Earlier this session, state Sen. Ron Menor co-signed a bill that could require those arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated to install a system that would force them to pass a breath analysis test every time they want to start their vehicles.

As the session draws to a close on Thursday, Menor, who was arrested and accused of driving under the influence over the weekend, will have to cast a vote on a bill very similar to the one he introduced.

Menor, D-17th (Mililani, Waipi'o), did not return phone calls yesterday, and his attorney, Howard Luke, declined comment because it's a pending case.

The current version of the bill would require the installation of interlock devices while DUI cases are pending, but it would not apply to Menor's case because it is not retroactive.

Leaders in the Senate yesterday were waiting to speak to Menor about the arrest. Menor did not show up for a Democratic caucus yesterday, but a member's absence is not unusual, Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser said.

"It sounds like there are a lot of questions about the situation that deserve to be answered," Hooser said. "He's got many years of positive and good work in public service and we'd like to talk to him and find out what happened."

Menor is known as the driving force behind the controversial gas cap bill, which was repealed last year, and also for helping create Hawai'i Rx Plus program aimed at helping the state use bulk purchasing to get prescription drugs at a lower cost.

Menor is chairman of the Energy and Environment Committee.

MENOR'S EXPLANATION

According to a statement released by Menor, he was pulled over for driving too slowly — which he attributed to a problem with a contact lens and previously fractured foot.

Menor's written statement said he was wearing a single, outdated contact lens on Saturday night when he took his sons to see a Chicago concert. On the way home, the family stopped for dinner and Menor had a glass or two of wine, according to his statement.

Officers assigned to a selective enforcement team that patrols the freeway looking for impaired drivers pulled Menor over on the H-1 Freeway near the Lunalilo on-ramp about 12:25 a.m. In the car were his sons, ages 11 and 17, police said.

Police said the officer who approached Menor's car thought he smelled liquor and Menor was asked to perform a "preliminary alcohol screen." That screen, a breathalyzer test, is administered in the field to determine whether an illegal amount of alcohol is present in the system of someone pulled over on suspicion of driving drunk, police said.

Menor failed the test and was asked to perform a field sobriety test, which he refused, police said.

After being arrested, drunken driving suspects are also asked to submit to another test performed on a calibrated device located in police substations called an intoxilyzer.

At the station Menor, an attorney, refused to submit to the intoxilyzer test and refused to allow police to take a blood sample, police said.

He was charged with driving under the influence and released after his wife posted $500 bail, police said.

Before Sunday's arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, Menor had been cited twice for speeding since 1999, according to state driving records.

On March 23, 1999, he was cited for speeding and paid a $95 fine. On July 17, 2007, Menor was ticketed again for speeding. The case is closed but the judgment was undisclosed.

OTHERS ARRESTED

Menor is not the only elected official arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated in recent months.

Last October, Rep. Jon Riki Karamatsu was arrested for driving under the influence of more than twice the legal limit of alcohol after he got into a single-car accident. He later pleaded no contest and is doing community service as part of his sentence.

Karamatsu did not resign from the Legislature, but was removed as vice speaker of the House.

Meanwhile, another elected official, Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee John Waihee IV also pleaded no contest to driving under the influence in May, when he was arrested after colliding with a pickup truck. His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.

Waihee also kept his elected post, but resigned as vice chairman when he was charged.