Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bill would add oral-fluid screening option to Montanapreliminary roadside alcohol testing
Summary
House Bill 467 would let officers use oral-fluid swabs as a preliminary (non-evidentiary) screening test for alcohol and drugs; Montana Highway Patrol witnesses said oral-fluid devices are screening tools that must be followed by evidentiary breath or blood tests for prosecution.
Representative Stephen Kelly (House District 9) told the Senate Judiciary Committee that House Bill 467 adds the words "oral fluids" to the statute governing preliminary breath testing to allow oral-fluid screening devices as a roadside option. "All it really does is add a couple of words, oral fluids to the statute that addresses preliminary breath testing," Kelly said.
Captain Doug Samuelson of the Montana Highway Patrol told the committee oral-fluid devices are screening tests, not evidentiary instruments. "This is it would be a screening test. So it it falls in the same level as, like, a preliminary breath test," Samuelson said, adding that any positive screening would have to be followed by an evidentiary test such as the intoxilyzer breath instrument or a blood test.
Why it matters: The bill would explicitly allow law-enforcement agencies to use newer oral-fluid technology for roadside screening of alcohol and for drugs. Samuelson said the Highway Patrol already has oral-fluid devices primarily configured for drugs and intends eventually to deploy them for roadside drug screening; the agency had not begun routine enforcement use pending workflow and form development.
Committee members asked how oral-fluid screening differs from current tools. Samuelson said devices vary by manufacturer but most oral-fluid drug devices screen for THC (marijuana), cocaine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines and opiates; positive screening results require confirmatory testing, typically blood, for prosecutable evidence. "We still have to follow that up with an evidentiary test because that the tool that we use right now also is non evidentiary," he said of current portable breath testers.
Representative Kelly gave practical examples of why an additional screening option might help officers identify medical emergencies (hypoglycemia, head injury) and said the bill would not mandate use. "All this does is just gives another tool in the toolkit to screen people for alcohol intoxication," Kelly said.
The committee closed the hearing on HB 467; no committee vote was recorded on the transcript.
