McDonald

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) appeals a judgment granting Steven T. McDonald’s petition for writ of administrative mandamus and reducing his driver’s license suspension from one year to four months. The court determined that the Colorado law under which McDonald pleaded guilty for driving while ability impaired (DWAI) was not “substantially similar” to California Vehicle Code section 23152, subdivisions (a) and (b), and therefore that the DMV could not consider McDonald’s Colorado offense a prior offense for penalty enhancement purposes. The DMV contends the court acted contrary to legislative intent in narrowly construing the section 13363, subdivision (b) substantial similarity test used to determine whether an out-of-state conviction will be used to increase the term of license suspension. We agree and reverse with directions to the trial court to reinstate the DMV’s suspension order.

Factual and Procedural Background

For purposes of determining the propriety of the judgment granting McDonald’s petition for writ of mandate, we state the facts in the light most favorable to McDonald. {Lake v. Reed (1997) 16 Cal.4th 448, 457 [ 65 Cal.Rptr.2d 860 , 940 P.2d 311…