A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to establish a threshold for positive alcohol screening test results.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 20‑16.3(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	Use of Screening Test Results or Refusal by Officer. – The fact that a driver showed a positive or negative result on an alcohol screening test, but not the actual alcohol concentration result, or a driver's refusal to submit may be used by a law‑enforcement officer, is admissible in a court, or may also be used by an administrative agency in determining if there are reasonable grounds for believing:
(1)	That the driver has committed an implied‑consent offense under G.S. 20‑16.2; and
(2)	That the driver had consumed alcohol and that the driver had in his or her body previously consumed alcohol, but not to prove a particular alcohol concentration. Negative results on the alcohol screening test may be used in factually appropriate cases by the officer, a court, or an administrative agency in determining whether a person's alleged impairment is caused by an impairing substance other than alcohol.
For the purposes of this section, a positive result is a result that registers .08 or higher on an alcohol screening device. Any result that registers lower than .08 on an alcohol screening device is a negative result."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2009, and applies to alcohol screening tests taken on or after that date.