**Saratoga, California** — Governor Gavin Newsom approved a sweeping set of traffic safety measures on Friday designed to penalize repeat impaired motorists, mandate longer license cancellations, and establish statutory advisements warning offenders of possible murder charges for future deadly wrecks.
The focal point of the legislative package is Senate Bill 907, authored by Senator Bob Archuleta and titled "Braun's Law" to honor Braun Levi, a teenage tennis standout killed by a driver with prior intoxication convictions. The statute mandates that motorists whose impairment charges are reduced through plea negotiations receive explicit court advisements that intoxicated vehicle operation poses extreme danger to human life, establishing an evidentiary foundation for upgraded criminal charges, including murder, if a subsequent impaired collision results in a fatality.
In public remarks announcing the enactments in Los Angeles, state officials stressed that establishing stricter statutory accountability and expanding enforcement tools are vital to deterring recurring impaired driving and preventing fatal roadway collisions.
Lawmakers also passed Assembly Bill 1546, authored by Assemblymember Nick Schultz, to heighten criminal penalties for recurring offenders, alongside Assembly Bills 1685 and 1687 by Assemblymember Tom Lackey. Under the enacted rules, the Department of Motor Vehicles will assess three violation points instead of two for gross vehicular manslaughter convictions involving intoxication, stretch license revocations following a third impaired conviction from three years up to eight years, and broaden ignition interlock requirements.
In Santa Clara County, regional road safety operations across the West Valley are coordinated through municipal law enforcement and California Highway Patrol patrols along State Route 85 and State Route 9 near the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills.