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SB679
(Excerpt from)
Cellular phones prohibited while operating motor vehicles.

  1. No person shall operate a hand-held cellular phone while operating a motor vehicle upon a roadway, street, or highway, unless the person uses a hands free cellular phone while operating the vehicle.
  2. It shall be a defense to a violation of subsection (a) that the operator had reason to fear for the operator's life or safety, was reporting a traffic accident, or making a "911" emergency call.
  3. This section shall not apply to use of a:
    1. Cellular phone by an official in a law enforcement or an emergency vehicle; or
    2. Citizen's ban radio or speaker phone that is voice activated and does not require the use of hands to operate.
  4. Violation of this section shall be subject to section 291C-161.
  5. As used in this section:
    "Hands free" means voice activated with a single earpiece and microphone combination or with a speakerphone."

Driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
A person commits the offense of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor if:
  1. The person operates or assumes actual physical control of the operation of any vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, meaning that the person concerned is under the influence of intoxicating liquor in an amount sufficient to impair the person's normal mental faculties or ability to care for oneself and guard against casualty; or
  2. The person operates or assumes actual physical control of the operation of any vehicle with .08 or more grams of alcohol per one hundred milliliters or cubic centimeters of blood or .08 or more grams of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of breath.
  1. A person committing the offense of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor shall be sentenced as follows without possibility of probation or suspension of sentence:
    1. For the first offense, or any offense not preceded within a five-year period by a conviction for driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor under this section or section 291-4.4 by:
      1. A fourteen-hour minimum alcohol abuse rehabilitation program including education and counseling, or other comparable program deemed appropriate by the court; and
      2. Ninety-day prompt suspension of license with absolute prohibition from operating a motor vehicle during suspension of license, or the court may impose, in lieu of the ninety-day prompt suspension of license, a minimum thirty-day prompt suspension of license with absolute prohibition from operating a motor vehicle and, for the remainder of the ninety-day period, a restriction on the license that allows the person to drive for limited work-related purposes and to participate in alcoholism treatment programs; and
      3. Any one or more of the following:
        1. Seventy-two hours of community service work;
        2. Not less than forty-eight hours and not more than five days of imprisonment; or
        3. A fine of not less than $150 but not more than $1,000.


All information reprinted with permission