02/14/1994 01:44 PM Senate JUD

 SENATOR TAYLOR introduced SB 278 (SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS) to the                
 committee at the request of the Governor and asked EDWARD MCNALLY             
 on teleconference from Anchorage to testify.                                  
                                                                               
 Number 363                                                                    
                                                                               
 MR. MCNALLY said he would be a resource person, and he explained he           
 had assisted the Alaska State Troopers in operating sobriety check-           
 points in 1991.  He offered to make a presentation as originally              
 proposed by the Department of Public Safety, but he thought their             
 representative was at the meeting to testify.                                 
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR said LORN CAMPBELL, Executive Director for the                 
 Highway Safety Planning Agency, was present.  He asked MR. MCNALLY            
 to stand by for possible questions.  He also thought the committee            
 members were familiar with sobriety check points, but suggested               
 they might be interested in a history of the legal decisions on the           
 invasion of privacy, fishing expeditions, and other arguments                 
 lodged by the opponents of sobriety checkpoints.  SENATOR TAYLOR              
 expressed some concern about crafting legislation to withstand                
 constitutional challenges.                                                    
                                                                               
 MR. CAMPBELL explained his agency as well as the Department of                
 Public Safety supports the passage of SB 278, to authorize law                
 enforcement officials to establish and operate sobriety check-                
 points under a court order authorizing the checkpoint.  He further            
 explained impaired driving and crashes constitutes one of the                 
 nation's leading causes of death, passing homicides.                          
                                                                               
 MR. CAMPBELL said the impact of drinking and driving was especially           
 severe among young people, ages fifteen to twenty four, where                 
 impaired driving is the leading cause of death.  He declared this             
 is a major threat to the safety and well being of the public, and             
 should be weighed against the cost and inconvenience associated               
 with efforts to reduce the driving deaths.                                    
                                                                               
 MR. CAMPBELL claimed Alaska is no exception to this problem as                
 alcohol continues to be the major contributor to traffic deaths in            
 the State, and he quoted statistics that in 1992, driving impaired            
 people accounted for 57.3% of all fatal crashes.  Of the 108 people           
 killed in Alaska, he said 47.2% were impaired by alcohol or alcohol           
 combined with another drug, while three of the young people were              
 under the influence of drugs alone.  Alaska's young people are more           
 likely than their elders to drink and drive.                                  
                                                                               
 Number 415                                                                    
                                                                               
 MR. CAMPBELL continued to give some disturbing statistics on the              
 youth of Alaska who had blood alcohol levels of well over .10, and            
 he explained these were youth who could not legally purchase and              
 consume alcoholic beverages.  Despite a rising tide of public                 
 indignation and stiffer penalties that include mandatory jail time            
 and administrative license revocation, drunk drivers continue to              
 account for more than half of all traffic deaths in Alaska.                   
                                                                               
 MR. CAMPBELL explained less intrusive methods for detecting drunk             
 drivers does not produce very good statistics on apprehending the             
 impaired drivers.  He described the use of the sobriety checkpoints           
 throughout the United States in an effort to deter drunk driving,             
 and he outlined the change from checking only the suspicious                  
 drivers, to stopping all drivers traveling through the checkpoint.            
                                                                               
 Because there is no probable cause for the stops, MR. CAMPBELL said           
 sobriety checkpoints have been challenged as violating the Fourth             
 Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, and various               
 state constitutions.  In 1990 the United States Supreme Court held            
 that a properly conducted sobriety checkpoint does not constitute             
 an unreasonable search or seizure.  MR. CAMPBELL explained SB 278             
 would allow a law enforcement official to establish and operate               
 sobriety checkpoints under court order to authorize the checkpoint,           
 and he further explained the legal procedure to establish the                 
 checkpoint, while protecting the privacy of the drivers.                      
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR thanked MR. CAMPBELL for his excellent presentation            
 and for patiently waiting to give his report to the committee.                
                                                                               
 SENATOR LITTLE referred to the fiscal note from the Alaska State              
 Trooper requiring 2.5 positions, and to the analysis anticipating             
 that Federal Highway Funds through the Highway Safety Planning                
 Agency will be available to offset these costs and to ask if any              
 state funds would be needed to implement the bill.                            
                                                                               
 MR. CAMPBELL said she was correct and explained that since check-             
 points are a priority area, the State would receive 410 and 402               
 funds to fund the checkpoint program within the State.  He also               
 explained the program could be paid through a grant to the Highway            
 Safety Planning Agency.                                                       
                                                                               
 Number 472                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LITTLE noted she had received a call from a constituent,              
 who had been traveling in Europe and had encountered the check-               
 points on a regular basis.  In Denmark, he was told they only have            
 about two to five drunk driving arrests a year and consider it a              
 national tragedy.  She thought this legislation would improve the             
 sobriety of the drivers on Alaskan highways.                                  
                                                                               
 SENATOR LITTLE moved to pass SENATE BILL NO. 278 (SOBRIETY CHECK-             
 POINTS) from committee with individual recommendations.  Without              
 objections, so ordered.