A bill has been introduced that would lower the threshold for driving under the influence from 0.08 to 0.05 percent blood-alcohol content.
Assembly Bill 1713 is authored by Assemblywoman Autumn Burke (D-Marina del Rey), Assemblyman Heath Flora (R-Ripon) and co-authored by State Senate Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo).
The bill is called Liams Law after a DUI crash killed a 15-month old and his aunt while in a crosswalk in Hawthorne. The driver was a 72-year-old female.
According to liamslife.org, since the crash, Liams parents, Marcus and Mishel vowed to honor Liam for the rest of their life and from then they have been on an unstoppable trajectory. Marcus has spoken to over 10,000 high school students in the last two years, the family has flown to Sacramento and Washington D.C. to advocate for change, and through numerous events and media outlets they’ve continued to educate the public on the perils of drunk driving crashes.
The organization is encouraging the public to reach out to the Public Safety Committee, which locally includes Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) and Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), as well as Bill Quirk (D-Hayward).
California’s limit has been at 0.08 since 1990 while anyone under 21 can be charged at 0.01. Meanwhile, commercial drivers are held at the 0.05 standard.
According to the Bill:
