Date of Hearing: July 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Mike Eng, Chair
SB 598 (Huff) - As Amended: May 5, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Vehicles: driving under the influence
SUMMARY : Provides that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is to advise a person convicted of a second or third offense of driving under the influence (DUI) with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08% or more that he or she may receive a restricted license, if he or she shows verification of installation of a
certified ignition interlock device (IID) and pays a fee sufficient to include the costs of administration, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that for a second DUI offense, DMV is to notify the
person that they can apply for a restricted license, as
specified, after 90 days of suspension if he or she meets the
requirements of existing law and submits proof of a certified
IID.
2)Provides that for a third DUI offense, DMV is to notify the
person that they can apply for a restricted license after six
months of suspension if he or she meets the requirements of
existing law and submits proof of a certified IID.
3)Provides that if the driver convicted of DUI installs and
maintains an IID and otherwise complies with existing law
including enrollment and participation in DUI classes required
by DMV, the only restriction on his or her license shall be
the requirement to only drive a vehicle with an installed IID,
as specified.
4)States the provisions of this bill shall become operative on
July 1, 2010.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires a person's privilege to operate a motor vehicle to be
suspended or revoked, if the person has been convicted of
violating specified provisions prohibiting driving a motor
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vehicle while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or
drug, or the combined influence of an alcoholic beverage and
drug, or with 0.08% or more, by weight, of alcohol in the
blood stream, or who is addicted to the use of any drug.
2)Authorizes a person whose privilege is suspended or revoked in
that manner to receive a restricted driver's license if
specified requirements are met, including, in some instances,
the installation of a certified IID on the person's vehicle.
3)Authorizes the court to require that a person convicted of a
first offense violation of DUI and DUI causing bodily injury
to install a certified IID on any vehicle that the person owns
or operates and prohibits that person from operating a motor
vehicle unless that vehicle is equipped with a functioning,
certified IID.
4)Provides that the court shall give heightened consideration to
applying this sanction to a first-offense violator with 0.20%
or more, by weight, of alcohol in his or her blood at arrest,
or with two or more prior moving traffic violations, or to
persons who refused the chemical tests at arrest. If the
court orders the IID restriction, the term shall be determined
by the court for a period not to exceed three years from the
date of conviction.
5)Requires DMV to advise a person to apply for a restricted
driver's license after completion of 12 months of the
suspension period, which may include credit for a specified
concurrent suspension, subject to certain conditions,
including, among other things, submitting proof of
installation of a certified IID and agreeing to maintain the
IID and paying fees, including, but not limited to all
administrative fees or reissue fees.
6)Provides that a person convicted of a second or subsequent DUI
faces a license suspension period of 2 or more years. After a
12 month suspension, in which a person cannot drive at all, a
person may apply for a restricted license and drive to and
from work and to and from a treatment program, if an ignition
interlock is installed, is enrolled in a required treatment
program, provides proof of automobile insurance, and pays all
required fees.
7)States a person whose driving privilege is restricted by the
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court pursuant to this section shall arrange for each vehicle
with an IID to be serviced by the installer at least once
every 60 days in order for the installer to recalibrate and
monitor the operation of the device.
8)Provides that the installer shall notify the court if the
device is removed or indicates that the person has attempted
to remove, bypass, or tamper with the device, or if the person
fails three or more times to comply with any requirement for
the maintenance or calibration of the IID. There is no
obligation for the installer to notify the court if the person
has complied with all of the requirements of this article.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, DMV has identified implementation costs of $267,172
related to necessary programming changes and form revisions.
These costs would be incurred prior to the collection of any
fees, but could be reimbursed once collection begins. Ongoing
staffing costs of approximately $173,000 would be fully covered
by fees authorized by this bill.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Only a small percentage of
people convicted of multiple DUIs are required by court to
install an IID on their vehicles to discourage recidivism. This
bill will increase the use of ignition interlocks among repeat
offenders while they are in treatment and will reduce the
incidence of driving while on a suspended license. The measure
provides one more tool to proactively fight drunk driving."
The IID prevents anyone with alcohol in his or her system from
operating a vehicle equipped with the device, and stops drunk
driving before it starts by locking the vehicle's ignition until
the driver submits an alcohol-free breath sample.
A 2002 survey conducted by DMV entitled "An Evaluation of the
Implementation of Ignition Interlock in California," sought to
obtain a better understanding of the effectiveness of IIDs based
on those offenders that were required to use them. When
offenders were asked whether the device (the IID) prevented them
from driving after drinking, 88% said that it did. A second
question asked whether respondents thought that IID's prevented
others from drinking and driving; 75% of offenders said that
these devices did prevent other people from driving after
drinking. Clearly, these findings show that the significant
majority of offenders (IID users) believe that IID's are
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effective in preventing drinking and driving."
According to DMV, installing an IID on each DUI offender's
vehicle would reduce recidivism by an estimated 75% and
alcohol-related fatalities by seven percent. The IID would cost
approximately $1,320 per vehicle and would be paid for by the
DUI offender.
In September 2004, DMV released a report pursuant to AB 762
(Torlakson), Chapter 756, Statutes of 1998, regarding the
implementation and effectiveness of IIDs entitled "An Evaluation
of the Effectiveness of Ignition Interlock in California." The
DMV report does recommend introduction of legislation that would
allow repeat DUI offenders who install IIDs to reinstate their
driver's licenses early, after serving their suspension or
court-ordered DMV suspension.
The results of this study show that second DUI offenders who
serve half of their sentence suspension period and install an
IID in order to obtain a restricted driver license, have a lower
risk of DUI recidivism that their counterparts who remain
suspended. The DMV report suggests, "One way to encourage more
repeat offenders to install interlocks is to shorten their
period of suspension if they install the device."
This bill is similar to a bill that was vetoed last year . This
bill is substantially similar to SB 1361 (Correa) of 2008 which
was vetoed by the Governor last year. Unlike the vetoed bill,
this bill's provisions would apply only to second and subsequent
DUI offenders, rather than including first time offenders as
well.
In the veto message of SB 1361 (Correa) of 2008, the Governor
stated that "Drunk driving is a serious public safety hazard,
and I fully support any meaningful efforts to curb this
practice. Unfortunately, this bill would not diminish the
occurrence of DUI in a meaningful way as it would restore the
driving privileges of DUI offenders - many of whom have multiple
DUI convictions - much sooner than currently allowed. Although
ignition interlock devices have a good track record in
preventing drunk driving, this bill would only mandate their
installation in the vehicles of persons who would, under current
law, be off the streets entirely."
Related legislation : AB 91 (Feuer) establishes a three-county
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pilot program within the DMV that requires a person convicted of
DUI to install an IID, as specified, on all vehicles he or she
owns or operates and to participate in a county alcohol and drug
problem assessment program, as specified. This bill passed out
of the Assembly floor on a 77-0 on June 2, 2009. This bill now
awaits hearing in the Senate Public Safety Committee.
Prior legislation : AB 2784 (Feuer) of 2008, would have required
a person convicted of DUI, as specified, to install an IID, as
specified, in order to be reissued a license, receive a
restricted license, or receive a reinstated license. AB 2784's
provisions were removed from that bill in the Assembly Committee
on Appropriations and replaced with the provisions of SB 1361.
AB 2784 was gutted, amended into an unrelated bill, and
subsequently vetoed.
SB 177 (Migden) of 2008, would have, among other things, recast
and revised provisions of law authorizing restricted licenses
and imposing additional requirements with respect to IIDs on
those restricted licenses and established the IID Assistance
Fund in the State Treasury. SB 177 was never heard by the
Senate Committee on Public Safety.
SB 1361 (Correa) of the 2008, would have required installation
of an IID, as specified, for all offenders convicted of a DUI
under certain conditions. Those conditions included where there
is a high BAC for a first offender and for a second or
subsequent offender. SB 1361's provisions amended relevant
portions of the Vehicle Code to authorize DMV to reinstate the
offender's license earlier than provided in existing law if he
or she shows proof of installation of an IID. SB 1361 was
vetoed.
SB 1388 (Torlakson), Chapter 404, Statutes of 2008, required
that a person immediately install a certified IID on all
vehicles he or she owns or operates for a period of one to three
years when he or she has been convicted of violating specified
provisions relating to DUI and driving a motor vehicle when his
or her license has been suspended or revoked as a result of a
DUI-related conviction.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Alejandro Esparza / TRANS. / (916)
319-2093