Deukmejian OKs Stiffer Penalties for Drunk Drivers

Two bills further stiffening penalties on drunk drivers were signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian on Sunday, along with legislation aimed at reducing tardiness in schools by asking parents to attend class with their misbehaving children.

In addition, Deukmejian signed a bill allowing insurance companies to test life insurance applicants for AIDS and another requiring that information on the deadly disease be given to inmates in county jails and state prisons.

Deukmejian also vetoed funding for an experimental graffiti removal project in Los Angeles County.

The actions were announced as the governor signed 41 more bills Sunday. He has until Friday either to sign or veto hundreds of bills sent to him by the Legislature before it adjourned Sept. 1.

The two drunk driving bills are part of a continuing campaign by the Legislature to impose harsher penalties on motorists who get behind the wheel after using drugs or alcohol.

One of the bills, by Assemblywoman Bev Hansen (R-Santa Rosa), would further blur differences that exist between convictions for driving under the influence and those for reckless driving that involves drinking.

First offenders stopped for drunk driving often are allowed to plead guilty to reckless driving and receive lesser sentences.

The Hansen bill would require judges to treat a prior alcohol-related reckless driving conviction the same as a conviction for driving under the influence in order to increase the penalties for a drinking driver involved in an accident that results in an injury.

The bill was sponsored by the Department of Motor Vehicles, which wants all motorists involved in alcohol-related offenses to be subject to similar penalties.

The other bill, by Sen. Cecil N. Green (D-Norwalk), adds up to three years to the sentences of people convicted of drunk driving offenses that result in death and injury. Currently the penalty for vehicular manslaughter ranges from 16 months to 10 years, depending on prior convictions and other factors, but not the severity of the accident. The Green bill would allow harsher sentences to be imposed if more than one person dies.

Under another bill signed by Deukmejian, school districts will be directed to adopt policies authorizing teachers to urge the parents of suspended students to attend class with them. Parents cannot be forced to attend classes with their children and would not be penalized if they refused.

The legislation, drafted by Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), is modeled after a successful program that has reduced tardiness at a junior high school in Northern California.

Life insurance companies, which are currently prohibited from testing for AIDS, would be allowed to conduct tests for the AIDS antibody for applicants for individual policies if the companies obtain the consent of the applicant before the test.

Deukmejian also vetoed $45,000 from a bill by Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) that would have put people in Los Angeles County who are on probation from the juvenile courts to work on a graffiti removal project.

Deukmejian said the appropriation for the graffiti removal project should have been put in the $44-billion state budget.