Last night, the ABC-affiliate in Palm Springs, KESQ, ran an investigative report on the effectiveness and cost of DUI checkpoints. The American Beverage Institute is interviewed in the piece:

After the California legislature soundly rejected a nickel-per-drink alcohol tax increase last year and the Assembly Health Committee twice voted down a dime-per-drink tax hike “fee,” you would think that the anti-alcohol legislators introducing these proposals would get the message. Not so for Assemblyman Jim Beall (D-San Jose).

Despite his best efforts – and coordination with the notoriously anti-alcohol Marin Institute – Beall’s 10-cents-per-drink tax increase “fee,” failed for a second time in committee yesterday. But, the eager Assemblyman says he’ll be back soon with another tax hike proposal:

“I’m going to wipe it off and come back in a few weeks with something different.”

Not only is right now a terrible time to raise taxes as Americans struggle with financial concerns and unemployment, but alcohol tax increases always hurt businesses, negatively impact the poorest among us, and kill jobs in the hospitality industry.

The hospitality industry isn’t alone in opposition toward the alcohol “fee.” Check out this video we came across of some pretty angry college students confronting Beall:

Our advice to Beall: Realize that California doesn’t want an alcohol “fee,” tax increase, or whatever else you call it. Don’t come back in a few weeks with the something cut from the same cloth.

A letter to the editor in today’s Baltimore Sun began by discussing a bill that would require ignition interlocks for all drunk drivers. By the end of the letter, writer Jon Miller called for ignition-locking breathalyzers to be installed in all cars:

Those devices should be standard equipment on every car on the road.

…I’m sure the people that don’t drink would be more than happy to have a device on their car even if they don’t need to use it.

It’s funny how quickly activists go from wanting to mandate interlocks for drunk drivers to trying to require them for the rest of us.

We’ve argued for a long time that the campaign for interlock mandates for drunk drivers is just the first step toward getting them in all cars. Check out our interlock timeline.