H494 - Continuous Alcohol Monitoring Summary

• Authorizes courts to impose continuous alcohol monitoring as a condition of pretrial release, requiring offenders to abstain from alcohol with violations reported to the district attorney

• Allows courts to require continuous alcohol monitoring as a probation condition when alcohol dependency or chronic abuse has been identified through substance abuse assessment

• Permits judges to reduce minimum imprisonment terms for impaired driving offenses from 30 days to 10 days (Level One) or suspend sentences (Level Two) if defendants complete 120 days or 90 days of continuous alcohol monitoring, with up to 60 days of pretrial monitoring credited toward the requirement

• Establishes that offenders pay monitoring fees directly to providers, which cannot terminate service for nonpayment without court authorization

• Expands custody and visitation orders in family law to require alcohol abstinence and continuous monitoring as enforceable conditions with reporting requirements to the court