{"id":476406,"date":"2026-09-26T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476406\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T12:00:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:00:32","slug":"newsom-signs-4-new-california-dui-laws-heres-what-they-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476406\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom signs 4 new California DUI laws. Here’s what they do"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Robert Lewis<\/a> and Lauren Hepler<\/a>, CalMatters<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\""A\"
\n\t\t\t\tJennifer Levi addresses the media during a press conference at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento on Feb. 12, 2026. Levi recounted how her son, Braun Levi, was killed by a drunk driver in May of 2025. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by CalMatters<\/a>. Sign up<\/a> for their newsletters.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed into law four bills aimed at curbing a startling rise in DUI fatalities in recent years, including measures that make it easier to charge repeat drunk drivers with a felony and, if they kill someone, with murder.<\/p>\n

The legislation follows a CalMatters series<\/a> that revealed the state was unable \u2014 or unwilling \u2014 to get dangerous drivers off the road before it was too late. Many kept driving recklessly even after killing someone, and some even killed again.<\/p>\n

The bills were the last ones standing from an initial package<\/a> of 17 aimed at addressing traffic deaths. Most failed in the face of fierce opposition from progressive groups that argued increasing enforcement and penalties will disproportionately harm low-income and historically marginalized residents, and are not the best way to address traffic safety.<\/p>\n

While some of the bills that passed were pared back during the legislative process, the new laws still notably increase potential penalties for repeat DUI offenders in a state that\u2019s historically had some of the weakest DUI laws<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that four bills got through to the finish line leaves me very hopeful that California is ready for change and sees the need to make the state safer,\u201d said Jennifer Levi, whose 18-year-old son Braun was killed in May 2025 by a suspected drunk driver with a prior DUI arrest. \u201cI have mixed emotions. My victory is the result of losing a child and I\u2019d do anything in the world to have my son back alive with our family. But I cannot let this happen to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levi became a fierce road safety advocate after her son\u2019s death, working with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and pushing state leaders to act. She partnered with state Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Democrat from Norwalk on a bill<\/a> to significantly increase criminal penalties for repeat drunk drivers. Archuleta\u2019s own granddaughter was killed by a drunk driver. Levi said Newsom and his wife came to her home recently to mark the signing of the bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A photo, showing the smiling first couple along with Archuleta and Levi in her dining room, was included with the bill signing announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The resulting law will make it easier to charge drunk drivers with murder if they have a prior DUI arrest \u2013 which had been difficult if the previous DUI charge had been pled down to a lesser crime. The law will also increase the criminal penalties for drivers who kill someone in a hit and run if they had a prior DUI at the time of the fatal crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving lost my granddaughter to a repeat drunk driver, this is personal. No family should have to endure what mine has, or what has happened to the Levi family,\u201d said Archuleta, according to the statement announcing the bill signing. \u201cThank you to Governor Newsom for taking bold action to support families that have been devastated by drunk drivers. These are preventable tragedies. Nothing will ever bring my Samantha back or bring Braun back to the Levi family, but in signing SB 907 California is finally stepping up for victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other bills the governor signed included one from Assemblymember Nick Schultz, a Democrat from Burbank. That new law<\/a> will allow prosecutors to charge a third DUI within 10 years as a felony. Previously, it wasn\u2019t until a fourth DUI that law enforcement could seek the stiffer charges.<\/p>\n

Newsom also signed into law two bills from Assemblymember Tom Lackey, a Republican from Palmdale who spent years working as a California Highway Patrol officer before joining the Legislature. One increases the points<\/a> that most drivers convicted of killing someone while driving drunk get on their license from two to three. The bill initially would have increased the points for all vehicular manslaughter convictions and not just those involving intoxication, but it was watered down during the session. Lackey\u2019s other successful bill<\/a> requires the DMV to revoke a driver\u2019s license for six years if they drive drunk and hurt someone after having four prior DUIs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the bills do increase penalties for drunk driving, several road safety measures failed this session as the state grapples with a more than 50% increase<\/a> in alcohol-related roadway deaths over the past decade. One measure that notably failed<\/a> would have required first-time DUI offenders to install in-car breathalyzers. Most states have such a requirement, but California only mandates the devices for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n

In a signing statement accompanying one of the bills, Newsom referenced his office\u2019s work on that failed bill saying that \u201cthe Legislature should return to that broader effort next year\u201d and work on \u201ccomprehensive, long-term framework for DUI sanctions\u201d that are clear and consistent.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Levi says she\u2019ll continue pushing the Legislature to act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready to keep fighting, there\u2019s more work to be done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler, CalMatters Jennifer Levi addresses the media during a press conference at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,724,54095],"class_list":["post-476406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-criminal-justice","tag-license-to-kill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}