CHARLESTON (AP) This year’s failure to lower West Virginia’s blood-alcohol standard will cost the state $2.6 million in federal highway dollars.
Gov. Bob Wise asked lawmakers to lower the level from .10 to .08 this year but the proposal died in the final 10 minutes of the regular session when Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, filibustered to protest a workers’ compensation proposal.
Even if action is taken next year, the $2.6 million will already be taken from highway projects, said Norm Roush, deputy commissioner of the Division of Highways.
The news comes at a time when the Division of Highways is already dealing with budget problems caused by this year’s harsh winter. The agency has cut $48 million from its state-funded construction program to compensate for increased personnel costs and snow and ice removal overruns.
“We would like to see [0.08] strictly from the point of view that we’re losing money,” Roush said. “Two and a half million bucks is several small bridge projects.”
West Virginia is only one of eight states that has yet to lower its blood-alcohol limit.
Opponents have argued that .08 level would mean more arrests and it could cost the state more money to put violators in jail than would be gained through restored federal funding to highways.
Wise is expected to include the legislation in his proposal for the 2004 session, said Keith Burdette, the governor’s legislative liaison. “We have not lost interest in it.”
