OLYMPIA, Wash. — A controversial bill is under consideration in Olympia right now.
If passed, it would make Washington the second state, along with Utah, to drop the legal blood alcohol limit from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent.
A local survivor of a DUI crash in North Spokane in 2004 says lowering the legal blood alcohol limit would help keep drivers safe on the road.
Nearly 20 years ago, Scott Houim, who goes by the "she" pronoun, survived the DUI that put her in a coma, suffering a neck injury.
She supports the new bill to lower the BAC limit and wants people to stop drinking and driving so that the same tragedy doesn't happen to others.
"We hit a house and I was the passenger flew out of the house... broke my neck... brain injury," Houim said. "I think I died."
After the incident, she began educating others about the dangers of drunk driving.
However, alcohol impacted her again later in life.
"I was just making dumb decisions and drinking waking up thinking to myself, 'who am I... what's going on?'" Houim said.
This led to Houim being arrested twice for driving under the influence twice.
"If you get in the accident, you could kill yourself, but who cares, you can kill someone else," Houim said. "You can kill someone's daughter, someone's grandmother. You can kill someone else."
The Washington Traffic Commission says the bill is aimed at changing behavior of drivers. In doing so, they say it would reduce the number of drivers driving under the influence of alcohol.
Controversy was swirling on Monday around the bill at a public hearing in Olympia.
"We are opposed to Senate Bill 5002," Josh MacDonald, executive director of Washington Wine Institute, said. "We do not believe this bill will provide the solutions our state community needs, but it would bring a great harm to local Washington wine industries."
MacDonald argues that local wineries and breweries rely on the tasting experience. He says lowering the BAC level would make it more difficult to serve customers samples.
"Lowering the BAC level without any trainings or tools identify individual who has reached the 0.05 limit would both brewery and staff at risk," MacDonald said.
If Senate Bill 5002 passes, it would go into effect in July.
There's still no word yet when a vote will be held.
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