AN ACT CONCERNING ADMINISTRATIVE PER SE VIOLATIONS AND PROCEDURES.

This bill makes several changes in both the criminal and administrative per se laws. Specifically it:

1. decreases the presumptive level for determining if a driver of a commercial motor vehicle is operating with an elevated blood alcohol level from . 08% to . 04%;

2. decreases the minimum time police must wait before administering the required second blood-alcohol test from 30 to 10 minutes and narrows the range of test results that require a reverse extrapolation or “relation back” of the test results to establish the driver's blood-alcohol level at the actual time of operation of the vehicle; and

3. notwithstanding the statutory requirement for service of subpoenas at least 18 hours before appearance is required, requires any subpoena summoning a police officer as a witness in a per se hearing to be served on the officer at least 72 hours before the designated time of the hearing.

The bill expands the definition of “elevated blood alcohol content” to include operating a commercial motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol level of . 04% or more. This applies to both the criminal violation and the administrative per se license suspension process. Thus, under the bill the presumptive level for determining if someone is driving a commercial motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is reduced from . 08% to . 04%. The law already requires someone found to have been driving a commercial motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol level of . 04% or more to be disqualified from driving commercial vehicles for one year.

A commercial motor vehicle is one for which the driver must hold a commercial driver's license. By law these include vehicles designed and used to transport people or property, except for farming vehicles, fire apparatus, or emergency vehicles, and recreational vehicles in private use, that:

1. have a gross vehicle weight rating over 26,000 pounds or a gross combination weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds inclusive of one or more towed units with gross weight ratings over 10,000 pounds;

2. are designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver, or more than 10 passengers, including the driver, when the passengers are students under age 21 being transported to and from school; or

3. are transporting hazardous materials in quantities that required placards under federal law or that are listed as a select agent or toxin under federal regulations.

ADMISSIBILITY OF CHEMICAL TEST RESULTS AND ADMINISTRATION OF SECOND CHEMICAL TEST

Currently, in order for the results of a chemical test to be admissible in a criminal prosecution, the law requires a second test of the same type to be given to the accused person at least 30 minutes after the first test. The law also requires a true copy of the report to be mailed or personally delivered to the defendant within 24 hours or by the end of the next regular business day after the result is known. If the results of the additional test show the person's blood-alcohol level to be . 12% or less and the result is higher that the result of the first test, evidence must be presented that shows that the test results accurately indicate the blood alcohol content at the time of the alleged offense. This is known as “relation back. ”

The bill (1) decreases the minimum time between the first and second tests from 30 minutes to 10 minutes and (2) lowers the blood-alcohol test result that triggers the relation back determination from . 12% to . 10%. It makes the same change from . 12% to . 10% in the relation back provisions of the administrative per se law.

By law, it is a criminal violation to operate a motor vehicle, on the highway or elsewhere, (1) while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or both or (2) with an “elevated blood alcohol content. ” Someone is considered to have an elevated blood alcohol content when the ratio of alcohol in the blood is . 08% or more, by weight, or, if under age 21, the ratio of alcohol in the blood is . 02% or more. Anyone who receives a driver's license in Connecticut is deemed by law to have given his “implied consent” to a chemical test of his blood, breath, or urine to determine the presence of alcohol or drugs.

A police officer who has arrested someone for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and advised him of his constitutional rights can request the person to submit to a blood, breath, or urine test. If the person either (1) refuses to take the test or (2) takes the test and the results show an elevated blood alcohol content, the police officer sends the arrest report and test results to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the person is subject to an administrative license suspension. This is called an “administrative per se” license suspension. This administrative license suspension operates entirely independently of the procedures for prosecuting the accused person on the criminal charge.

Yea

Nay

(03/09/2009)