The Michigan State Police, Michigan's Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and other groups are urging lawmakers to maintain the state's 0.08 percent blood-alcohol content drunk driving threshold.
As the law stands now, the threshold is set to increase to .10 percent on October 1 of this year.
In the current law, "operating while intoxicated" includes the following:
The person has an alcohol content of 0.08 grams or more per 100 milliliters of blood, per 210 liters of breath, or per 67 milliliters of urine, or, beginning October 1, 2013, the person has an alcohol content of 0.10 grams or more per 100 milliliters of blood, per 210 liters of breath, or per 67 milliliters of urine.
The Michigan's House Judicial Committee took up a package of bills today that would keep the limit at 0.08 percent.
More from the Associated Press:
State police Legislative Liaison Dwayne Gill says studies show 0.08 laws contribute to a reduction in alcohol-related deaths. Sherry McGee of Mothers Against Drunk Driving says a person's critical driving skills become impaired when they reach the 0.08 percent threshold. If the bill isn't passed, Michigan could lose $50 million in federal funding for violating federal safety standards. Republican Andrea La Fontaine of Columbus Township who sponsored one of the bills called it "common sense."
*Correction - an earlier post stated "...the threshold is set to increase to .01 percent..." The threshold is set to increase to .10 percent on Oct. 1. The copy has been corrected above. Also we changed an earlier headline from "Threshold for drunk driving set to lessen unless lawmakers act" to the current headline.
