California
About 425,000 Californians live with epilepsy. California is also one of only a handful of states where doctors are legally required to report you to the health department, which then reports you to the DMV.
In 2024, the legislature voted to end that. Unanimously. Every major neurology and epilepsy organization in the country backed the repeal. The governor vetoed it. The 1957 law is still on the books.
Here's what you're actually dealing with, and where the fight is.
(Special Note: This is my state, Kelly, and it is the greatest place on earth in my opinion. I grew up in So Cal and have been in the Bay Area for twenty-five years. Northern California and Southern California are like two different countries. You say ‘Dude’ in one, and ‘Hella’ in the other. I’m only sort of kidding.)
Representation
Alex Padilla, U.S. Senator (D-CA) | (202) 224-3553
Adam Schiff, U.S. Senator (D-CA) | (202) 224-3841
Go Here To Find Your Congressional Representative
Driving Laws
There is no single fixed seizure-free number in statute. The DMV evaluates lapses of consciousness case by case and can place you on medical probation — Type I or Type II — with different reporting intervals depending on your history and your doctor's assessment. The relevant authority is California Vehicle Code § 14251 and the DMV's Lapse of Consciousness Disorders process (Form DS 326).
Here's the part most people don't know until it happens to them: under California Health & Safety Code § 103900, your physician is required to report you to the local health department after a diagnosed lapse of consciousness. The health department reports to the DMV. This is not discretionary, and you do not opt into it.
That law traces back to 1957. Its original language barred licenses from anyone who was — and this is the statute's own wording — insane or feeble-minded or an idiot, imbecile, or epileptic.
SB 357 (2024) would have repealed the mandatory reporting requirement and replaced it with permissive reporting, matching American Academy of Neurology guidance. It passed both chambers unanimously. The American Academy of Neurology, the American Epilepsy Society, and epilepsy organizations statewide supported it. Governor Newsom vetoed it on September 28, 2024.
This did not go over well with many in the epilepsy community, including The Epilepsy Foundation of Los Angeles.
“In his second inaugural address, Gov. Gavin Newsom committed California to righting historical wrongs, and to “confront our errors with humility and conviction.” wrote David Parker, an Epilepsy Foundation of Los Angeles board member in a special to the Sacramento Bee. “But he just missed an easy opportunity to end nearly seven decades of discrimination by vetoing the repeal of an outdated 1957 law originally established to enforce California’s prohibition on drivers’ licenses being issued to anyone “who is insane or feeble-minded or an idiot, imbecile or epileptic.”
Confirm current requirements with the California DMV and the Epilepsy Foundation's California driving law page before you make any decision about driving.
School Laws
California has Seizure-Safe School Laws, right?
Sort of. And the difference between what it says and what people think it says is where kids fall through.
AB 1810 created California's Seizure-Safe Schools framework, and Education Code §§ 49468–49468.5 set the training standards. The law allows schools to train volunteer staff to recognize seizures and administer prescribed rescue medication.
It does not require them to.
If no one at your child's school volunteers, the school is in full compliance with California law and your child still has no trained adult in the building. That is the reality. If you're being told the school 'follows the law,' that statement can be true and useless at the same time.
What to do: request a Seizure Action Plan in writing, ask specifically how many staff have completed training and which ones, and get the answer in writing. If the school won't train anyone, your leverage is Section 504 and IDEA — federal law, not state law.
Support
California's local epilepsy organizations are among the most active in the country, and several run peer-led groups rather than clinician-led ones.
Epilepsy Foundation of Northern Californiaserves 44 counties from the Oregon border to Fresno. Groups for adults, adolescents, parents and caregivers, older adults, Spanish speakers, plus hobby groups — and every group is facilitated by someone who has epilepsy. They also run bereavement groups for people who have lost someone to epilepsy, split by age.
Epilepsy Foundation Los Angeles, established in 1957, serves Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties with bilingual information and referral, virtual support groups, and a book club.
Epilepsy Foundation Greater Orange County covers Orange, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Inyo, Kings, and Kern counties and the Inland Empire, and runs a virtual parent and caregiver group open nationally.
Epilepsy Support Network of Orange County is an independent 501(c)(3) and a member of Epilepsy Alliance America.
Valley Children's Healthcare in Madera runs a monthly in-person Family CONNECT group.
Epilepsy Care
If your seizures aren't controlled after 12 months with a general neurologist — or after two medications have failed — national guidelines say you should be at a Level 3 or Level 4 center. Most people who meet that bar are never told it exists.
California has more NAEC-accredited centers than most states. Confirmed Level 4 centers include:
UCSF Epilepsy Center: Advanced intracranial EEG, monitoring, and surgical options in San Francisco.
Stanford Comprehensive Epilepsy Program: Specialized adult and pediatric diagnostic and surgical care in Palo Alto. (Shout-out to my Neurologist, Dr. Erica Leah Von Stein! xoxo - Kelly)
Stanford also has an amazing Neuropsychiatry Program.
UC Davis Comprehensive Epilepsy Program: Features extensive adult and pediatric monitoring units in Sacramento.
UC San Diego Health: Recognized adult complex care and monitoring unit in San Diego.
UCLA and Cedars-Sinai: High-level surgical programs and neurodiagnostics in Los Angeles.
UCI Health: Offers advanced imaging, laser surgery, and monitoring in Orange County.
Loma Linda University Medical Center: Serves the Inland Empire with full diagnostic and surgical services.
Valley Children's Healthcare in Madera (pediatric)
Children's Hospital Los Angeles (pediatric). Additional Level 3 and Level 4 centers operate statewide.
Use the comments section to add additional resources for California or review the resources listed above.