A New Mexico State Legislator has proposed a bill requiring all cars sold in New Mexico be equipped with blood alcohol testing device attached to the ignition system. The bill passed the House, but was not brought to the floor of the Senate before the end of the legislative session, and so it is dead for now.

The irony here is that New Mexico already has on the books a law requiring convicted drunk drivers have blood alcohol testing devices installed in their cars, but the state is not enforcing the law.

Timothy Hallford, CEO of Santa Fe’s Adobe Interlock, which installs interlock-ignition devices, described the provisions of HB126 as “wishful thinking.” He blames the judicial system for New Mexico’s drunken-driving epidemic. His research indicated that only 2,000 of the nearly 14,000 drunken-driving convictions in 2003 resulted in the installation of interlocks, despite laws requiring them.

Here’s a novel idea: Why not try enforcing the law you already have instead of writing new laws? But I guess legislators have to earn their money somehow. And so the Nanny State grows. And grows. And grows….