Bill H.44 would create impaired-driving processing task force to study 'implied consent' and shorten police encounters

Ben Novogrowski, legislative counsel in the Office of Legislative Council, told the committee that the central component of H.44 for the group’s review is section 5, which would create an Impaired Driving Processing Task Force to study the concept of implied consent and recommend ways to shorten law-enforcement encounters and reduce processing paperwork.

Novogrowski said H.44 also includes technical corrections and alignment between the criminal DUI statute and the civil license-suspension process, noting one example: the bill would align civil-suspension liability with the criminal threshold so that a civil suspension applies at a blood-alcohol concentration of "0.08 or above," rather than only when the measured reading is strictly greater than 0.08.

"Really, the only portion in my assessment that really concerns this committee is section 5, which is the creation of the impaired driving, processing task force," Novogrowski said. He described the task force’s membership as six seats…