DALLAS (AP) – North Texas lawmakers plan to try again to introduce a sobriety checkpoints bill in the new legislative session.

Similar legislation failed in earlier sessions. The checkpoints have been banned since 1994.

The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday that Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, said a bill identical to one that stalled last year is being drafted.

That bill, which passed the Senate but was never voted on in House, would have allowed sobriety stops in cities with populations over 500,000 or for sheriff’s departments that operate in counties with more than 250,000 people.

Texas has one of the highest proportions of drunken driving deaths in the country, including a string of high-profile fatalities in the Dallas area.

The Legislature reconvenes in January.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)