S.Amdt. 609

SA 609. Mr. DeWINE (for himself and Mr. Dorgan) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 3, to
authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and
transit programs, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on
the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING.

(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) there has been considerable progress over the past 25
years in reducing the number and rate of alcohol-related
highway fatalities;
(2) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
projects that fatalities in alcohol-related crashes declined
in 2004 for the second year in a row;
(3) in spite of this progress, an estimated 16,654
Americans died in 2004, in alcohol-related crashes;
(4) these fatalities comprise 39 percent of the annual
total of highway fatalities;
(5) about 250,000 are injured each year in alcohol-related
crashes;
(6) the past 2 years of decreasing alcohol-related
fatalities follows a 3-year increase;
(7) drunk driving is the Nation's most frequently committed
violent crime;
(8) the annual cost of alcohol-related crashes is over
$100,000,000,000, including $9,000,000,000 in costs to
employers;
(9) a Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving in 1982 and
1983 helped to lead to substantial progress on this issue;
and
(10) these facts point to the need to renew the national
commitment to preventing these deaths and injuries.
(b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate
that, in an effort to further change the culture of alcohol
impaired driving on our Nation's highways, the President
should consider establishing a Presidential Commission on
Alcohol-Impaired Driving--
(1) comprised of--
(A) representatives of State and local governments,
including state legislators;
(B) law enforcement;
(C) traffic safety experts, including researchers;
(D) victims of alcohol-related crashes;
(E) affected industries, including the alcohol, insurance,
and auto industries;
(F) the business community;
(G) labor;
(H) the medical community;
(I) public health; and
(J) Members of Congress; and
(2) that not later than September 30, 2006, would--
(A) conduct a full examination of alcohol-impaired driving
issues; and
(B) make recommendations for a broad range of policy and
program changes that would serve to further reduce the level
of deaths and injuries caused by drunk driving.

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