Tuesday, 10/13/2009 Print Version |
Governor Highlights Legislation to Crack Down on DUI Offenders
SECRETARY BONNER:
All right, we’re all ready to go. Good morning, everybody. I’m Dale Bonner, Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency for the state of California.
Before we get on to the events of the morning I wanted to just say a special note of thanks to some of the people who’ve taken some time out to be here with us this morning. In addition to the two authors of the legislation, Assemblymember Michael Feuer from Los Angeles and Senator Bob Huff from Diamond Bar, we also have with us Mary Klotzbach from MADD. I see Sheriff McGinness is with us here from Sacramento County. And part of my Traffic Safety Team; we have Commissioner Joe Farrow from the Highway Patrol, George Valverde from the Department of Motor Vehicles and Chris Murphy from the Office of Traffic Safety. And they have been working very hard with all of the allied agencies all around the state to bring down the traffic collisions all across the state of California and to increase road safety.
And I try to remind everybody that by improving safety on the highways we’re not only saving lives but we’re improving the quality of life, because it’s good not only for human beings and families but also for our state economy. And so the legislation we’re signing today is particularly important because we can’t control the weather but we can do more and more to control human behaviors that result in unnecessary collisions and that's what we are taking a significant step towards this morning.
So without further ado, let me introduce to you the man who is going to sign the legislation that's so important, that has brought us here this morning, my boss, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Applause)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Well, thank you very much, Secretary Dale Bonner, for your nice introduction. And I’m so happy that he already mentioned all the various different dignitaries that are here, so I don’t have to go through this card so we’ll put that away.
But I want to thank especially our authors for being here today and doing this extraordinary work. And I just want to say to everyone, welcome to the Capitol here. This is the place where it’s supposed to be all the action is taking place. And I think that all of you are big supporters of keeping our roads safe and we want to say thank you also to the various different leaders that are out there and behind me here. They are leaders in fighting against drunk driving.
Now, public safety has always been my number one priority. But when we talk about public safety it goes in many different directions, if it is keeping our prisons secure or having the best firefighters in the world to put out the fires or homeland security or keeping our hospitals safe or keeping our drinking water safe and reliable. Everything has to do with public safety.
But this is one of the most important areas, is to make sure that we cut down on our drunk drivers. And we know that drunk driving is a serious problem in California. As a matter of fact, last year alone there were 1,355 DUI fatalities on our roads. Every day our law enforcement arrests 550 different violators that are drunk drivers and I think that's inexcusable, because we’re talking here about more than 200,000 arrests a year.
And the sad story is that one-fourth of them are repeat offenders and I think that is outrageous.
And this is why I have pushed so hard to crack down on drunk drivers. They face serious consequences here in our state if they’re caught drunk driving and this is not only because it’s a risk to their own lives but the lives of innocent people. I have worked very hard with law enforcement to give law enforcement every tool available. That includes everything from increased DUI checkpoints to patrols and to many bills that I have signed in the past increasing penalties for offenders and to require also vehicle impoundment and license suspension and the list goes on and on.
And today we continue signing really great legislation, great bills. We celebrate signing the two bills that will prevent drunk drivers from ever starting a car. We have the means to stop the offenders from even getting on the road in the first place now and I think this is fantastic.
AB 91 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer of Los Angeles requires first-time offenders to install a device in their car. And this is a proven technology. Drivers blow into the device and if they’re drunk the car engine won’t start. Now, I think this is really terrific. This is a pilot program. We’re going to start in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare counties and if it is successful here, as we think it will be, then we'll do it statewide.
Now, this is not anything new in other states. There have been several states that have done that and they have had tremendous success. For instance, New Mexico is one of those states. Now, listen to this: Repeat drunk driver offenses have dropped by 60 percent in New Mexico. As a matter of fact, they were on top of the list with the amount of deaths that they had in the nation, now they are 25th. So they have really made tremendous progress in that area and I think that we are going to have the same success in the state of California.
Today I also celebrate the signing of SB 598 by Senator Bob Huff of Diamond Bar. Another terrific bill, this will give repeat DUI offenders the chance to apply for a restricted license but only if they install the ignition interlock device. So that means that they have to put that on, then they can get a license. Because we don’t want to have people stop driving but we want to have them stop driving drunk. That’s what we want to accomplish here.
These are both fantastic bills and they will help protect innocent lives. Everyone on the road is in harm’s way when we have a drunk driver that is behind the wheel. That is totally unacceptable and this is why we want to stop that. And like I said, public safety is my number one priority and I think that today we take a big step towards making California roads safer.
So with that, I want to say thank you to both of the authors for their great work and now I would like to have Assemblyman Mike Feuer come out and say a few words about this great bill.
SENATOR FEUER:
Thank you, Governor.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause)
SENATOR FEUER:
Governor, thank you very much. The Governor said that public safety is his top priority and it’s clearly job one for all of us in government. But it’s rare that we have the chance, as legislators, to enact laws that are really going to save lives.
This is one of those moments. The Governor noted some of the statistics; they bear repeating. More than 200,000 arrests for drunk driving in California every year; 45,000 of them have been convicted of drunk driving before. Last year, more than 1,300 deaths at the hands of drunk drivers. The previous year, more than 1,500. We can do something about this problem, because it’s not merely a problem for us or a challenge. This is an epidemic. It’s a public safety epidemic and it's a public health epidemic.
This bill, as the Governor indicated, will require that drunk driving offenders have ignition interlock devices installed on their vehicles. If they’re inebriated the car won’t start. There are two benefits to this approach. The first is that we know during the period in which the interlock is installed on the car the driver can’t drive while they’re drunk. But more than that, they get in the habit of driving in a sober way and that habit carries over long after the interlock has been removed from their vehicle.
The Governor mentioned New Mexico. More than a 60 percent reduction in repeat drunk driving in New Mexico. Other states, West Virginia, more than 70 percent. We can see the same results here. And it’s important that the Governor invoked another state, because this is legislation, as other bills that we’ve had the opportunity, Governor, to work on together -- we worked on microstamping together of handguns, we worked on green chemistry last year, a right to counsel where basic rights are at stake this year.
And this bill is another example of legislation we can enact in California that will have a catalytic affect around the country. That’s why the federal government provided California with a grant to jumpstart this program. This is so important as a nationwide matter. What California does, does affect the rest of the country. This was the number one legislative priority in the country for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
So I want to congratulate the broad coalition that came together in support of this bill, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, law enforcement led by the CHP, doing a terrific job, emergency room physicians and nurses, the auto manufacturers, insurers, counties and cities around the state of California. A remarkable team.
And speaking of teamwork, it’s now my honor to introduce a colleague of mine who serves in the Senate, Bob Huff. Mr. Huff is the author of SB 598; 598 is a companion to this measure. I want to say a word about Mr. Huff and about teamwork. Now, I serve with Mr. Huff in the Assembly. We worked very closely together on transportation issues. He’s a Republican, I’m a Democrat. We need to replicate this kind of teamwork more and more here in Sacramento. So many of the solutions to our problems can be solved, can be found, if we put aside our party labels and focus on the common ground.
This is a groundbreaking moment. A colleague of mine I’m very proud to serve with, Senator Bob Huff. (Applause)
SENATOR HUFF:
Thank you, Mike. I can’t think of any time when I’ve heard the term drunk driving and it's ever been in a good context. I mean, it conjures up many things to different people. We have some people in here that have paid the ultimate price when one of their siblings or parents or children have died at the hands of a drunk driver. And so today we’re changing that. Today when we speak of drunk driving we're providing tools, we’re harvesting technology to help keep drunk drivers off the road.
You’ve heard a lot of statistics but here’s a different nuance on the statistics. There are 310,000 drivers on California roads with three or more DUI convictions, 44,210 have five or more DUIs. These interlock devices work. You’ve heard about the other states where they work. This will give us an opportunity to have the general public be safer because we have done our job in Sacramento to protect public safety. This is a proactive step, it's not reactive.
But I do appreciate the opportunity to work with Assemblyman Feuer on this as well as the Governor’s Office. This is a win for the whole state.
And I’d like to introduce now Mary Klotzbach, who is with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (Applause)
MS. KLOTZBACH:
Thank you. I became a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in 2002 when, in 2001, July 29th, my son was home from the Naval Academy and we went out to dinner to celebrate that he had just received an appointment for Naval Air. My husband and I were with him and we were hit by a DUI offender and Matt was killed. That changed our life, as I'm sure you all can understand. To lose a child is not what you intend to do.
I work at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek. It’s a trauma center. I use technology every day to save lives. And when I saw this technology last September when I went to the MADD National Convention and I was able to be introduced to the Automobile Alliance Association and saw the technology that they’re working on, I said to my husband, “We can eliminate drunk driving.”
Today is a huge step with California taking this step and doing this. Thank you for being here. And thank you, Senator Feuer, for championing this and Governor for signing it.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Thank you. (Applause)
MS. KLOTZBACH:
Sheriff McGinness will come up next. (Applause)
SHERIFF MCGINNESS:
Thank you very much. Over the years we’ve had the opportunity to have some level of rejoicing at any number of law enforcement efforts aimed at reducing high-risk behavior. And typically that involves relentless enforcement of the law, something I stand by firmly today.
Nevertheless, in this particular case we have the opportunity to actually prevent the act from occurring, embracing technology as means through which to literally force a change in behavior. I find it ironic that we oftentimes hear about people that are fearful of the consequences of being arrested for DUI. And make no mistake about it, there is a significant consequence to be paid. However, when you hear stories such as we just heard, the potential for people’s lives to be lost, or their quality of life to be forever compromised and the consequences of having to live with something you do to yourself and to someone else, I think is far worse than a mere arrest for DUI.
In this particular case, this piece of technology can actually make a difference in what somebody who otherwise would violate the law and bring risk to others will do. And I’m very grateful for the bipartisan effort in the legislature and to the Governor for his bold step to sign this bill into law. I think it will make our area safer. We do have the dubious distinction in Sacramento County of being among the very highest in terms of DUI recidivists at 22 percent.
We want to change that and we want to do it in such a way as to minimize the impact on the criminal justice system. The traditional method through which we enforce DUI laws, you take officers off the street that are tied up with the DUI offender. It impacts the jails, it impacts the courts, the D.A.’s office, probation. There’s a complete criminal justice impact on it. With this technology being used, again as a means through which to change behavior, to eliminate that act from occurring in the first place, we save all that cost. So I think it’s a phenomenal effort and I’m very anxious to see the benefits come our way. Thank you. (Applause)
Governor, I think this is when I invite you back to sign the bills.
(GOVERNOR SIGNS BILLS AB 91 and SB 598)
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Thank you very much. Keep up the good work. Yes, absolutely. Like I said, it’s great, Democrats and Republicans working together. I love that. Once in a while, exactly. We’re going to get it done also with water, remember. Who else should get one? You should get one. And then the man that has to make all the arrests. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you. They’re always great. What do you expect of the CHP?
SECRETARY BONNER:
Thank you. Thank you, Governor.
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Absolutely. Let’s give them a big hand again, because they all worked together. (Applause)
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