SACRAMENTO, CA - An off-duty Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy faces felony DUI charges after she drove her SUV through the front of a Natomas Starbucks coffee shop Sunday morning, injuring three people, according to Sacramento police.

The governor, saying lawmakers had made progress in water talks, signed hundreds of measures ahead of the midnight deadline.

Inmates at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, Calif., crowd between bunks in a gym modified to house prisoners. The governor signed a measure to reduce the state’s prison population by up to 25,000 inmates. (Justin Sullivan, Getty Images / August 29, 2007)

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• California lawmakers in stalemate over state water plan
• Governor in showdown with lawmakers

By Eric Bailey and Evan HalperOctober 12, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento – Although he failed to win bipartisan accord on a sweeping, multibillion-dollar plan to address the state’s water problems, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday night backed down on his threat to veto hundreds of bills as punishment for legislative leaders’ inability to reach a deal.

As the midnight deadline for signing or rejecting 704 bills approached, Schwarzenegger said sufficient progress had been made in the water talks, and he planned to act on all of the bills. As negotiations concluded late Sunday, the governor had signed into law 230 bills and vetoed 221.

Those he signed included a measure intended to combat human trafficking and an anti-drunk-driving bill requiring DUI offenders in some counties to install devices in their vehicles that test blood-alcohol content before the vehicles can be started. Those he rejected included bids to force any extension of the 710 Freeway to be done underground, ban pay hikes for top administrators at public universities in bad budget years and tighten oversight on fertility clinics.

Schwarzenegger also called a special legislative session on water to start this week.

“Over the past few days we have made enough progress in our negotiations that I am calling a special session on water,” he said in a written statement. “While we still have a few remaining issues to work out, I commend the legislative leaders for their focus and commitment to solving this crisis, and I will weigh all the bills on their merits.”

Water negotiations, however, have been slow going, repeatedly becoming stuck in decades-old political and policy feuds. State leaders have been expressing confidence for years that a water deal was close at hand, only to see negotiations collapse.

The governor wants lawmakers to agree to ask voters to borrow billions of dollars to pay for infrastructure upgrades and other improvements. Legislative aides said the prime obstacles remained the monitoring of groundwater and how to finance big structural improvements that include two possible new dams.

All weekend, the governor and legislative leaders scurried in and out of meetings in their effort to hammer out a deal. As it became clear that an agreement was not at hand, negotiations appeared to shift toward finding a way for Schwarzenegger to retreat from his veto threat — an option he ultimately did not want to exercise.

“We made great progress,” said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles). “But with such a complex issue as water, as much as we wanted to finish by midnight, we’re just not quite there.”

She said she expects details of a bipartisan plan to be hammered out in time to present to the legislative caucuses within about 48 hours.

One of the bills Schwarzenegger signed Sunday was a hard-fought measure to reduce the prison population by 20,000 to 25,000 inmates, although it stops far short of solving the overcrowding crisis and does not include more extensive reductions that the governor wanted.

The measure, SBX3 18 by Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego), would also leave California’s budget with $200 million more in red ink. Top finance officials reported Friday that state revenue is already $1 billion short of their projections.

The drunk-driving bill, AB 91 by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), creates a pilot program in Los Angeles, Alameda, Sacramento and Tulare counties. The program will permit first-time DUI offenders to drive only if they install a breath-testing device on every vehicle they own and pass a test on it before the ignition can be unlocked and the car started.

The human-trafficking bill, AB 17 by Assemblyman Sandre Swanson (D-Alameda), quadruples fines, to $20,000, on those convicted of such a crime. It also allows law enforcement officers to seize the assets of traffickers. The assets and money collected in increased fines would be spent on local programs serving the victims of trafficking.

Charter schools will be given a boost by two bills the governor signed. SB 592 by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) tweaks state law to allow the schools access to about $900 million in voter-approved bond money for construction. SB 191 by Sen. Roderick D. Wright (D-Inglewood) creates a uniform funding model for charters, giving districts more incentive to approve them.

Schwarzenegger also continued his push to expand the use of digital textbooks by approving a package of bills related to them. Part of that package is SB 48 by Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose), which requires that any companies selling textbooks in California colleges or universities make them available electronically by 2020.

And he signed SB 827, a controversial bill sponsored by Wright that allows the South Coast Air Quality Management District to sidestep a judicial ruling threatening to block several construction projects and cost the region 57,000 jobs. Environmentalists opposed the measure, and state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) criticized Wright for opening “the floodgates” to businesses that want to skirt the state’s environmental laws.

The governor declined to prohibit completion of the 710 Freeway from the edge of Alhambra to Pasadena using a surface route by vetoing SB 545 by Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). The bill would have left only the possibility of a costly 4.5-mile tunnel to finish the highway.

Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message that decisions on the road extension should be made by the same state agencies that oversee all other freeway projects. He also said the bill could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars by forcing it to immediately sell properties along the proposed surface route.

On the university pay hike bill, SB 86 by state Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), Schwarzenegger wrote that “a blanket prohibition” on certain raises would limit the ability of state universities to attract the best staff, ultimately harming the state’s students.

Copyright © 2009, KTXL-TV

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Drunken driving convictions are about to get harsher in Sacramento County.

Motorists found guilty of a first drunken driving offense here and in three other California counties will be required to install and use breathalyzers in their cars for five months, under a law signed this week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The ignition interlock device will keep the car from starting if the driver’s breath shows more than a small amount of alcohol in the blood.

The law will be tested in a six-year pilot project here and in Alameda, Los Angeles and Tulare counties. It goes into effect July 1, 2010.

“We must do everything we can to ensure the public’s safety on the road,” Schwarzenegger said after signing the bill. “By installing ignition interlock devices we are making it harder for DUI offenders to get behind the wheel while intoxicated and we are working to save innocent lives.”

The American Beverage Institute, a restaurant trade association, had urged Schwarzenegger not to sign the bill, calling the locks intrusive and saying the state should target repeat offenders.

The law initially could affect 4,000 first-time drunken drivers per year in Sacramento County, based on state reports.

In Sacramento in 2006, more than 5 percent of those offenders were involved in a DUI crash or arrest within a year, state data show.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, says he believes the program will reduce first-time offender numbers and recidivism rates.

Feuer said he hopes the law will show enough progress in Sacramento and the other counties to persuade lawmakers to implement it statewide.

“We have a problem of enormous consequences in the state,” Feuer said. “I’m pleased we could get a toehold in California.”

Officials with Mothers Against Drunk Driving called the law a significant step in using technology to reduce roadway deaths.

Seventeen states already have similar laws, and some have shown notable drops in repeat drunken driving offenses.

Ignition interlock devices are not new in California.

The state already allows judges, at their discretion, to require drunken drivers to use such systems, but anti-drunken driving advocates say judges often don’t take advantage of that provision.

Under the law, drivers convicted of a first offense will be notified by the state Department of Motor Vehicles that they must pay to have a device installed in any vehicle they drive, other than a motorcycle.

If a first-timer’s conviction involves an injury crash, the device must stay in the vehicle for a year.

For second-time DUI offenders, the monitoring period will extend to a year. A third conviction will require the device be installed for two years.

Initial installation costs $75 to $100, Feuer said, and monthly monitoring costs run $50 or more.

It is illegal for another person to blow into the device for the offender, said Mary Klotzbach, California MADD policy director.

The devices also require drivers to retake the breath test at random times, she said.

If the driver fails the test or doesn’t pull over to take the test, the car will not immediately stop, but the failure will be recorded by the device and forwarded to county officials.

Drivers whose incomes are low will be required to pay only a portion of the cost. The device manufacturer must absorb the rest of the cost, Feuer said.

Feuer said he has lined up federal grants to pay for DMV’s costs of administering the program.

DMV will be required to provide an analysis of the program’s effectiveness to the Legislature by 2015.

California and other states have been on a push in recent years to reduce drunken driving injuries and deaths. Numbers have dropped, along with other types of crashes, but they remain substantial.

In 2008, 30 percent of roadway deaths in California � more than 1,000 deaths � occurred in crashes where at least one driver had a blood- alcohol level over the legal presumptive limit of 0.08 percent, according to the state Office of Traffic Safety.

Feuer said Sacramento County was chosen as one of the test sites because officials here supported the measure and because Sacramento County has a notable drunken driving problem.

The city of Sacramento, in particular, has the highest drunken driving injury and fatality rate among the state’s largest cities, an analysis by the state safety office showed.

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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

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TMZ has learned Nick Nolte’s son was arrested for suspicion of DUI and possession of a controlled substance yesterday in Santa Monica.

Law enforcement sources tell us Brawley King Nolte — who starred as the kidnapped son in “Ransom” back in the day — struck another vehicle while making a lane change yesterday afternoon.

When cops arrived, we’re told the 23-year-old showed signs of impairment, so cops conducted field sobriety tests and eventually arrested him. Nolte’s bail was set at $5,000.

Nick was arrested for DUI back in 2002.

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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY (AP) – 1 hour ago

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors have declined to press charges against the sheriff’s deputy who arrested Mel Gibson three years ago, citing a lack of proof he leaked details about the case.

The case against Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy James Mee was closed in July, according to a nine-page charge evaluation worksheet first obtained Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times.

Mee had been the target of investigations into whether he leaked his report about Gibson’s report, including details about the actor’s anti-Semitic tirade. Prosecutors found that the leaks were criminal, but that they couldn’t be tied to Mee.

The celebrity Web site TMZ.com first posted details about Gibson’s rants after his 2006 arrest on suspicion of drunken driving. A judge on Tuesday agreed to expunge the “Braveheart” actor and director’s drunken driving conviction after he successfully completed the terms of his probation.

Records obtained by investigators showed that there were calls between Mee’s residence and TMZ’s founder, Harvey Levin, but that it was impossible to say who made the calls on Mee’s end of the line.

Sheriff’s detectives presented their case to prosecutors in February 2008, but it wasn’t until this summer that Deputy James Mee’s financial records were reviewed. No improper payments to Mee, his wife or daughter were found.

Levin denied to investigators that he paid anyone at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for info contained in his site’s reports, which dramatically raised its prominence.

The prosecutor who reviewed the case against Mee determined that only three sheriff’s employees had access to the information by the time it was released. No cases have been presented against the other workers, who include a sergeant and lieutenant who oversaw Mee’s reports on the arrest.

The report released Wednesday shows that Mee’s superiors made him rewrite his initial report, which included details about Gibson’s anti-Semitic remarks. Mee was told to write a sanitized version that only included certain details about Gibson’s intoxication; details of Gibson’s tirade was then put into a supplemental report.

Mee’s attorney, Richard Shinee, said his client was ostracized and reassigned after arresting Gibson.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA – Anti-drunk driving advocates said they want to know why authorities didn’t do more to keep a Sacramento man with two prior DUI arrests from getting behind the wheel before a fatal crash on Interstate 80 Friday that killed three people.

Michael Neal, 51, remained hospitalized Saturday with a broken pelvis and ribs after the violent crash near the Antelope Road exit of I-80 Friday afternoon.

Neal was driving a Honda Accord when he clipped the back of another car, careened across all westbound lanes and up a dirt embankment where the passenger side slammed into a tree, California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Lizz Dutton said.

Two women passengers in the back seat of the Honda died at the scene. A third, identified as a 26-year-old Sacramento woman, was transported to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, where she died from her injuries.

The names of the victims were not released pending family notifications.

Dutton said Neal was driving on a suspended license and was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the crash.

According to Sacramento County court records, Neal was arrested for two prior DUI incidents since 1999, including one last year. Neither of those charges were prosecuted because Neil didn’t appear in court, leading to his license suspension.

“He really should never have been on the road again. The fact that he had a suspended license means absolutely nothing to him,” Mothers Against Drunk Driving state program coordinator Silas Myers said. “As an offender, he will continue to drive as long as he wants to.”

Defense attorney Bill Portanova said Neal and other drivers like him can often fall through the cracks.

“They don’t do their homework, and they don’t pay their taxes and they don’t report to the DMV and they don’t show up for jury service,” Portanova said. “They’re off the grid, so they’re hard to find.”

Portanova said he expects the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office to make an example out of Neal because he evaded the law for so long.

“If it turns out he’s guilty of this new offense, the prosecution is going to capitalize on that lack of respect for law and order and it’s going to carry forward into a much worse sentence,” Portanova said.

A CHP spokesperson said Neal was likely to remain hospitalized for another week. Once he’s able to leave the hospital, he was expected to be booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on several charges.

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