Sacramento Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

The California State Assembly's Public Safety Committee approved this week a bill that would substantially increase the penalties that judges could hand out to people convicted of multiple DUIs. Specifically, the bill, introduced by Assemblyman Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), would make two changes to existing law:

• Current law allows for enhanced penalties when a person receives a third DUI conviction within a 10 year period or fourth conviction overall. AB 1601 would removed the 10 year limitation and give judges the discretion to impose greater penalties for any additional DUIs.
• Judges would be given the discretion to permanently revoke the driver's license of a person convicted of a fourth DUI.

The question that this bill raises is how judges will use this discretion. It's certainly possible that a judge in one case - involving, for example, a person with two DUI convictions 20 years apart - could give out a penalty vastly different than a judge handling another case that had the same set of facts.

The bill's next stop is the Assembly Appropriations Committee.