CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

99

Introduced by Assembly Member Ellis

February 5, 2026

An act to amend Section 13351 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to immediately revoke the driving privilege of a person upon receipt of a duly certified abstract of the record of a court showing that the person has been convicted of, among other things, certain types of manslaughter. If the person can provide proof of financial responsibility, as defined, existing law authorizes the department to reinstate those driving privileges 3 years after the date of revocation.

This bill would clarify that, for purposes of reinstating driving privileges as described above, the “date of revocation” means the date the department revokes a person’s privilege to drive a motor vehicle and not the date of conviction.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 13351 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:

13351.

(a) The department immediately shall revoke the privilege of a person to drive a motor vehicle upon receipt of a duly certified abstract of the record of a court showing that the person has been convicted of any of the following crimes or offenses:

(1) Manslaughter resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle, except when convicted under paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 192 of the Penal Code.

(2) Conviction of three or more violations of Section 20001, 20002, 23103, 23104, or 23105 within a period of 12 months from the time of the first offense to the third or subsequent offense, or a combination of three or more convictions of violations within the same period.

(3) Violation of subdivision (a) of Section 191.5 or subdivision (a) of Section 192.5 of the Penal Code or of Section 2800.3 causing serious bodily injury resulting in a serious impairment of physical condition, including, but not limited to, loss of consciousness, concussion, serious bone fracture, protracted loss or impairment of function of any bodily member or organ, and serious disfigurement.

(b) The department shall not reinstate the privilege revoked under subdivision (a) until the expiration of three years after the date of revocation and until the person whose privilege was revoked gives proof of financial responsibility, as defined in Section 16430. For purposes of this subdivision, the “date of revocation” means the date the department revokes a person’s privilege to drive a motor vehicle pursuant to subdivision (a), and not the date of conviction.