Make California Post a Preferred Source California drunk drivers could face even tougher penalties under four new laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday.
Under Braun’s Law, felony penalties will be escalated for suspects leaving a drunk driving accident resulting in death or serious injury, if it happened within ten years of another driving incident. It also requires the court to advise those with lesser DUI charges that a repeat offense could lead to a murder charge.
The new law was named after Braun Levi, an 18-year-old Loyola High School student and nationally ranked tennis player from Pacific Palisades who was hit and killed by a suspected repeat drunk driver while walking in Manhattan Beach.
“The feeling, the sight, the smell of identifying our son’s body will never leave my mind, body or soul,” Jennifer Levi, Braun’s mother, said earlier this year as she advocated for stronger DUI laws. “So I will not be silent.”
Another new law ramps up penalties for repeat DUI offenders within a 10-year period and makes it easier to charge cases as felonies for two or three prior DUI violations.
Those with two prior violations could face a misdemeanor by imprisonment for 120 days to one year in county jail or as a jail-eligible felony by 16 months, or two or three years, and by a fine of $390 to $1,000.
Those with four prior violations could face a straight jail-eligible felony, punishable by 16 months, or two or three years, and by a fine of $390 to $1,000. They would lose their driver’s license for five years, up from four, and be forced to undergo a four-year, instead of three-year, mandatory ignition interlock period.
The interlock devices are devices, which when installed in vehicles, prevent the engine from starting if the driver’s breath alcohol concentration exceeds a set limit.
Violation points tracked by the Department of Motor Vehicles will also hurt driving records of drunk drivers under a separate law. Convictions of vehicular manslaughter and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated will now count as three instead of two points.
Finally, Newsom approved a law that will give the DMV more authority to hold a person’s driver’s license longer if that person has been convicted of driving under the influence more than three times. Beginning 2031, such drivers will lose their license for six years.
Advocates against drunk driving, including elected officials, praised the laws as being tough on crime and saving lives.
“Getting behind the wheel when you are impaired is inexcusable — especially when it results in the loss of someone’s life,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will not stand by as more lives are lost and more families are forever changed by those who choose to drive under the influence.”
However, the stricter penalties did spur concerns from social justice groups, who claimed harsher punishments disproportionately affect lower-income people.
They argued that the current penalties, for example, for hit-and-run offenses — up to four years in state prison for a felony, or up to one year in county jail for a misdemeanor — are enough.
“To the extent existing penalties already act as a deterrent, expanding penalties will not increase their deterrent value,” pro-criminal justice reform organization Smart Justice California said in testimony to lawmakers.
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