Dave Min could have called Uber or Lyft. Once, the Senate sergeant-at-arms could have helped.

This week, State Sen. Dave Min, D-Irvine, joined a select group of California lawmakers who have been caught driving drunk.

Min apologized and vowed not to let it distract from his work in Sacramento, or his campaign to replace Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, in Congress next year.

According to a photo shared on Twitter by Sen. Angelique Ashby, D-Sacramento, Min had been attending an event with firefighters and construction industry figures the night he was busted for driving over the legal limit.

How could Min’s DUI have been avoided?

The lawmaker could have called for a Lyft or Uber, or asked someone to give him a ride. There was also a time when he could have enlisted the Senate sergeant-at-arms.

In 2015, after a string of lawmaker DUI arrests, then-Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León set up a 24-hour ride service for members through the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Office. Senators all received a business card with the office phone number.

This followed the arrests of then-Sens. Ben Hueso and Roy Ashburn and then-Assemblymen Roger Hernández and Martin Garrick for driving under the influence; all four arrests occurred over a five-year period.

Hueso ultimately pleaded guilty to a “wet reckless” charge — a DUI reduced to reckless driving with alcohol involved. Ashburn and Garrick pleaded “no contest” to DUI charges. Hernández was found not guilty following a hung jury.

But whither that ride policy in 2023?

Niesha Fritz, spokeswoman for Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, told The Bee that while the Senate does maintain a day-and-evening ride service for members, it is for legislative purposes only.

John Casey, of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s office, said that the Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms Office provides transportation into the evening, subject to availability of drivers. The service is for assemblymembers headed to the airport or legislative functions, not to private events like fundraisers.