http://www.kobtv.com/html/8646.html shows a picture of how it works. That bill died in the Senate. Pure political grandstanding. It's the thought that counts, right? Hey, they did lower the state's BAC limit to 0.08%. Here are the NM criminal penalties:

"What are the Penalties for DWI?
A first offense for DWI, is punishable with up to 90 days in jail, up to a $500 fine, or both, and about $200 in court costs. You also may be ordered to attend a first offender program, also called DWI School, and alcohol screening with counseling; do community service; attend the victim impact panel; and serve probation resulting in fees of about $150. If this first offense is an aggravated DWI, a minimum of 48 hours in jail is mandatory in addition to the other penalties. A second offense is punishable by three to 364 days in jail and a mandatory fine of $500 to $1000. It also requires about $250 in fees, probation, community service and a one-year license revocation. An aggravated second offense requires at least seven days in jail. A third offense is punishable by a mandatory 30 days in jail, and a fine of $750 to $1000 on top of the other penalties. Your license will be revoked for one to ten years if it's your third conviction within 10 years. An aggravated DWI third offense entails a 90-day mandatory jail sentence. A fourth offense or more are felonies with eighteen months in prison. In a felony conviction, you may also lose your citizenship rights such as voting, bearing arms and other civil rights."

"Aggravated DWI" in NM is having a BAC of 0.16% or more, causing an accident with injuries, or getting a DWI conviction after refusing a blood or breath test. Field sobriety tests are totally voluntary, and lawyers tell people to always politely refuse them. If nobody's injured and the driver refuses all tests and has a good lawyer and has no priors of any kind, odds are they can be acquitted of criminal charges and only get a one-year license suspension by the MVD for refusing the blood/breath tests.

Trampy