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Mountain View police will receive $85,982 from a state grant to support DUI enforcement.
The California Highway Patrol awarded the grant, which comes from taxes on cannabis, to the Mountain View Police Department on July 3, according to police spokesperson Elizabth Mendez.
The funding will pay for six DUI saturation patrols during concerts, 14 citywide DUI saturation patrols and one officer’s attendance at a California Highway Patrol-sponsored Drug Recognition Expert class, Mendez said in an email to the Voice.
The Mountain View City Council voted on June 23 to authorize the city to accept and appropriate up to $498,397.20 through the CHP Cannabis Tax Fund Grant Program. At the time, the council report said the money would support overtime for DUI and drug-impaired driving enforcement and the purchase of three vehicles dedicated to traffic safety and directed enforcement.
However, the final award was lower than the amount requested and did not include funding for vehicles or equipment. CHP determines both the final award amount and the specific activities and expenses approved for funding after evaluating applications from agencies across the state, Mendez said.
The Cannabis Tax Fund Grant Program was established after California voters approved Proposition 64, legalizing recreational cannabis, in 2016. The program provides competitive grant funding to local law enforcement agencies to address impaired driving.
Although the grant is funded through cannabis tax revenue, Mendez said the grant is intended to support impaired-driving enforcement “as a whole,” including impairment caused by alcohol, cannabis and other drugs.
“We did not receive equipment funding and the target of our enforcement operations will be DUI drivers, whether DUI alcohol, drugs, or combination,” Mendez said.
Mountain View had 363 reported vehicle collisions in 2025, according to the City Council report. Of those, 70, or about 19%, involved a driver impaired by alcohol, drugs or a combination of both, according to police data. Police made 331 arrests for driving under the influences or driving under the influence of drugs during the same period.
The report also cited a January 2025 fatal collision in which an impaired driver with a blood alcohol concentration more than twice the legal limit struck and killed a pedestrian.
To measure the grant’s impact, police will provide statistical data to CHP on a quarterly basis and track both DUI arrests and DUI-related collisions, Mendez said. At the end of the grant period, the department will compare all DUI arrests and determine how many resulted from grant-funded operations.
Interesting how the cannibis tax helps support excessive police overtime.