A California Senate committee gutted one of the state's most substantial DUI reform bills in years.
The bill would have required in-car breathalyzers for anyone convicted of a DUI, bringing California in line with most states. State law currently only requires the devices, called ignition interlock devices, after repeat offenses or injury crashes.
This week, an updated version of the legislation emerged, and it effectively killed a key provision to start requiring the devices for thousands of first-time offenders.
It's unclear why this change was made. Public records show that Senate Appropriations committee staff recently expressed concern about costs.
Alcohol-related roadway deaths in California shot up more than 50 percent in the last 10 years — an increase more than twice as steep as the rest of the country, federal data shows. More than 1,300 people die each year statewide in drunken collisions.
The bill is currently in negotiations, where the deadline for lawmakers to pass it is August 31.