Senator Portantino Bill Protecting Drivers with Epilepsy Passes Senate Floor, Goes to Governor’s Desk

For Immediate Release: August 22, 2024

Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400

Senator Portantino Bill Protecting Drivers with Epilepsy Passes Senate Floor, Goes to Governor’s Desk

Sacramento, California – Today Senate Bill 357, authored by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) was approved by the Senate and is on its way to the Governor’s desk. The bill gives doctors the discretion to report personal conditions they believe will impair a patient’s ability to drive and removes language that discriminates against specific conditions, including epilepsy.

“Mandatory reporting in California is a discriminatory practice that jeopardizes access to appropriate care,” stated Senator Portantino. “SB 357 protects drivers with epilepsy by improving the patient-physician relationship and allows individuals affected by epilepsy to seek the care they need without fear of losing their driving licenses.”

Epilepsy is the fourth-most common neurological disorder in the US, affecting more than 3.4 million Americans and more than 425,000 Californians. Yet in California, a 1957 state law discriminates against drivers with epilepsy and other conditions by requiring physicians to automatically report these drivers to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Research has shown that these requirements often result in patients withholding crucial information from their physicians and not seeking the care they need. This is due to fear of losing their right to drive. When a person with epilepsy withholds critical information from their doctor, they jeopardize their access to appropriate care, risking an increase of seizure activity or even a loss of seizure control.

SB 357 will:

·         Give doctors the discretion to report any conditions they believe will impair a patient’s ability to drive, by removing language that discriminates against specific conditions, including epilepsy.

·         Allow but not require doctors to make such reports.

·         Protect the doctor-patient relationship by providing immunity for physicians for either reporting or not reporting patients.

SB 357 would apply beginning January 1, 2030 and also require the DMV to publish a report by 2035 on the differences in patterns of reporting and crash rates under a voluntary reporting system with a sunset on the voluntary reporting system for 2037.

“Based on an outdated law from 1957, California is one of only six states that requires doctors to report all patients with epilepsy to the DMV, even as research has shown that mandatory reporting requirements may lead people with epilepsy to withhold crucial information from their doctors, risking an increase in seizures, which can lead to injury and even death," said Rebekkah Halliwell, Executive Director of Epilepsy Foundation Los Angeles. "Although much has changed for people with epilepsy since 1957, including major advances in the treatment of epilepsy and seizures, ignorance about epilepsy remains far too common and we will never move past old prejudices if we don’t change the laws built upon them. Senator Portantino’s SB 357 will improve access to care and end decades of discrimination against the more than 425,000 Californians living with epilepsy and we are grateful that this this important measure will soon be on the Governor’s desk.”

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