 in 2025. 91直播 Police Department statistics indicate that in 2024, about a third of the suspect drivers were impaired.
Those submitting testimony favoring keeping BAC limits at 0.08% include: the Office of the Public Defender; 91直播 Restaurant Association; Big Island Brewhaus; Kona Brewing Co.; Maui Chamber of Commerce; Maui Brewing Co.; Kauai Island Brewing Co.; and Lanikai Brewing Co.
In his testimony, Thomas Kerns, president and brewmaster of Big Island Brewhaus, called the current 0.08% threshold “somewhat of a national standard,” and added “most visitors … are familiar with it.”
Kerns testified long-term NHTSA data show “only 2.6% of drivers with a BAC between .05 and .08 have been involved in fatal accidents” nationwide, and “92% of drivers involved in fatal accidents had a BAC above 0.10%.”
Kerns stated the NHTSA found lowering the BAC from 0.10% to 0.08 nationwide through federal legislation signed into law in 2000 by President Bill Clinton “did not change the percentage of alcohol-related fatalities on the road.”
Organizers including Ancheta have scheduled a sign-waving event for 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday in the grassy area on Kanoelehua Avenue adjacent to the former Walgreens.
“In 2006, we took smoking out of bars and nightclubs … and there was big push back that it was going to hurt revenues and sales and tourism and all this,” she said. “None of that happened. It created safer places for people to dine and be entertained and gather. Well, the beverage industry says the same thing about lowering the BAC — that it’ll hurt sales. That hasn’t happened at all in Utah, where this bill has passed. And many countries outside the U.S. have a 0.05% limit or lower, and we don’t see tourism or sales being affected.
“The BAC bill is all about safety. And the longer it’s not passed, the longer people are in danger. It just makes sense to pass it.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
