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Cal. VEH § 23502

This is the official text of Cal. VEH § 23502, part of California’s Vehicle Code — governs traffic laws, driver's licenses, and vehicle registration.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a person who is at least 18 years of age is convicted of a first violation of Section 23140, in addition to any penalties, the court shall order the person to attend a program licensed under Section 11836 of the Health and Safety Code, subject to a fee schedule developed under paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 11837.4 of the Health and Safety Code.

(b) The attendance in a licensed driving-under-the-influence program required under subdivision (a) shall be as follows:

(1) If, within 10 years of the current violation of Section 23140, the person has not been convicted of a separate violation of Section 23140, 23152, or 23153, or of Section 23103, with a plea of guilty under Section 23103.5, or of Section 655 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, or of Section 191.5 of, or subdivision (a) of Section 192.5 of, the Penal Code, the person shall complete, at a minimum, the education component of that licensed driving-under-the-influence program.

(2) If the person does not meet the requirements of paragraph (1), the person shall complete, at a minimum, the program described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 11837 of the Health and Safety Code.

(c) The person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle shall be suspended by the department as required under Section 13352.6, and the court shall require the person to surrender his or her driver’s license to the court in accordance with Section 13550.

(d) The court shall advise the person at the time of sentencing that the driving privilege will not be restored until the person has provided the department with proof satisfactory to the department that the person has successfully completed the driving-under-the-influence program required under this section.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.