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.