OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-424
AN ACT REDUCING THE BLOOD ALCOHOL LIMITS FOR
IMPAIRED DRIVING AND BOATING AND STUDYING METHODS
TO DETECT CANNABIS -IMPAIRED DRIVING.
Primary Analyst: PM 4/2/24
Contributing Analyst(s): LG, BP, RP, ES
Reviewer: MM
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Judicial Dept. (Probation);
Correction, Dept.
GF - Potential
Cost
Minimal Minimal
Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
Mental Health & Addiction
Serv., Dept.
Other Fund -
Potential
See Below See Below
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Various Municipalities Potential
Revenue
Gain
See Below See Below
Explanation
The bill, which reduces the blood alcohol limits for impaired driving
and boating, results in a potential cost to the Department of Correction
and the Judicial Department for incarceration or probation and a
potential revenue gain from fines. On average, the marginal cost to the
state for incarcerating an offender for the year is $3,300
1
while the
average marginal cost for supervision in the community is less than
1
Inmate marginal cost is based on increased consumables (e.g., food, clothing, water,
sewage, living supplies, etc.). This does not include a change in staffing costs or utility
expenses because these would only be realized if a unit or facility opened. 2024SB-00424-R000224-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
$800
2
each year for adults and $1,000 each year for juveniles. In FY 23,
$756,731 was collected in fines for various impaired driving violations.
The bill also necessitates state and local law enforcement agencies to
update their policies and training curriculums, but this is not
anticipated to result in a fiscal impact.
To the extent the bill increases pretrial impaired driver intervention
program referrals and participation, the non-appropriated Pre-Trial
account under the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
(DMHAS) could experience both increased program fee revenue as well
as increased costs for participants for whom program fees are waived.
For context, the evaluation fee is $150 per person and the alcohol
education component program fee is $400.
Section 10 of the bill requires the Commissioners of Emergency
Services and Public Protection and Transportation to report annually on
issues related to drug recognition experts and roadside cannabis testing
efforts, which does not result in a fiscal impact because this is within the
expertise of both departments.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to the number of violations.
2
Probation marginal cost is based on services provided by private providers and only
includes costs that increase with each additional participant. This does not include a
cost for additional supervision by a probation officer unless a new offense is
anticipated to result in enough additional offenders to require additional probation
officers.