Bill Aimed at Young Substance Abusers Stalls

SACRAMENTO — A bill to suspend the driver’s licenses of juveniles convicted of alcohol and drug abuses unrelated to driving stalled in an Assembly committee Monday, ending its chances for passage before the Legislature’s four-week summer recess begins this Friday.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), garnered three votes in the Public Safety Committee, one short of the number needed to send the bill to the Assembly floor.

Torres said he will seek to have his bill reheard when the committee reconvenes Aug. 17. It had passed the Senate on June 23 by just one vote.

Torres described his bill as a desperate measure to fight “an unreasonable death rate on the streets and highways of our state,” which proponents blamed on irresponsible youthful drivers.

The one-year license suspension would be ordered whenever an individual under 21 years old is convicted of a drug- or alcohol-related crime even if the offender was not driving a car at the time.

Punish Young People

Opponents told the committee that the fixing of driving penalties to non-driving offenses would punish young people who might use controlled substances but refrain from driving while under their influence.

In addition to the license suspension provisions, the bill also would require school principals to report to law enforcement agencies all drug and alcohol offenses that come to their notice. Principals now are only required to report violent crimes.

“We think you are really sending the wrong message if you want to discourage juveniles from being involved with drugs and alcohol and automobiles,” said Marjorie C. Swartz, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union. “In this bill you are punishing a child who takes a drink of alcohol, with admitted bad judgment, but then purposely does not get into a car.”

Torres, however, contended that the severity of drug and alcohol abuse among youths justified a strict response.

“There are those who will argue that this is an unreasonable approach in terms of dealing with children,” he told the committee. “But we have no other place to go, we have an unreasonable death rate on the streets and highways of our state. Perhaps this is a way to go.”