SACRAMENTO, CA (KMJ) – The proposed bill Gavin’s Law was voted on Monday morning in the Assembly Appropriations Committee in Sacramento.
The Gladding family was at the Capitol to hear the vote as the bill passed 66-3 on the Assembly Floor.
The bill was approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday last week.
The proposed law is named for Clovis Unified Educator Gavin Gladding, who was killed in a hit and run on Fresno’s Friant road back on September 16, 2018.
The driver, Rogelio Maravilla was sentenced three years in prison but was released in December 2019 after serving only one year.
Court documents say 18 year-old Maravilla and his girlfriend were returning from a party when he struck Gladding with his truck, then left the scene.
“The way that the California Law is written today incentivizes (sic) the driver to flee the scene, rather than to stop and to assist the individual that they have critically injured with their vehicle,” -Susan Gladding’s Testimony.
The bill is co-authored by Valley Republican Assemblyman Jim Patterson, who wants to see hit and run drivers serve a maximum of 6 years behind bars.
Next, it will be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee, then Senate Appropriations, then the Senate Floor.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
