(1) Existing law authorizes a peace officer, as defined, or a regularly employed and salaried employee, who is engaged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and regulations, of a city, county, or jurisdiction of a state agency in which a vehicle is located, to remove a vehicle located within the territorial limits in which the officer or employee may act, under designated circumstances, including, but not limited to, when a vehicle is found upon a highway or public land or removed pursuant to the Vehicle Code, and has been issued 5 or more notices of parking violations to which the owner or person in control of the vehicle has not responded within a designated time period. Under existing law, a vehicle that has been removed and impounded under those circumstances that is not released may be subject to a lien sale to compensate for the costs of towage and for caring for and keeping safe the vehicle.
Existing law authorizes a peace officer and specified public employees, as an alternative to removal of a vehicle, to immobilize the vehicle with a device designed and manufactured for that purpose, if, among other circumstances, the vehicle is found upon a highway or public lands by the peace officer or employee and it is known to have been issued 5 or more notices of parking violations that are delinquent because the owner or person in control of the vehicle has not responded to the appropriate agency within a designated time period.
This bill would instead allow only an agent of public higher educational institutions, including the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges, to remove or immobilize a vehicle under those circumstances. The bill would limit the related authority to conduct a lien sale to cover towing and storage expenses to agents of public higher educational institutions, as specified. The bill would make various conforming and technical changes.
(2) Existing law authorizes a parking citation processing agency, as defined, to collect an unpaid parking penalty by requesting the Department of Motor Vehicles to place a registration hold on the vehicle to which the citations have been issued, or by obtaining a civil judgment against the registered owner of the vehicle, as specified. Existing law requires a processing agency to offer a payment plan for unpaid parking citations to qualified indigent persons, defined as a person whose monthly income is 200 percent or less of the current federal poverty guidelines.
This bill would prohibit the processing agency from requesting the department to place a registration hold on a vehicle unless the vehicle has 3 or more unpaid parking citations, but would authorize a processing agency for public higher educational instruction to file an itemization of unpaid parking penalties with the department for one or more parking citations. The bill would expand the payment plan option to a person whose monthly income is 300 percent or less of the current poverty guidelines. The bill would modify payment plans for low-income persons by removing the deadline to file a request to participate in a payment plan, allowing automatic payments, and reducing the total amount due for penalties so that it can be paid off within 24 months, as specified. The bill would give a low-income person who falls out of compliance with a payment plan at least 4 extensions to resume payments, as specified. The bill would require a processing agency to establish a process to have an unpaid parking penalty waived for a vehicle if the registered owner was in custody in a juvenile facility, county jail, or state prison when the penalty was pending. The bill would require the processing agency to provide a payment plan option for persons who do not qualify as low income. The bill would require the processing agency to mail a courtesy warning notice to the registered vehicle owner that contains information about the payment program, as specified.
(3) Existing law requires, except as specified, the Department of Motor Vehicles to refuse to renew the registration of a vehicle if the registered owner or lessee has been mailed a notice of a delinquent parking violation relating to standing or parking, the processing agency has filed or electronically transmitted to the department an itemization of unpaid parking penalties, and the owner or lessee has not paid the parking penalties.
This bill would, beginning on January 1, 2029, prohibit the department from refusing to renew the registration of a vehicle unless the registered owner or lessee has 3 or more parking violations.

Statutes affected:
AB1082: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH
02/15/23 - Introduced: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH
03/21/23 - Amended Assembly: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH
05/19/23 - Amended Assembly: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH
06/21/23 - Amended Senate: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH
06/29/23 - Amended Senate: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH
08/14/23 - Amended Senate: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH
AB 1082: 1661 VEH, 2810.2 VEH, 2814.2 VEH, 4000 VEH, 4760 VEH, 14602 VEH, 22651 VEH, 22651.3 VEH, 22651.7 VEH, 22651.8 VEH, 22851.1 VEH, 40206.5 VEH, 40220 VEH, 40261 VEH