Drivers in California who keep getting caught driving impaired will face stiffer consequences under a package of bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in late September. The centerpiece, Senate Bill 907, takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Braun's Law

SB 907, by Sen. Bob Archuleta of Pico Rivera, includes a section known as Braun's Law. It is named for Braun Levi, an 18-year-old Loyola High School student and nationally ranked tennis player who was struck and killed in May 2025 while walking in Manhattan Beach. Police suspected the driver was a repeat drunk driver. Levi's family had moved to Manhattan Beach after the Palisades Fire destroyed their home.

The key change targets plea deals. Today, many DUI cases are pleaded down to lesser charges. Under Braun's Law, people whose DUI charges are reduced will still get a formal warning that impaired driving is dangerous to human life, and that if they do it again and someone dies, they could be charged with murder.

The issue is personal for Archuleta, whose granddaughter was killed by a repeat drunk driver in December 2024. "No family should have to endure what mine has, or what has happened to the Levi family," he said in a statement.

The rest of the package

Newsom also signed AB 1546 by Assemblymember Nick Schultz of Burbank and AB 1685 and AB 1687 by Assemblymember Tom Lackey of Palmdale. Taken together, the bills:

  • Strengthen criminal penalties for repeat DUI offenders.
  • Require longer license revocations and longer ignition interlock requirements for repeat offenders.
  • Raise DMV points from two to three for convictions of vehicular manslaughter or gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
  • Let the DMV revoke a license for up to six years for drivers with four or more qualifying convictions within 10 years.

Lackey, a former California Highway Patrol sergeant, said the bills are meant to keep impaired drivers off the road "before they happen" to another family.

Enforcement so far

The CHP has made more than 50,900 DUI arrests statewide so far this year and run 75 sobriety checkpoints, according to the state's announcement. In July, the agency awarded more than $41 million in cannabis tax-funded grants to 183 organizations for impaired-driving enforcement, education, training and lab testing.