Senate committee advances bill to lower legal BAC to 0.05 after survivor and public-health testimony

The Senate Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts voted to advance SB 1285, a bill that would establish an offense for operating a vehicle while impaired at a lower blood-alcohol concentration (0.05), after hours of testimony from survivors, public-health advocates and legal officials.

Supporters, including the Hawaii Public Health Institute and survivors who described catastrophic crashes, urged the panel to adopt the lower limit as a life‑saving measure. “Lowering the legal blood alcohol concentration limit to 0.05 will save lives,” Kamlin Pola, a survivor and volunteer with the East Hawaii Drug Free Coalition, told the committee, detailing long-term injuries she said resulted from a drunk-driving crash.

Deputy Attorney General Elise Oyama told senators the attorney general’s office supports the bill’s goal of holding impaired drivers accountable but flagged practical concerns about charging and plea negotiations. The Office of the Public Defender also testified in opposition, cautioning that an additional criminal offense at a lower BAC could complicate prosecutorial discretion and divert law-enforcement resources.

Chair Chris Lee proposed targeted amendments to address agency concerns, including removing certain administrative-license-revocation language and replacing a proposed ban on plea bargains with an annual reporting requirement on OVUII‑related plea‑downs. After the changes were read into the record, the committee voted to pass SB 1285 with amendments and send it to the Judiciary Committee for further consideration.

The committee recorded the next procedural step as formal consideration in Judiciary, where legal and procedural revisions will be vetted. No implementation timeline was specified during the hearing.