Governor vows to support lower drunken driving levels in Hawaii

Gov. Josh Green plans a full-court offensive to convince hesitant legislators to finally lower Hawaii’s blood alcohol content level to .05% from .08% after previous bills failed.

Green also said Thursday that any industry — such as bars and restaurants that serve alcohol — that opposes lowering the blood alcohol content threshold in an effort to prevent drunken driving injuries and deaths deserves “a place in hell.”

The issue is personal for Green, America’s only sitting governor who is also a medical doctor.

As an emergency room physician in Kona, Green treated patients who were injured by drunken drivers, along with intoxicated drivers who insisted they were not drunk.

And, following testimony Thursday from the mother of 21-year-old Azalia Park, who was killed by a drunken driver while crossing the street near Aloha Stadium in 2020, Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that a former classmate who went on to work for the hit television show “Blackish” was hit by a drunken driver while driving with her husband and two teenage sons.

The boys were killed.

Thursday’s briefing at the state Capitol was organized by the Hawaii Alcohol Policy Alliance, which cites a December 2022 statewide poll of 550 Hawaii voters conducted by market research firm SMS Hawaii that 69% of voters support reducing the blood alcohol limit to .05%.

Hawaii would become the only state other than Utah to lower the blood alcohol content to .05%.

But state Sen. Karl Rhoads (D, Nuuanu-Downtown- Iwilei), who helped introduce Senate Bill 160, which rolled over into the current legislative session, said at Thursday’s briefing that some countries prohibit drivers from having any level of alcohol in their systems.

Rhoads’ counterpart in the House, state Rep. David Tarnas (D, Hawi-Waimea- Waikoloa), chair of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, helped stall SB 160 last session and remains skeptical that lowering blood alcohol content to .05% will reduce fatalities.

Asked about Green’s pledge to lobby skeptical legislators like himself, Tarnas said that he received a call Thursday from Ed Sniffen, Green’s director of the state Department of Transportation, trying to change his mind and his vote.

“I got a call from Ed Sniffen today that he (Green) thinks it’s a good idea,” Tarnas said. “Utah’s the only one that’s done it. Every other state also sees that this isn’t the best approach. I get it, he’s (Green’s) a physician. But I’m skeptical that this is the best way to do it.”

Tarnas said he would instead like to see a much more comprehensive approach to prevent traffic injuries and fatalities that also considers the effects of speeding, distracted drivers and drivers who text.

Just lowering the blood alcohol content, alone, leaves Tarnas “skeptical that it’s necessary. The way I read the data, it’s a very small percentage between .05 and .08 who get into accidents. … I don’t want to criminalize socially responsible drinking.”

Instead, Tarnas has introduced House Bill 1594, based on Alaska law, that would impose a special mark on the driver’s license of anyone convicted of drunken driving in Hawaii that would prohibit them from buying alcohol.

Tarnas said “gray-haired” friends like him were surprised that they had their licenses checked in Alaska while buying alcohol.

“It’s a unique idea,” Tarnas said. “I’m trying a different approach.”

Garrett Marrero, CEO and co-founder of Maui Brewing Co., said that at 250 pounds he could drink only 1-1/2 IPA beers to reach a blood alcohol content of .05, and even less if he were lighter.

Reducing traffic injuries and fatalities requires cracking down on heavy and habitual drivers who drink and drive, Marrero said.

“The majority of drivers (who cause injuries and fatalities) are blowing well over .08,” Marrero said. “There is no data to support that a ton of accidents come in at the .05-to-.08 level.”

At a time when ridesharing and designated drivers are common, Marrero said drunken drivers who cause injuries and accidents need “to have the book thrown at them. Make it painful to get a DUI above .08.”

He also worries that lowering the threshold for drunken driving will cause some responsible drinkers to vacation somewhere else because “now we have that extra risk for someone having two glasses of white wine at dinner. Do you really want to come on vacation and leave on probation?”

In opposition to SB 160 in 2023, the Wine Institute — a public-policy association representing more than 1,000 California wineries and associate members — submitted testimony that “proponents point to a February 2022 National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) report claiming that the implementation of a .05 BAC standard by the state of Utah, the only state to adopt this standard, is responsible for improving its road safety in 2019, the first full year after its implementation. While Utah experienced reduced alcohol-related fatalities that year, the report fails to acknowledge that more than 30 states have a .08 BAC standard as well. The report also excluded 2020 NHTSA data showing that alcohol-related traffic deaths in Utah dramatically increased by 52.6% during the second full year under Utah’s .05 BAC standard. That increase is almost quadruple the national rate of 14.3%. In comparison, NHTSA data shows that alcohol impaired driving fatalities in Hawaii fell by 25%, the second highest state decline.”

But Green, Sniffen and others insisted Thursday that lowering Hawaii’s blood alcohol content for drivers will reduce drunken driving fatalities and make Hawaii roads safer for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians and “other vulnerable users of our roadways,” as Travis Counsell, executive director of the Hawai’i Bicycling League, put it.

Green and others said lowering the blood alcohol content in Hawaii will force a change in attitudes and culture toward drinking and driving.

Green was clearly frustrated Thursday as he said he will do everything in his power as governor to make Hawaii the only other state to lower its threshold for drinking and driving.

“In some ways this is it,” Green said. “I’ve had it with missed opportunities to keep people alive, to save several lives a year.”