The latest in a long line of DUI bills would create the designation "alcohol restrictive drivers," and anyone slapped with the label could be jailed for swallowing even one drop and getting behind the wheel.

Senate Bill 42 passed through committee Tuesday and is now headed for a vote on the Senate floor. The bill streamlines some existing laws, while "encouraging" people to take a chemical test to determine their blood alcohol level when police pull them over.

A motorist who refuses a chemical test would be alcohol restricted for five years. A person who refuses a second time would be subject to the not-a-drop standard for a decade, under the proposed law.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, told lawmakers that some offenders avoid the test to make the job of prosecutors more difficult.

Under current law, anyone who refuses a blood alcohol test has his or her driver license suspended for a year. This penalty will remain intact even if SB42 becomes law.

Utah already has a designation similar to the alcohol restrictive driver. A person convicted of driving under the influence is prohibited from drinking any measurable amount and driving for two years. A second offense results in 10 years of dry driving. But prosecutors said the existing law is little known and rarely used.

Walker's bill would simplify that language and would institute a lifetime ban for a driver with a DUI felony, usually indicating three DUI convictions, or a drunken driver who seriously injures or kills someone.

The bill also would give police the ability to impound a car involved in any suspected alcohol-related offense.

Anyone caught violating their alcohol restrictive status would be charged with a class B misdemeanor, subject to a maximum six-month jail term and $1,000 fine. An alcohol restrictive charge is not the same thing as a DUI and would not enhance any future DUI prosecutions.

Walker said the bill is meant to simplify the process for law enforcement, requiring them only to find a measurable and detectable amount of alcohol.

"The alcohol restrictive driver takes all of the guesswork out of it and you only become an alcohol restrictive driver when you earn it," said Lt. Fred Swain, of the Utah Highway Patrol.

Swain said 29 percent of those cited for DUI repeat the offense. And 90 percent of those repeaters do so in the five years after their first arrest.

Glen Hanson, a University of Utah professor of pharmacology and toxicology, said any alcohol restrictive driver should wait at least a few hours after a drink to drive. He added that waiting a whole day would probably be best, because it's difficult to say how long alcohol will remain in a person's system. People's weight, gender, the amount they drink, how fast they drink it, the beverage's alcohol content and what they already have in their stomachs all help determine how long alcohol will be detectable in the blood stream, he said.

mcanham@sltrib.com