Jennifer Levi stood in Sacramento on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, pressing California Assembly members to pass a bill that would impose harsher penalties on repeat drunk drivers. Her 18-year-old son Braun was killed while walking near Sepulveda Boulevard and 2nd Street in Manhattan Beach on Sunday, May 4, 2025.
"The past eight months, I've been coming up to talk to assemblymen and senators, and this is a bipartisan issue," Levi told CBS News. "It passed the Senate unanimously. I'm worried they're going to gut it, amend it and water down this bill."
The bill, authored by state Sen. Bob Archuleta, whose oldest grandchild was killed by an alleged drunk driver in a wrong-way collision in late 2024, cleared the Senate unanimously and now faces the Assembly Public Safety Committee. Committee chair Assemblyman Nick Schultz (D-Burbank), a former prosecutor, holds significant sway over the bill's path forward. His office told CBS News that amendments are being made but did not specify what they would change.
LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in December 2025 that California's DUI laws, once considered among the nation's strongest, have become some of the weakest. A CalMatters investigation found alcohol-linked roadway fatalities in California increased roughly 50 percent over the past decade.
Braun Levi was a Loyola High School senior and three-year varsity tennis captain who had committed to play at the University of Virginia. He was weeks from graduation when Jenia Resha Belt, 33, of Los Angeles allegedly struck him at approximately 12:46 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Times. Belt's blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit. Her license had been suspended since January 2024 after a prior DUI arrest, and in September 2024 she had pleaded no contest to a hit-and-run charge under a deal that dismissed the DUI count and placed her on one year of probation, according to court records cited by ABC7.
More than seven months after the crash, Belt was charged on Thursday, December 18, 2025, with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and driving on a suspended license. She is held on $2 million bail.
Braun's death was one of three fatal pedestrian crashes on Sepulveda Boulevard in Manhattan Beach since December 2024. Michael Kawasaki was killed in the 900 block of North Sepulveda in December 2024. Manhattan Beach teen Ford Savela was killed in a hit-and-run in the 300 block of North Sepulveda in January 2025. The driver charged in Savela's case, Kameron Lee Peterson, remains jailed on felony murder, hit-and-run, and reckless driving charges.
Caltrans controls Sepulveda Boulevard, limiting what Manhattan Beach can do independently. The agency is reviewing traffic calming options for the corridor, including high-visibility crosswalks and speed-limit pavement markings, according to the Manhattan Beach News. No timeline has been announced.
The Assembly Public Safety Committee's action on the bill Tuesday, June 30, will determine whether the proposed penalties advance to a full floor vote or face the weakening amendments Levi fears.
