California’s DUI enforcement system is broken. More and more people are dying

California has been a leader in the anti-drunken driving movement.

A Sacramento mother founded MADD, helping create some of the nation’s toughest DUI laws in the 1980s. They worked: California cut alcohol-related road deaths by more than half.

A new CalMatters investigation shows that things have changed dramatically. California now has some of the weakest DUI laws in the nation, allowing repeat drunk and drugged drivers to stay on the road with little punishment.

The results are deadly:

• Alcohol-related road deaths in California have increased more than 50 percent in the past decade — an increase more than twice as steep as the rest of the country.

• More than 1,300 people die each year statewide in drunken driving crashes. Time and time again, repeat DUI offenders cause the crashes.

Reporters Robert Lewis and Lauren Hepler found that California too often fails to distinguish between drunk drivers who make a dangerous mistake but learn from it and those who refuse to stop endangering lives.

• Here, drivers generally cannot be charged with a felony until their fourth DUI within 10 years, unless they hurt someone. In some states, a second DUI can be a felony.

• California reinstates the licenses of persistent drunk drivers faster than other states. We found drivers with up to six DUIs who were able to get a California license.

• Many drivers stay on the road for years, even when the state takes away their license — racking up tickets and even additional DUIs. We found a woman who has 16 DUIs. Repeat offenders rarely face serious consequences until they kill.

Despite the rising death toll, government leaders at all levels have shown little willingness to tackle the problem. The families of the victims are left in agony to ponder how the state allowed their loved ones to be killed.

Sarah Villar was walking the dog with her fiance when a driver with three DUI convictions killed her. Her parents buried her in her wedding dress.

• Dave Villar, Sarah’s father: “To the broken justice system that allowed this to happen – shame on you. If I walk out the front door today on my porch and shoot in my neighborhood every day until I kill someone, when will I be a threat to society? When will I be a danger to my community? I say it’s after the first shot. Our system says it’s after the last.”

This is the latest installment of our License to Kill project, detailing how California allows deadly drivers to stay on the road.

Read the full story hereand takeaway food here.

And catch up on the rest of the series:

With just days until Election Day, what began as a simple threat to a Social media post in July it could be Governor Gavin Newsom making one of his biggest political gambles.

As CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang explains, Proposition 50 is advance voting with likely voters and Newsom took the rare step Monday of urging supporters to stop donating money — an apparent sign of the governor’s confidence the measure would pass.

While the gerrymander proposal was a risk for Newsom, it also raised his political profile: Former President Barack Obama joined him in promoting Prop. 50, and Newsom’s approval rating as the 2028 Democratic presidential nominee rose from 12% in June to 25% in August, according to a national publication Emerson College Survey.

But there is no guarantee that Democrats will gain control of the House if Proposition 50 passes. Nationally, voters are also more concerned about crime and the economy than issues related to protecting democracy, the ostensible goal of Proposition 50.

• Matt Rodriguez, a Democratic strategist: “It’s still a long way to go as to whether this passage will jump (Newsom) any further than he already has. It’s just not a vote driver for most Americans.”

Read more here.

There is a proposal from state regulators to eliminate toxic waste tracking reporting requirements environmentalists are sounding the alarm bellswrites CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.

To track hazardous waste in California, businesses must make detailed reports that include what toxic materials are in what containers, where the waste comes from and where it goes. These reports help both waste generators to demonstrate compliance and emergency responders in the event of an incident during transport.

But the state Department of Toxic Substances Control is considering relaxing some of those tracking rules when companies transport waste on their own property and on some public roads. The University of California, which is one of more than 200 generators of hazardous waste that will be affected by the change, supports the proposal, saying it will make disposal processes safer and more efficient.

But critics fear the change will signal an intention to loosen more rules to manage California’s growing litter problem. State regulators also haven’t clarified specific details, such as how many miles hazardous waste can travel without being tracked.

Read more here.

Newsom signed a bill in September that preserves land and creates a task force to guide the development of Chula Vista University, a new university that plans to open in 2027 in the south county of San Diego County. The university promises a new approach to higher education that combines programs from nearby UC San Diego, two California state universities and a community college. Read more by Deborah Brennan of CalMatters.