YES…and NO. In California, when you sign for and accept a driver’s license, you essentially give your “implied consent” to provide a chemical breath or blood sample for the purpose of detecting alcohol or drugs IF you are lawfully arrested for DUI.
If you refuse to provide a sample, and the stop is deemed lawful, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will suspend your driver’s license for a year. So, no, you don’t have to give a sample, but if you don’t the consequence is severe.
To count as a refusal, it’s not enough for the officer to simply tell you that you are required to submit t a chemical test and for you to refuse. Chemical Test Refusals (CTRs) are actually quite technical. The officer must expressly offer you a breath and blood test and allow you to choose. If you refuse both, the officer must expressly inform you that you are required to submit to a chemical alcohol test, that if you refuse your license will be suspended for a year, and [this is where they frequently mess up] after they have read the entire refusal admonition, they MUST offer BOTH breath and blood test again before they can call it a refusal.
Understanding that your license could – and likely would – be suspended for a year, the decision to refuse is entirely yours. I, personally, do not recommend it.
