Noah’s Law hits house floor in Maryland

A tougher approach on drunk drivers, that’s what a bill called “Noah’s Law”, heard on the Maryland house floor Friday seeks to achieve.

The bill is named after Offficer Noah Leotta, the Montgomery County cop who was killed in December of 2015 when a drunk driver hit him.

Del. Kathleen Dumais says the bill was amended Thursday night in the judiciary committee, and as it stands now would do a number of things.

First, it would double the amount of time a driver’s license would be suspended after a DUI conviction, each conviction carries its own amount of time and each would be doubled.

It would also make it mandatory for all drivers convicted of DUI or DWI to blow into an ignition interlock device and register a 0.0 blood alcohol content, in order for their vehicles to start and stay running.

A DUI charge requires a .08 BAC, a DWI only requires .04.

The bill would also make those interlock devices mandatory for anyone suspected of impaired driving, who refuses to take a breathalizer test.