Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake) said ignition interlock devices, more commonly known as breathalyzer locks, prevented more than 3 million attempts to drive while impaired, May 13, 2026. (Photo: Christine Zhu/NC Newsline)
A North Carolina House panel voted Tuesday to pass a bill requiring more drivers to install technology to prevent drunk driving or excessive speeding.
An ignition interlock device functions by requiring a driver to breathe into it before turning on the engine of their vehicle, allowing the device to measure the driver’s blood alcohol content prior to allowing them to drive.
Currently, only repeat offenders and drivers who were highly intoxicated at the time of arrest are required to install the device. House Bill 1199, titled the “Seatbelt Act,” would require anybody convicted of driving while impaired, even first-time offenders, to use an IID.
“The purpose of the bill is to allow for the use of technology to change certain driving behaviors, primarily people who have failed to follow the law with regard to driving while impaired, or with regard to reckless driving superspeeders,” bill sponsor Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake) told the House Judiciary 1 Committee.
At the moment, 34 states and Washington, DC are all-offender states, meaning they require an IID for all convicted drunk drivers.
Robert Dalton, North Carolina state executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, spoke in favor of the bill.
“In the last 20 years, in limited use, ignition interlock devices have stopped nearly 50,000 drunk driving attempts in our state,” Dalton said.
The bill would also require habitual reckless speeders to install “intelligent speed assistance” systems, which don’t allow the vehicle to accelerate beyond the posted speed limit.
Allison Simpson, a member of Families for Safe Streets, supported the bill’s superspeeder portion.
She said her husband Matt was killed by a speeding driver in July 2022, right in front of her and her two young children while they rode bikes near their home.
“The driver that killed Matt was traveling nearly twice the speed limit and was driving on a revoked license,” Simpson said. “Before killing my husband, the driver had been caught driving with a revoked license 28 times.”
NC House lawmakers seek breathalyzer ignition locks for all DWI offenders
But witnesses also raised concerns about some of the bill’s provisions.
Reighlah Collins from the ACLU of North Carolina said the measure creates a “self-reinforcing system of poverty” for low-income drivers.
“When laws require drivers to pay fees to have their driver’s license restored, those who cannot afford to pay are more likely to lose their job, take time off from work, or be restricted in their ability to find new work,” Collins said.
H1199 heads to the House Appropriations Committee.
The Judiciary committee also advanced a bill adding an entrance fee to strip clubs, sometimes called a “pole tax,” to fund the state’s Sexual Assault and Rape Crisis Center Fund.
Under House Bill 1121, a “sexually oriented business” that serves alcohol would charge a $10 “cover” fee. It’s modeled after legislation in Texas, Illinois and Georgia, according to bill sponsor Rep. Dennis Riddell (R-Alamance).
“What that provides for is more money for some of the domestic violence programs and child abuse programs that we have that always seem to have trouble getting funding at a level that would deal more effectively with issues represented by those matters,” he said, presenting the legislation to the House Judiciary 1 Committee.
Lawmakers and advocates against domestic violence held a press conference last month voicing their support for the bill.
Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) said the items the “pole tax” would fund, like medical and legal advocacy, trauma crisis intervention and therapy, have great merit, but she doesn’t think the tax is the way to go.
Harrison said she understands the “sexually oriented business” description as a definition for zoning purposes, but she doesn’t see a causal connection between those businesses and the need to fund the services.
“I see that folks who frequent these establishments are paying $10 a person, and that money is going to pay for services that we should be providing as a government,” Harrison said.
ACLU of North Carolina attorney Liz Barber said she has concerns about whether the issue falls in line with First Amendment rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in City of Renton v. Playtime Theaters, Inc. that governments can regulate the location of adult businesses in the interest of avoiding secondary effects. For example, the government can say it’s inappropriate for a strip club to open next to a preschool.
But Barber said this situation is different, because the government can’t penalize an adult business simply for being an adult business.
“They’re trying to regulate the same sort of establishments and trying to get money from them,” Barber said.
This legislation could lead to litigation, and Barber said she predicts the North Carolina courts would rule it unconstitutional under strict scrutiny.
The bill moves forward to the House Finance Committee.
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