Bipartisan leaders of a key House committee have released the text of transportation legislation containing provisions to require federal officials to study the issue of driving of driving under the influence of marijuana and other drugs and propose “evidence-based impairment standards.”
Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rick Larsen (D-WA), who are, respectively, the chair and ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, announced the new bill on Sunday.
The 1,005-page “Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development (BUILD) for America’s 250th Act” covers broad areas of transportation, including roads, bridges, rail and highway programs.
The proposal’s section on drug issues would require the secretary of transportation to collaborate with the heads of other relevant federal agencies to “study the effect that marijuana and polysubstance impairment has on driving” and to analyze measures for detecting and reducing impaired driving.
The federal officials would then need to “propose evidence-based impairment standards for marijuana or polysubstance use,” and the transportation secretary would need to provide Congress with a report describing progress on the effort.
Hellbound and Down 