End DWI Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The End DWI Act of 2025 amends title 23 to create a national standard for ignition interlocks for driving-while-intoxicated offenders. A State must have and enforce a law restricting a DWI offender to driving only vehicles with an ignition interlock installed for at least 180 days, unless a State-defined special exception applies, and the offender must remain without a violation for a State-defined minimum period before the restriction is removed.
If a State does not meet the standard, the Secretary must withhold 3 percent of certain highway apportionments on October 1, 2026, and 5 percent on October 1, 2027, and each fiscal year after that. Funds withheld on or before September 30, 2028 remain available for later apportionment if the State comes into compliance within the allowed period; funds withheld after that date are unavailable, and noncompliant States can lose withheld funds when availability expires. The bill also updates existing impaired-driving incentive language and defines driving while intoxicated, ignition interlock, motor vehicle, special exception, and violation.
Who Benefits and How
Road users benefit if broader ignition-interlock requirements reduce DWI recidivism and impaired-driving crashes. Victims' families and impaired-driving prevention advocates benefit from a stronger federal incentive for States to adopt all-offender ignition-interlock laws. Ignition interlock manufacturers and service providers benefit from increased demand if States adopt broader installation requirements. States that already enforce compliant laws avoid withholding and can keep highway apportionments flowing.
Who Bears the Burden and How
States without compliant ignition-interlock laws must enact and enforce new restrictions or risk losing 3 percent and then 5 percent of key highway funds. State motor vehicle, court, and highway safety agencies must administer interlock restrictions, violations, exceptions, and fund compliance. DWI offenders must install and use ignition interlock devices for at least 180 days unless an exception applies. The Secretary and federal highway staff must determine compliance, withhold funds, reapportion available funds, and track lapsing amounts.
Key Provisions
- Requires States to mandate ignition-interlock-only driving for DWI offenders for at least 180 days unless a State exception applies.
- Withholds 3 percent of specified highway apportionments for noncompliant States in fiscal year 2027 and 5 percent in later years.
- Provides temporary availability and later reapportionment of some withheld funds if a State comes into compliance.
- Requires withheld funds to lapse or become unavailable when noncompliance continues after statutory deadlines.
- Defines ignition interlock, driving while intoxicated, motor vehicle, special exception, and violation for the new section.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a national highway-funding incentive for States to require ignition interlocks for driving-while-intoxicated offenders for at least 180 days, with escalating apportionment withholding and fund-availability rules.
Key Policy Areas
Transportation, Public Safety, Highway Funding, Impaired Driving
Primary Purpose
Creates a national highway-funding incentive for States to require ignition interlocks for driving-while-intoxicated offenders for at least 180 days, with escalating apportionment withholding and fund-availability rules.
Policy Domains
National ignition-interlock standard tied to highway funds
Identified Gains
- Road users exposed to impaired driving
- Impaired-driving crash victims' families
- Ignition interlock manufacturers
- States with compliant interlock laws
Identified Costs
- States without compliant interlock laws
- State motor vehicle agencies
- DWI offenders ordered to use interlocks
- Federal highway apportionment staff
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Mann (for himself, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Smith of New …
Referred to the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Federal highway apportionment staff, State highway safety agencies, State motor vehicle agencies
Positive-direction: States adopting ignition interlock laws
Negative-direction: Federal highway apportionment staff, State highway safety agencies, State motor vehicle agencies, States without compliant interlock laws
DWI offenders ordered to use interlocks, Road users exposed to impaired driving
Positive-direction: Road users exposed to impaired driving
Negative-direction: DWI offenders ordered to use interlocks
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "state"
- → State receiving title 23 highway apportionments
- "offender"
- → Driving-while-intoxicated offender
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Transportation
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A State-defined ignition interlock violation that may include failing a breath test, failing a retest, circumvention, tampering, or a combination of those actions.
A State-defined exception for ignition interlock use, including possible employer-vehicle use where the business is not owned by the offender.
An ignition interlock system as defined in 23 C.F.R. 1275.3.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology