Newsom signs four laws increasing penalties for repeat DUI offenders, including 'Braun's Law'

# What happened Governor Gavin Newsom signed four bills on September 25 that raise penalties for repeat DUI offenses in California. The package includes SB 907 (called Braun's Law) and Assembly Bills 1546, 1685, and 1687. The legislation targets repeat offenders with longer license suspensions, tougher criminal exposure for subsequent offenses, and enhanced consequences for hit-and-run crashes involving drivers with recent DUI histories.

# What each bill does

• SB 907 (Braun's Law): Requires courts to inform defendants who accept plea deals that a future DUI could lead to second-degree murder charges. It also increases penalties for hit-and-run crashes involving injury or death when the driver has recent DUI, reckless driving, or gross vehicular manslaughter history. The bill is named after Braun Levi, an 18-year-old killed by a suspected repeat drunk driver.

• AB 1546: Raises criminal penalties for repeated DUI convictions within a 10-year window. A DUI after three prior qualifying violations can be charged as a wobbler (misdemeanor or felony). A fourth or subsequent qualifying violation within 10 years is a felony with potential county jail terms of 16 months, two years, or three years.

• AB 1685 and AB 1687: Add DMV points for certain convictions and lengthen the period repeat offenders can lose driving privileges. These measures are intended to strengthen administrative consequences alongside criminal penalties, but they cannot be enforced under current DMV systems and therefore include a delayed enforcement date (2031).

# Timing and a major caveat Two of the bills (AB 1685 and AB 1687) will not take effect until 2031. The governor's signing message directed the legislature to pass interim legislation requiring the DMV to adopt a centralized system for tracking DUI convictions. Newsom said the state's current technology cannot support enforcement of those two bills now, and interim legislation could create a workable tracking system sooner.

# Who supports and who opposes

# Background and drivers for the bills

# What to watch next

• Whether the legislature passes interim DMV-tracking legislation as Newsom requested.
• How the DMV builds a centralized conviction tracking system and whether it meets the enforcement deadline before 2031.

# Bottom line The new package increases criminal and administrative consequences for repeat DUI offenders and introduces Braun's Law to communicate the potential severity of future offenses. Two enforcement-related bills await DMV technology upgrades and a legislative fix before they become effective.