‘88 Brings New Laws on Drunk Driving, Taxes and Time Off to Be With the Baby

New state laws effective on New Year’s Day changed the rules regarding drunken driving, doing the laundry and taking time off to be with a new baby.

In a few states, the tax rates are going up, but Associated Press bureaus across the country reported some cases in which the tax bite is easing.

New laws in Arizona and Wisconsin will permit the seizure of driver’s licenses on the spot if drunken driving is suspected.

Will Seize Licenses

Arizona’s law requires that police officers confiscate the license of anyone arrested for having a blood-alcohol content of 0.1% or more, or anyone who refuses to take a drunken-driving test. Suspects will have 15 days to seek an administrative hearing on reinstating the license.

Louis Rhodes, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union, said the law contradicts the traditional presumption of innocent until proven guilty.

“It’s one more example of a bad law that’s thrown at a terrible problem,” Rhodes said.

Effective Wednesday, South Carolina permitted officers to request blood or urine tests from motorists charged with driving under the influence.

“We’d have a problem when we’d get a person who passed the Breathalyzer test but was in no condition to be released,” Lt. Larry Mixon of the state Highway Patrol said. Under the old law, “we couldn’t test him for drug use.”

Car Rejects Drunks

Eleven counties are participating in a test of a new law in Oregon that permits judges to require convicted drunken drivers to use “interlock” devices on their cars as a condition of receiving work-driving permits. The devices prevent a car from being started unless a driver blows into the mechanism and no alcohol is detected.

Laundry detergents containing phosphorus will be banned in North Carolina, as will detergent with more than 0.5% phosphorus in Virginia.

Oregon will require companies that employ more than 24 workers to provide up to three months of unpaid leave to parents of newborns. Leave could be divided by couples working for the same firm.

In Tennessee, a new law requires employers of 100 or more to grant four months of unpaid maternity leave to full-time employees. However, an opinion by state Atty. Gen. Mike Cody held that the law may be unconstitutional because it benefits only women.

In Illinois, new laws require the public schools to provide instruction on the prevention of AIDS in grades six through 12 and permit health departments to notify past sexual partners of someone infected with the deadly disease.

More Taxes in Texas

Texas will impose a tax on data-processing services, as well as on repairs and remodeling of non-residential property, in the last installment of a $5.7-billion tax increase. Gasoline taxes went up on Sept. 1 and the state sales tax was increased to 6% from 5.25% on Oct. 1.

North Carolina’s corporate income tax is going up to 7% from 6%, the first increase in 45 years, but the state is repealing an unpopular inventory tax.

“We lost several retail distribution centers to other states because of that tax,” said Bill Rustin, lobbyist for the North Carolina Retail Merchants Assn.

Florida Kills Services Tax

Florida’s controversial 5% tax on advertising and other services dies at the stroke of the New Year, to be replaced Feb. 1 with an increase in the state sales tax to 6% from 5%. A 5-cent increase in the diesel fuel tax also is being repealed, effective Jan. 1.

Michigan’s 21-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes will increase to 25 cents, with the added revenue earmarked to help Wayne County, which includes Detroit. However, a pack-a-day smoker will come out just about even: An increase in the personal exemption from the state income tax, to $1,800 from $1,500, will be worth about 25 cents a week to Michigan wage-earners.

Oregon’s gasoline tax will go up 2 cents, to 14 cents a gallon.