Arizona's New Pending DUI Laws
Below is a letter Ed wrote to members of Arizona State Legislature followed by the text of the proposed legislation.
Respected Legislators:
As many of you may recall, last year Senator Linda Gray sponsored a Bill that moved the rule making authority regarding DUI matters from the ADHS to the ADPS; In effect, the fox was allowed to guard the proverbial hen house with the Legislature's blessing.
During debate on that Bill, assurances were made by Jerry Landau, Michelle Spirk and others that the then protections provided by ADHS Regs would in no way be abrogated, or watered down, under ADPS control. Of specific concern then was that no efforts would be made to change the rules or procedures regarding verifying calibration procedures intended to determine if the breath testing machine was operating accurately. Under ADHS Regs, calibration procedures were run by human beings - By Class II QAS permit holders. Under the pending legislation, concurrent calibration procedures run by the machine itself can substitute for the previously mandated procedure requiring human intervention & scrutiny.
5. The device used to conduct the test was in proper operating condition. Records of periodic maintenance that show that the device was in proper operating condition at a time before and after the test are admissible in any proceeding as prima facie evidence that the device was in proper operating condition at the time of the test. Such Calibration checks with a standard alcohol concentration solution bracketing each person's duplicate breath test are one type of records of periodic maintenance that satisfies the requirements of this section. The records are public records.
There is an even more problematical element to this pending Bill:
C. The inability of any person to obtain manufacturer's schematics and software for a quantitative breath testing device that is approved as prescribed in subsection A of this