SACRAMENTO — A measure authorizing the confiscation and sale of vehicles driven by felony drunk drivers was sent to Gov. George Deukmejian by the Senate with no votes to spare.
The bill by Assemblyman Byron D. Sher (D-Palo Alto) was passed on a bare-majority 21-8 vote in the 40-member Senate over protests by some lawmakers that it amounted to political grandstanding on a popular issue without doing anything to solve the serious problem of alcohol abuse.
"If this bill was to schedule (convicted felony drunk drivers) to go to AA meetings, I might vote for it," said Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), who characterized the measure as "an asinine idea."
Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino) countered: "If that same (drunk driver) had a loaded gun, you wouldn't take it away from him? An automobile is a 2,000-pound weapon."
