California has signed new legislation named Braun’s Law, honouring 18-year-old student and tennis star Braun Levi, who was killed by an alleged repeat drunk driver in Manhattan Beach in May 2025.
Governor Gavin Newsom approved Senate Bill 907 on Friday, alongside a package of measures intended to close loopholes in the state’s drink-driving laws and give prosecutors stronger powers to pursue repeat offenders.
Levi, a Loyola High School student and nationally ranked tennis player, was struck while walking in Manhattan Beach on 4 May 2025. His family had moved to the area after their Pacific Palisades home was destroyed in the previous year’s wildfires.
The legislation addresses cases in which a drink-driving charge is reduced to a lesser offence, such as hit-and-run. Under the new law, offenders must be warned that driving while impaired poses a serious danger to human life and that a further offence resulting in a death could lead to a murder charge.
The measure was prompted in part by concerns that the driver accused in Levi’s death had previously faced a drink-driving case that was resolved as a hit-and-run, meaning she did not receive the formal warning required for prosecutors to pursue a second-degree murder charge in a later case.
Los Angeles County prosecutors later charged Jenia Resha Belt with murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated over Levi’s death. The charges remain allegations and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Jennifer Levi, Braun’s mother, thanked Governor Newsom and Senator Bob Archuleta, who sponsored the legislation, for supporting the reforms. She also credited the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office with helping to advance the bill.
The wider package strengthens penalties for repeat DUI offenders, introduces longer driving-licence revocations and expands the use of ignition interlock devices. It also increases the number of driving-record points for convictions involving vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
California officials said the reforms were designed to prevent further deaths and ensure that repeated impaired driving is treated more seriously, particularly where a previous conviction or felony offence is involved.
