NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1969 SESSION
CHAPTER 1074
HOUSE BILL 5
AN ACT TO AMEND G.S. 20-16.2, G.S. 20-139.1 AND G.S. 20-179 PERTAINING TO OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF INTOXICATING LIQUOR -IMPLIED CONSENT FOR CHEMICAL TEST.
The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:
Section 1. G.S. 20-16.2, as same appears in the 1965 Replacement Volume 1C of the General Statutes, is rewritten to read as follows:
"G.S. 20-16.2. Mandatory revocation of license in event of refusal to submit to chemical tests. (a) Any person who operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this State or any area enumerated in G.S. 20-139 shall be deemed to have given consent, subject to the provisions of G.S. 20-139.1, to a chemical test or tests of his breath or blood for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content of his blood if arrested for any offense arising out of acts alleged to have been committed while the person was driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The test or tests shall be administered at the request of a law enforcement officer having reasonable grounds to believe the person to have been driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this State or any area enumerated in G.S. 20-1.39 while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The law enforcement officer shall designate which of the aforesaid tests shall be administered. Before any of the tests shall be administered, the accused person shall be permitted to call an attorney and to select a witness to view for him the testing procedures; providing, however, that the testing procedures shall not be delayed for these purposes for a period of time of over thirty (30) minutes from the time the accused person is notified of these rights.
(b) Any person who is unconscious or who is otherwise in a condition rendering him incapable of refusal shall be deemed not to have withdrawn the consent provided by subsection (a) of this Section and the test or tests may be administered, subject to the provisions of G.S. 20-139.1.
(c) If a person under arrest who wilfully refuses upon the request of a law enforcement officer to submit to a chemical test designated by the law enforcement officer as provided in subsection (a) of this section, none shall be given, but the department, upon the receipt of a sworn report of the law enforcement officer or other witness that the arrested person had been driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this State while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and that the person had wilfully refused to submit to the test upon the request of the law enforcement officer, shall revoke his driving privilege for a period of sixty days. Provided, if the person so arrested shall be acquitted of the charge of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, the Clerk of the Court in which such person is tried shall immediately notify the department of such acquittal and the department upon receipt of notice of acquittal shall immediately order the revocation be rescinded.
(d) Upon receipt of the sworn report required by G.S. 20-16.2(c) the Department shall immediately notify the arrested person that his license to drive is revoked immediately unless said person requests in writing within three days of receipt of notice of revocation a hearing. If such person requests in writing a hearing, he shall retain his license until after the hearing. The hearing shall be conducted under the same conditions as hearings are conducted under the provisions of G.S. 20-16(d) except that the scope of such a hearing for the purpose of this Section shall cover the issues of whether the person had been driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this State or any area enumerated in G.S. 20-139 while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, whether the person was placed under arrest, and whether he refused to submit to the test upon the request of the officer. Whether the person was informed that his privilege to drive would be revoked if he refused to submit to the test shall be an issue. The department shall order that the revocation either be rescinded or sustained. If the revocation is sustained, the person shall surrender his license immediately upon notification unless said license shall have been returned to him under G.S. 20-16.2(c).
(e) If the revocation is sustained after such a hearing, the person whose driving privilege has been revoked, under the provisions of this Section, shall have the right to file a petition in the Superior Court to review the action of the department in the same manner and under the same conditions as is provided in G.S. 20-25.
(f) When it has been finally determined under the procedures of this section that a nonresident's privilege to operate a motor vehicle in this State has been revoked, the department shall give information in writing of the action taken to the motor vehicle administrator of the state of the person's residence and of any state in which he has a license."
Sec. 2. G.S. 20-139.1, as the same appears in the 1965 Replacement Volume 1C of the General Statutes, is rewritten to read as follows:
"G.S. 20-139.1. Result of a chemical analysis admissible in evidence; presumption. (a) In any criminal action arising out of acts alleged to have been committed by any person while driving a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, the amount of alcohol in the person's blood at the time alleged as shown by chemical analysis of the person's breath or blood shall be admissible in evidence and shall give rise to the following presumptions:
1. If there was at that time 0.10 per cent or more by weight of alcohol in the person's blood, it shall be presumed that the person was under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
2. Per cent by weight of alcohol in the blood shall be based upon milligrams of alcohol per one hundred cubic centimeters of blood.
3. The provisions of this Section shall not be construed as limiting the introduction of any other competent evidence, including other types of chemical analyses, bearing upon the question whether the person was under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
(b) Chemical analyses of the person's breath or blood, to be considered valid under the provisions of this Section, shall have been performed according to methods approved by the State Board of Health and by an individual possessing a valid permit issued by the State Board of Health for this purpose. The State Board of Health is authorized to approve satisfactory techniques or methods, to ascertain the qualifications and competence of individuals to conduct such analyses, and to issue permits which shall be subject to termination or revocation at the discretion of the State Board of Health; Provided, that in no case shall the arresting officer or officers administer said test.
(c) When a person shall submit to a blood test at the request of a law enforcement officer under the provisions of G.S. 20-16.2 only a physician or a registered nurse (or other qualified person) may withdraw blood for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content therein. No such person shall be held to answer in any criminal or civil action for assault or battery by reason of withdrawing blood from another under this Section; provided, however, that no person shall be relieved of liability for negligent acts or omissions in withdrawing blood from another under the provisions of this Section.
(d) The person tested may have a physician, or a qualified technician, chemist, registered nurse, or other qualified person of his own choosing administer a chemical test or tests in addition to any administered at the direction of a law enforcement officer. The failure or inability of the person tested to obtain an additional test shall not preclude the admission of evidence relating to the test or tests taken at the direction of a law enforcement officer. Any law enforcement officer having in his charge any person who has submitted to the chemical test under the provisions of G.S. 20-16.2 shall assist such person in contacting a qualified person as set forth above for the purpose of administering such additional test.
(e) The individual making such chemical analysis of a person's breath shall record in writing the time of arrest and the time and results of such analysis, a copy of which record shall be furnished to the person submitting to said test or to his attorney prior to any trial or proceeding where the results of the test may be used.
(f) If a person under arrest refuses to submit to a chemical test under the provisions of G.S. 20-16.2, evidence of refusal shall be admissible in any criminal action arising out of acts alleged to have been committed while the person was driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this State while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
(g) The State Board of Health is empowered to make regulations concerning the ingestion of controlled amounts of beverages containing ethyl alcohol by individuals submitting to chemical analyses as a part of scientific, experimental, educational, or demonstration programs. Such regulations shall prescribe procedures consistent with controlling federal law governing the acquisition, transportation, possession, storage, administration, and disposition of ethyl alcohol or of beverages containing ethyl alcohol intended for use in such programs. Any person acquiring ethyl alcohol or beverages containing ethyl alcohol under such regulations shall keep records accounting for the disposition of all ethyl alcohol and beverages containing ethyl alcohol so acquired, and such records shall at all reasonable times be available for inspection upon the request of any federal or State law enforcement officer with jurisdiction over the laws relating to alcohol or intoxicating liquor. All acts done pursuant to such regulations reasonably in furtherance of bona fide objectives of the chemical testing program within this State shall be lawful notwithstanding the provisions of any other general, special, or local statute or any ordinance or regulation of the State or of any agency or subdivision of the State. Regulations of the State Board of Health adopted pursuant to this Section shall be filed and published in accordance with the provisions of G.S. 143-195 to G.S. 143-198.1."
Sec. 3. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 4. This Act shall become effective September 1, 1969.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 30th day of June, 1969.