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Governor 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.
The legislation follows a CalMatters series that revealed the state was unable — or unwilling — 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.
The bills were the last ones standing from an initial package 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.
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’s historically had some of the weakest DUI laws in the country.
“The 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,” said Jennifer Levi, whose 18-year-old son Braun was killed in May 2025 by a suspected drunk driver with a prior DUI arrest. “I have mixed emotions. My victory is the result of losing a child and I’d do anything in the world to have my son back alive with our family. But I cannot let this happen to other people.”
Levi became a fierce road safety advocate after her son’s 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 to significantly increase criminal penalties for repeat drunk drivers. Archuleta’s 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.
A photo, showing the smiling first couple along with Archuleta and Levi in her dining room, was included with the bill signing announcement.
The resulting law will make it easier to charge drunk drivers with murder if they have a prior DUI arrest – 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.
“Having 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,” said Archuleta, according to the statement announcing the bill signing. “Thank 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.”
Other bills the governor signed included one from Assemblymember Nick Schultz, a Democrat from Burbank. That new law will allow prosecutors to charge a third DUI within 10 years as a felony. Previously, it wasn’t until a fourth DUI that law enforcement could seek the stiffer charges.
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 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’s other successful bill requires the DMV to revoke a driver’s license for six years if they drive drunk and hurt someone after having four prior DUIs.
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 in alcohol-related roadway deaths over the past decade. One measure that notably failed 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.
In a signing statement accompanying one of the bills, Newsom referenced his office’s work on that failed bill saying that “the Legislature should return to that broader effort next year” and work on “comprehensive, long-term framework for DUI sanctions” that are clear and consistent.
Jennifer Levi says she’ll continue pushing the Legislature to act.
“I’m ready to keep fighting, there’s more work to be done,” she said.
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