In California, how long does a DUI stay on your record? Is there any way to reduce the years for that penalty? Thank you

According to the California DMV effective as of January 1, 2007, any CA DUI offense on your record will appear for 10 years from the violation date.

This new legislation thus extends the reporting period for DUI offenses from 7 to 10 years for all public requestors, including insurance companies.

The CA DMV states that this new law allows insurance companies access to the driving record information to properly apply the new provisions of the Insurance Code established under Senate Bill 597 (2005), to determine a customer's eligibility for a good driver discount. Based on the new laws, drivers with a DUI violation occurring within the past 10 years are not entitled to receive a good driver discount.

So under the new law, you may not qualify for a good driver discount again until 10 years from the date of your DUI violation. You may want to contact your insurance representative if you have additional questions regarding your insurance premiums.

A DUI offense that occurred more than 10 years ago will not appear on your out-of-house/public driving record. It will automatically be taken off at the end of the 10 year reporting window.

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Under the new California law, any DUI violation under California Vehicle Code sections 23140, 23152, or 23153 will report for 10 years. There are some other non-DUI violations (e.g. 23103.5 "wet" reckless) that will report to courts and law enforcement for 10 years and may count against you for the purpose of determining increased penalties for repeat offenders, but will continue to show on a public driving record for only 7 years.

The department says the state is not discriminating against individuals with DUI offenses but is implementing legislation that is intended to discourage DUIs by increasing the time-period that an offense remains on an individual's driving record.

They also note there are no exceptions to this law. The 10-year reporting period applies to all non-commercial drivers, even those who maintain a clean driving record thereafter. So thus we are unaware of a way in which you could get a DUI off your record before the 10 year period. You can contact the CA DMV though to find out for certain.