Photo via Cburnett/Wikimedia.

Photo via Cburnett/Wikimedia.

An Iowa bill developed by a coalition of public safety, legal and transportation agencies calling for ignition interlocks on any motor vehicle owned or operated by a person with a temporary restricted driver's license is headed to a state's Senate Judiciary Committee for review.

House File 2338 advanced after a 3-0 vote during a recent  Iowa Senate subcommittee hearing, according to a report in the Des Moines Register. The bill has already passed the Iowa House.

The new legislation would expand the issuance of temporary restricted licenses with an approved ignition interlock device for individuals charged with an operating while intoxicated offense while having blood alcohol content (BAC) between .08 and .10, reports the Register.

If it becomes law, the bill would allow those individuals to operate a vehicle with an ignition interlock system in the same manner allowed for a person issued a valid class C license.

Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia require ignition interlock devices for all drunken-driving offenders. West Virginia, Arizona, Louisiana and New Mexico have all experienced dramatic drops in their drunken driving deaths after all-offender interlock laws were passed, according to Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD). MADD also notes that CDC research finds reductions in repeat offenses of about two-thirds due to interlocks.

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