California’s soft-on-crime policies allowing drivers arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) to return to the road risks millions in federal highway dollars, with a $95 million penalty already levied.
California uses a plea disposition known as “wet reckless” that lets suspects plead down DUIs to “reckless driving involving alcohol or drugs,” with a lighter penalty. While a wet reckless plea is considered a “priorable” offense, roughly 1 in 13 DUI arrests statewide end in wet reckless demotions despite federal authorities requiring every state to have a “repeat intoxicated driver law.”
When a suspect is arrested for a DUI, the arresting officer takes their license on the spot, triggering the Department of Motor Vehicles’ (DMV) administrative per se (APS) process, which suspends the license. The trigger happens after someone blows a 0.08-plus blood alcohol concentration (BAC), refuses a chemical test, or is over 0.01 for those under 21 and 0.04 for commercial drivers.
With a wet reckless plea, drivers with a 0.08-plus BAC often receive shorter first-offender education programs instead of the required multi-offender penalties.
Per federal regulations, Section 164 requires states to maintain a repeat intoxicated driver law imposing a minimum of at least one year of either full license suspension, ignition interlock or a 24/7 sobriety program for drivers charged with a second DUI during any five-year period. Wet reckless pleas undercut the federally mandated repeat-offender system, as the federal standard only counts DUI convictions when determining whether a state is enforcing repeat DUI laws.
The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) docked California’s 2023 federal funds by 2.5% penalty via its National Highway Performance Program and Surface Transportation Block Grant.
By 2024, the FHWA reported California would be penalized $95,106,755 for failing to comply, restricting Caltrans ability to fund highway construction and maintenance. The federal government mandated the frozen assets be used on safety programs, sending roughly $47.6 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the remainder to Highway Safety Improvement Program projects.
DMV data on repeat offenders pleading down to wet reckless deals is not recorded, but among 2019 DUI convictions, 72.8% were first-time offenders and 27.2% were repeat offenders with one or more prior convictions within the last 10 years.
The DMV recorded that 66.6% of 2020 DUI arrests resulted in DUI convictions, the state’s lowest conviction rate in at least a decade. Of those cases, 7.5% were downgraded to wet reckless, 1.4% were considered non-alcohol reckless and 23.6% had no conviction recorded.
In a recent piece, CalMatters reviewed thousands of vehicular manslaughter and homicide cases filed statewide since 2019. They found that California DUI laws were among the weakest in the nation, as drivers typically don’t face felony charges until a fourth DUI within a 10 year window.
Notably, California law allows repeat offenders to regain licenses rapidly compared to states like New Jersey or Nebraska. The outlet found roughly 130 drivers convicted of a fatal DUI since 2019 already had their licenses reinstated.
The FHWA did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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