NC
North Carolina House Bill H789

North Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Carolina House Bill H789 Compare Versions

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11 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
22 SESSION 2025
3-H 1
4-HOUSE BILL 789
3+H D
4+HOUSE BILL DRH30296-ML-128
5+
56
67
78 Short Title: Mitigating Factor/Pretrial Use of IID. (Public)
8-Sponsors: Representatives Schietzelt, Chesser, Reeder, and Carson Smith (Primary
9-Sponsors).
10-For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
11-Referred to: Judiciary 2, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
12-April 8, 2025
13-*H789 -v-1*
9+Sponsors: Representative Schietzelt.
10+Referred to:
11+
12+*DRH30296 -ML-128*
1413 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
1514 AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A MITIGATING FACTOR FOR CERTAIN PERSONS CHARGED 2
1615 WITH IMPAIRED DRIVING WHO VOLUNTARILY EQUIP AND OPERATE A MOTOR 3
1716 VEHICLE WITH AN IGNITION INTERLOCK SYSTEM PRIOR TO TRIAL . 4
1817 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
1918 SECTION 1. The purpose of this act is to do all of the following: 6
2019 (1) Incentivize certain persons accused of impaired driving to install an ignition 7
2120 interlock system prior to the individual's trial to serve as a potential mitigating 8
2221 factor at sentencing. 9
2322 (2) Encourage responsible behavior and compliance with ignition interlock 10
2423 system requirements. 11
2524 (3) Reduce instances of repeat impaired driving offenses by introducing early 12
2625 intervention measures. 13
2726 SECTION 2. G.S. 20-179(e) reads as rewritten: 14
2827 "(e) Mitigating Factors to Be Weighed. – The judge shall also determine before sentencing 15
2928 under subsection (f) of this section whether any of the mitigating factors listed below apply to 16
3029 the defendant. The judge shall weigh the degree of mitigation of each factor in light of the 17
3130 particular circumstances of the case. The factors are: 18
3231 … 19
3332 (6a) Completion of a substance abuse assessment, compliance with its 20
3433 recommendations, and simultaneously maintaining 60 days of continuous 21
3534 abstinence from alcohol consumption, as proven by a continuous alcohol 22
3635 monitoring system. The continuous alcohol monitoring system shall be of a 23
3736 type approved by the Division of Community Supervision and Reentry of the 24
3837 Department of Adult Correction. 25
3938 (6b) Prior to trial, the defendant voluntarily equipped a designated motor vehicle 26
4039 with a functioning ignition interlock system of a type approved by the 27
4140 Commissioner, regularly used the ignition interlock system for a minimum of 28
4241 six months, and produced evidence satisfactory to the judge that the defendant 29
4342 did not start the vehicle with an alcohol concentration greater than 0.02 or 30
4443 commit any other acts that would be considered violations of the interlock 31
4544 policies established by the Division for use of an ignition interlock system or 32
4645 a violation of G.S. 20-17.8A. The factor set forth in this subdivision only 33
47-applies to a defendant who meets all of the following requirements: 34 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
48-Page 2 House Bill 789-First Edition
49-a. The defendant was charged with an offense under G.S. 20-138.1. 1
50-b. The vehicle being operated by the defendant was not involved at the 2
51-time of the offense in a crash resulting in the serious injury or death of 3
52-a person. 4
53-c. At the time of the offense, the defendant held either a valid driver's 5
54-license or a license that had been expired for less than one year. 6
55-d. At the time of the offense, the defendant did not have an additional 7
56-unresolved pending charge involving impaired driving, or an 8
57-additional conviction of an offense involving impaired driving within 9
58-the five years preceding the date of the offense. 10
59-e. At the time of the offense the person did not have an alcohol 11
60-concentration of 0.15 or more. 12
61-f. The defendant equipped the designated motor vehicle with an ignition 13
62-interlock system no later than 45 days after being charged with the 14
63-offense. 15
64-g. The defendant only operated the designated motor vehicle with a 16
65-limited driving privilege that is valid in this State or during a time 17
66-when the defendant's driver's license was not revoked or suspended. 18
67-(7) Any other factor that mitigates the seriousness of the offense. 19
68-Except for the factors in subdivisions (4), (6), (6a), (6b), and (7) of this subsection, the conduct 20
69-constituting the mitigating factor shall occur during the same transaction or occurrence as the 21
70-impaired driving offense." 22
71-SECTION 3. G.S. 20-179.5 reads as rewritten: 23
72-"§ 20-179.5. Affordability of ignition interlock system. 24
73-(a) Payment of Costs. – The costs incurred in order to comply with the ignition interlock 25
74-requirements imposed by the court or the Division pursuant to this Chapter, including costs for 26
75-installation and monitoring of the ignition interlock system, shall be paid by the person ordered 27
76-to install the system. The costs incurred from voluntarily installing an ignition interlock system, 28
77-including costs for monitoring the ignition interlock system, shall be paid by the person 29
78-voluntarily installing the system. Costs for installation and monitoring of the ignition interlock 30
79-system shall be collected under terms agreed upon by the ignition interlock system vendor and 31
80-the person required to install install, or voluntarily installing, the ignition interlock system. 32
81-(b) Waiver. – A person who is ordered by a court, or required by statute, to install an 33
82-ignition interlock system in order to lawfully operate a motor vehicle, but who is unable to afford 34
83-the cost of an ignition interlock system, may apply to an authorized vendor for a waiver of a 35
84-portion of the costs of an ignition interlock system. Additionally, a person meeting the 36
85-requirements set forth in sub-subdivisions a. through f. of subdivision (6b) of subsection (e) of 37
86-G.S. 20-179 who is unable to afford the cost of an ignition interlock system may apply to an 38
87-authorized vendor for a waiver of a portion of the costs of an ignition interlock system. 39
88-…." 40
89-SECTION 4. This act becomes effective December 1, 2025, and applies to offenses 41
90-committed on or after that date. 42
46+applies to a defendant who meets all of the following requirements: 34
47+a. The defendant was charged with an offense under G.S. 20-138.1. 35
48+H.B. 789
49+Apr 3, 2025
50+HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERK General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
51+Page 2 DRH30296-ML-128
52+b. The vehicle being operated by the defendant was not involved at the 1
53+time of the offense in a crash resulting in the serious injury or death of 2
54+a person. 3
55+c. At the time of the offense, the defendant held either a valid driver's 4
56+license or a license that had been expired for less than one year. 5
57+d. At the time of the offense, the defendant did not have an additional 6
58+unresolved pending charge involving impaired driving, or an 7
59+additional conviction of an offense involving impaired driving within 8
60+the five years preceding the date of the offense. 9
61+e. At the time of the offense the person did not have an alcohol 10
62+concentration of 0.15 or more. 11
63+f. The defendant equipped the designated motor vehicle with an ignition 12
64+interlock system no later than 45 days after being charged with the 13
65+offense. 14
66+g. The defendant only operated the designated motor vehicle with a 15
67+limited driving privilege that is valid in this State or during a time 16
68+when the defendant's driver's license was not revoked or suspended. 17
69+(7) Any other factor that mitigates the seriousness of the offense. 18
70+Except for the factors in subdivisions (4), (6), (6a), (6b), and (7) of this subsection, the conduct 19
71+constituting the mitigating factor shall occur during the same transaction or occurrence as the 20
72+impaired driving offense." 21
73+SECTION 3. G.S. 20-179.5 reads as rewritten: 22
74+"§ 20-179.5. Affordability of ignition interlock system. 23
75+(a) Payment of Costs. – The costs incurred in order to comply with the ignition interlock 24
76+requirements imposed by the court or the Division pursuant to this Chapter, including costs for 25
77+installation and monitoring of the ignition interlock system, shall be paid by the person ordered 26
78+to install the system. The costs incurred from voluntarily installing an ignition interlock system, 27
79+including costs for monitoring the ignition interlock system, shall be paid by the person 28
80+voluntarily installing the system. Costs for installation and monitoring of the ignition interlock 29
81+system shall be collected under terms agreed upon by the ignition interlock system vendor and 30
82+the person required to install install, or voluntarily installing, the ignition interlock system. 31
83+(b) Waiver. – A person who is ordered by a court, or required by statute, to install an 32
84+ignition interlock system in order to lawfully operate a motor vehicle, but who is unable to afford 33
85+the cost of an ignition interlock system, may apply to an authorized vendor for a waiver of a 34
86+portion of the costs of an ignition interlock system. Additionally, a person meeting the 35
87+requirements set forth in sub-subdivisions a. through f. of subdivision (6b) of subsection (e) of 36
88+G.S. 20-179 who is unable to afford the cost of an ignition interlock system may apply to an 37
89+authorized vendor for a waiver of a portion of the costs of an ignition interlock system. 38
90+…." 39
91+SECTION 4. This act becomes effective December 1, 2025, and applies to offenses 40
92+committed on or after that date. 41