Bill Would Stiffen Dui Laws Other Plans Freeze Taxes, Target Monster Trucks

A proposal to toughen drunken driving laws and a plan to place a five-year freeze on residential property tax valuations were among 22 House bills that made a filing deadline.

Monday was the last day personal House bills could be filed in the 1996 session.

Rep. Ron Crane, R-Nampa, introduced a bill to lower from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent the blood-alcohol level used in drunken driving cases.

He said prosecutors aren’t filing drunken driving charges against many drivers with a blood-alcohol reading at or near the 0.10 percent level. Many are plea-bargained to reckless driving or less because prosecutors don’t want to try a close case.

If the level is dropped to 0.08, Crane said, drunken driving arrests that now are being dropped or lowered to a lesser charge will be prosecuted.

“It can be demonstrated that there is a definite physical impairment for drivers at the 0.08 percent level,” Crane said.

Neighboring Utah, Oregon and eight other states list 0.08 as the “per se” level to prove drunken driving.

Most other states match Idaho’s current level of 0.10 percent.

A bill from Rep. Marv Vandenberg, D-Coeur d’Alene, would freeze the taxable value of residential property for five years. “This would stop the spiral of residential taxes caused by soaring values in its tracks,” Vandenberg said.

He said his approach is better than the initiative limiting property taxes, which would require a big increase in the sales tax.

He said residential property taxes went up $21 million last year, despite a $42 million overall property tax reduction, and have gone up $120 million since 1991.

“Residential property taxes have risen three times as fast and three times as much as the total for all other property,” he said. “We need to address the fundamental problem, the residential value increases.”

Rep. Bill Deal, R-Nampa, introduced a bill that would require certain mortgage lenders to pay interest if they require homeowners to build a reserve account.

“Most states that require reserve accounts require interest to be paid upon it,” he said.

Deal said he heard from a constituent who battled a lender for months before finally winning an $800 interest payment and a $26 reduction in his monthly payment.

If a bill introduced by Rep. June Judd, D-St. Maries, becomes law, vehicle owners will have to meet new standards for bumpers. The measure is aimed at people who put oversized tires on cars or elevate the car’s body from the chassis.

For light passenger cars, the top of a bumper could be no more than 24 inches from the ground in front and 26 inches in the rear.

Rep. Mark Stubbs, R-Twin Falls, wants the state to be able to prosecute “crack babies.” His bill would permit prosecution of mothers who take illegal drugs that might cause a baby to be born with an addiction.