3 California Bills to Watch: Drugged Driving Consequences, Community College Degrees And Apartment Safety

California lawmakers are keeping busy this winter, with dozens of new proposed laws in the works. Many of those bills come from one Bay Area state senator, who among other things, recently introduced legislation that would focus on dealing with those caught driving while impaired from the combined use of alcohol and drugs, the safety of apartment balconies and degrees offered at California community colleges.

"The goal is to improve Californians’ quality of life by making our roads safer, by preventing another tragic construction failure like the one in Berkeley that took the lives of six college students, and by providing more opportunities for people to pursue their professional dreams with a baccalaureate degree," said Sen. Hill, a Democrat representing San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Here is a summary of three of Hill's bills introduced, as provided by his office:

Drug- and Alcohol-Impaired Drivers

Senate Bill 698 is aimed at drivers who are impaired from a combined use of alcohol and any drug, including marijuana.

The bill makes it illegal for anyone to drive with a blood alcohol level of .04 percent to .07 percent while also being under the influence of drugs, which would include testing positive for a THC level of 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood or more. Drivers found to meet or exceed the thresholds would be cited for an infraction, required to enroll in a drug treatment program and, starting in 2019, also participate in the statewide ignition interlock program.

Drivers under the influence of drugs, or drugs and alcohol, are now killing more people than drivers who have only been drinking. In 2013, 892 people were killed by drivers under the influence of drugs or drugs and alcohol, versus 807 people who were killed by alcohol-impaired drivers, according to the DMV.

“Buzzed driving is impaired driving, and buzzed motorists don’t belong on the road,” said Senator Hill.

A study published by the journal Human Pharmacology in 2000 found that “low doses of THC moderately impair driving performance when given alone but severely impair driving performance in combination with a low dose of alcohol.”

Inspections of Balconies and Other Elevated Exterior Building Features

SB 721 requires that existing apartments and condominiums with balconies, outside stairs or stairwells, and other exterior features that are more than 6 feet off the ground and are built to accommodate people, are inspected at least once every five years.

The legislation allows building owners to hire a licensed individual or company to conduct the inspections. The inspection report and proof that recommendations were fulfilled must be filed with local building authorities or appropriate local jurisdictions.

The bill is the latest in a series of efforts to step up oversight of contractors following the 2015 collapse of an apartment balcony in Berkeley that killed six students and severely injured seven others. The tragedy triggered international scrutiny of California’s construction industry and the regulation of contractors. All but one of those killed or sent to hospitals were visiting young people from Ireland, and the firm that built the apartment complex was found to have a history of construction defect legal settlements that amounted to millions.

Last September, Governor Brown signed Senator Hill’s SB 465, which required the California Building Standards Commission to consider updating codes and inspections for balconies in new construction. In December, the commission issued new rules to require that contractors obtain an inspector’s sign-off on newly constructed balconies before they are sealed to ensure proper ventilation and quality of construction.

Current law does not require local governments to inspect apartment and multi-unit residential structures for maintenance and safety. That’s left to each city to decide. The City of Berkeley adopted stricter inspection rules in 2015 in response to the balcony tragedy, and SB 721 is partially modeled on those requirements.

“No one should have to question whether the balcony of their condo or an apartment they are visiting was properly constructed and is safe,” said Senator Hill.

Four-Year Programs at Community Colleges

SB 769 doubles the size of the state’s pilot program for community colleges that offer baccalaureate degrees in certain professional fields.

Fifteen community college districts are currently permitted to offer such degrees under a pilot program that resulted from legislation authored three years ago by then-Senator Marty Block, D-San Diego, and Senator Hill. That bill, SB 850 (2014), also limited the degree program to one per participating district, set a 2023 sunset date for the pilot, and precluded community colleges from offering programs that duplicated those at nearby four-year institutions.

SB 769 enables an additional 15 community college districts to participate, eliminates the sunset date, lifts the one-program-per-district limit, and bars the participating districts from offering a four-year degree program in a certain discipline if there is a California State University or University of California campus within 100 miles that offers the same degree.

“California urgently needs more graduates with four-year degrees to the meet the state’s workforce demands,” said Senator Hill. “This bill increases the opportunities for more students to earn the four-year degrees that lead to the jobs that fuel California’s economy.”

What do you think of the proposed laws? Tell us in the comments below.

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