WASHINGTON — A bill named for a fallen Montgomery County officer heads for a critical vote in Maryland’s House on Friday.
Noah’s Law would call for expanding interlock devices — breathalyzer-like devices that prevent drivers from operating a car if they’ve been drinking — for all drunken drivers. Currently, only those found to have registered a .15 — double the legal limit for drunken driving — are required to get the interlock devices installed.
Members of Officer Noah Leotta’s family and the families of other victims gathered Thursday with police to rally support for the bill. The law already passed one previously insurmountable hurdle: it made it out of the House Judiciary Committee — similar bills stalled there for years.
But the officer’s father, Rick Leotta, said he was concerned that amendments to the bill by the House committee have weakened it.
“It was watered down where it was basically neutered,” he said.
But supporters like Kurt Erickson of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program remain optimistic that while there will likely be some amendments, an effective bill will pass.
It may not be a “perfect vehicle,” he said, referring to the bill, “but I don’t think anybody’s interested in having the perfect be the enemy of the good if in fact, we can get more people on interlock devices in Maryland.”
On Thursday, outside the Annapolis building where a Senate committee was getting set to hear the bill, Leotta’s 16-year-old cousin Sophie made one last appeal for the bill to be restored to its original form.
“What message is being told to my generation if this bill is not passed? Are we being told that it’s OK to drink and drive,” she asked.
