Appendix C

• Pages: 1283-1293
• Author: Paul Burglin,Barry Simons,Ed Kuwatch

APPENDIX C

TITLE 17 UPDATE

C-79

APPENDIX C

TITLE 17 UPDATE

New Title 17 went into eect April 1, 2017

Back in 2005, California Health and Safety Code §100703 required the Department of Health Services to form

an 8 member committee to update and revise the Title 17 regulations governing blood and breath alcohol testing.

This committee consisted of a representative from DHS, one prosecutor, one public defender, and ve crime lab

personnel. They undertook a 12 year project of revising Title 17 and shepherding the product through the Byz-

antine process of amending state regulations. Their nal product will go into eect on April 1st, 2017. Since the

committee was largely made up of crime lab personnel, the new regulations eliminate a lot of the DHS oversight

they formerly exercised.

What follows is a breakdown of the new provisions of Title 17 with commentary from Ron Moore (Forensic

Toxicologist/Attorney, Irvine); Jeremey Brehmer (Attorney Bakerseld) with additional editorial notes from Paul

Burglin and Barry Simons.

Article 1

General §1215 (New Version)

1. Alcohol” means the unique chemical compound, ethyl alcohol. When referencing compounds to be

avoided, such as skin disinfectants, alcohol means any organic compound in which an hydroxyl functional

group is bound to a saturated carbon atom.

2. “Alveolar” refers to the smallest air sacs in the lungs and to that portion of the expired breath which is in

equilibrium with respect to alcohol with the immediately adjacent pulmonary blood.

3. “Breath Alcohol Testing” means the analysis of a person’s expired breath, using a breath testing instrument

to obtain a breath alcohol result.

4. “Competency Test” means the evaluation of a person’s ability to perform work in forensic alcohol analysis

prior to the performance of independent testing.

5. “Concentration” means the weight amount of alcohol contained in a unit volume of liquid or a unit

volume of gas under specied conditions of temperature and pressure. In the case of a tissue specimen,

“concentration” means the weight amount of alcohol contained in a unit weight of specimen.

6. “Department” means the California State Department of Public Health and its duly authorized representatives.

7. “Forensic Alcohol Analysis” means the use of specialized equipment, instruments, and methods to measure

the concentration of alcohol in samples of blood, urine, or tissue of persons involved in trac accidents

or trac violations.

8. “Forensic Alcohol Analyst” means a person employed by a forensic alcohol laboratory who is responsible

for all aspects of the performance of forensic alcohol analysis.

9. “Forensic Alcohol Laboratory” means a place at which specialized equipment, instruments, and methods

are used by forensic alcohol analysts to measure the concentration of alcohol in samples of blood, breath,