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Reducing Impaired Driving
and Making Our Roadways Safer
Readers may not be familiar with Oregon’s Governor’s Advisory Committee (GAC) on Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) and the role it plays in reducing impaired driving and making our roadways safer. The GAC on DUII was created by Executive Order (No. EO-83-20) on December 13, 1983. At that time, President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12358, which created a Presidential Commission on Drunk Driving (PCDD).
The 28-member PCDD was formed and charged with, among other things, to encourage the states and communities to attack the drunk driving problem in a more organized and systematic manner, including generating public support for increased enforcement of state and local drunk driving laws.
The PCDD’s work resulted in 39 recommendations, many of which are still being followed today nationwide. Oregon was one of the first states to follow the lead of the PCDD with Oregon’s Governor Victor Atiyeh signing the executive order to form the GAC on DUII in December 1983. The GAC on DUII was chaired by Arno Denecke, a retired Supreme Court Chief Justice and in its first year of existence, assisted in the passage of two major DUII law changes: 1) amending state laws to provide for suspension of a person’s driver’s license for refusal or failure of a breath test and allowed police to confiscate the person’s license, and 2) lowering the state’s DUII per se impairment threshold from .10 to .08 percent.
Both laws went to effect July 1, 1984. With the lowering of the DUII per se impairment from .10 to .08, Oregon, along with Utah became the first states to enact the lowered DUII per se level.
The primary purpose and role of the GAC on DUII is to advise the Governor and other statutorily created agencies on the problems and issues relating to DUII in Oregon. The objectives of the GAC are to:
1) Heighten public awareness of the seriousness of DUII;
2) Assist in the efforts to end the impaired driving problem in an organized and systematic manner;
3) Generate public support for increased enforcement of state and local DUII laws, and
4) Educate the public as to the dangers of impaired driving and its effects.
GAC on DUII membership is by Governor’s executive appointment. Current executive appointments represent, but are not limited to, education, enforcement, judicial, legislative, medical, prevention, prosecution, public interest, and treatment. The GAC on DUII is assisted in its efforts by numerous liaisons and stakeholders, which include various federal, state, local and private agencies and organizations involved in the prevention and reduction of impaired driving.
Liaisons are approved by the GAC on DUII and include, but are not limited to, CLEAR Alliance, Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, DUII Multi-Disciplinary Training Task Force, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, Oregon District Attorney’s Association, Oregon Judicial Department, Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Control, Oregon Recovery Behavioral Heath, Oregon State Police, Oregon State Sheriff’s Association, ODOT Transportation Safety Office, Public Health Division, Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutors, and Oregon Impact.
The GAC on DUII is looking to include other areas of collaboration, which include a defense attorney, tribal police, DUII offender, public health, and drug and alcohol prevention. More information regarding the GAC on DUII, and a link to the Workday application for appointment can be accessed using the GAC on DUII website at:
Chuck Hayes, Chair
Oregon Governor’s Advisory Committee on DUII
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