{"id":476275,"date":"2026-09-26T08:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T08:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476275\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T08:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T08:32:16","slug":"gavin-newsom-signs-4-new-california-laws-targeting-repeat-duis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476275\/","title":{"rendered":"Gavin Newsom signs 4 new California laws targeting repeat DUIs"},"content":{"rendered":"

California drunk drivers <\/a>could face even tougher penalties under four new laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday.<\/p>\n

Under Braun\u2019s Law,<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

The new law was named after Braun Levi<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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Gov. Gavin Newsom signs \u201cBraun\u2019s Law,\u201d a package of DUI bills, Sept. 25, 2026. The legislation, Senate Bill 907 by Senator Bob Archuleta, is named in honor of Braun Levi, an 18-year-old student who was struck and killed by a suspected repeat drunk driver in May 2025.<\/p>\n

Braun Levi, 18, was fatally struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver while walking with a friend down a boulevard in Manhattan Beach on Sunday. Driver Jenia Belt, 33, was charged with murder and driving under the influence for the lethal crash. Instagram \/ @braun.levi<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling, the sight, the smell of identifying our son\u2019s body will never leave my mind, body or soul,\u201d Jennifer Levi, Braun\u2019s mother, said earlier this year<\/a> as she advocated for stronger DUI laws. \u201cSo I will not be silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another new law<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Jenia Resha Belt is pictured in this undated photo. Belt was arrested on Dec. 23 in connection with a May 4 traffic collision on Sepulveda Boulevard that killed 18-year-old pedestrian Braun Levi.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s license for five years, up from four, and be forced to undergo a four-year, instead of three-year, mandatory ignition interlock period<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The interlock devices are devices, which when installed in vehicles, prevent the engine from starting if the driver\u2019s breath alcohol concentration exceeds a set limit.<\/p>\n

A man who said he was the first tennis coach for killed Los Angeles high school athlete Braun Levi places a photo at a memorial for Levi on Monday, May 5, 2025, in Manhattan Beach, California. Levi, a senior at Loyola High School and a four-year Varsity starter on the tennis team, was struck and killed by a DUI suspect along S Sepulveda Blvd in Manhattan Beach in the early hours of May 4, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Violation points tracked by the Department of Motor Vehicles will also hurt driving records of drunk drivers under a separate law<\/a>. Convictions of vehicular manslaughter and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated will now count as three instead of two points.<\/p>\n

Finally, Newsom <\/a>approved a law<\/a> that will give the DMV more authority to hold a person\u2019s driver\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Gorodenkoff \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Advocates against drunk driving, including elected officials, praised the laws as being tough on crime and saving lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting behind the wheel when you are impaired is inexcusable \u2014 especially when it results in the loss of someone\u2019s life,\u201d Newsom said in a statement. \u201cWe will not stand by as more lives are lost and more families are forever changed by those who choose to drive under the influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the stricter penalties did spur concerns from social justice groups, who claimed harsher punishments disproportionately affect lower-income people.<\/p>\n

They argued that the current penalties, for example, for hit-and-run offenses \u2014 up to four years in state prison for a felony, or up to one year in county jail for a misdemeanor \u2014 are enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the extent existing penalties already act as a deterrent, expanding penalties will not increase their deterrent value,\u201d pro-criminal justice reform organization Smart Justice California said in testimony to lawmakers.<\/p>\n

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