A congressional committee has approved transportation legislation containing provisions to require federal officials to study the issue of driving of driving under the influence of marijuana and other drugs and propose “evidence-based impairment standards.”
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted 61-2 on Thursday to advance the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development (BUILD) for America’s 250th Act, sponsored by Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rick Larsen (D-WA), who are, respectively, the chair and ranking member of the panel.
The more than 1,000-page legislation covers broad areas of transportation, including roads, bridges, rail and highway programs.
The proposal’s section on drug issues would require the secretary of transportation to collaborate with the heads of other relevant federal agencies to “study the effect that intoxicating cannabinoids and polysubstance impairment has on driving” and to analyze measures for detecting and reducing impaired driving.
The federal officials would then need to “propose evidence-based impairment standards for intoxicating cannabinoids or polysubstance use,” and the transportation secretary would need to provide Congress with a report describing progress on the effort.
A manager’s amendment to the bill that was adopted replaced an initial draft’s mentions of “marijuana” with “intoxicating cannabinoids.” A separate standalone amendment from Rep. Julia
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