california legislature—2025–26 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 875
Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Davies)
February 19, 2025
An act to amend Section 22651 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 875, as introduced, Muratsuchi. Vehicle removal.
Existing law authorizes a peace officer or a regularly employed and salaried emplo yee who is eng aged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and regulations to remove a vehicle when, among other things, the officer arrests a person driving or in control of a vehicle for an alleged offense, and the officer is, by the Vehicle Code or other law, required or permitted to take, and does take, the person into custody.
This bill would additionally authorize a peace officer to remo ve an electric bicycle operated on the highway that is capable of speeds greater than any speed permitted for an electric bicycle, as specified. The bill would also authorize a peace officer to remove a bicycle operated by a person who (1) is under 16 years of age and is operating a class 3 electric bicycle or (2) is operating, or riding upon, a class 3 electric bic ycle without a helmet, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
99 The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 22651 of the Vehicle Code is amended line 2 to read:
line 3 22651. A peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing line 4 with Section 830) of Title 3 of P art 2 of the Penal Code, or a line 5 regularly emplo yed and salaried emplo yee who is eng aged in line 6 directing traffic or enforcing parking la ws and re gulations of a line 7 city, county, or jurisdiction of a state agency in which a vehicle is line 8 located may remove a vehicle located within the territorial limits line 9 in which the officer or emplo yee may act, under the follo wing line 10 circumstances:
line 11 (a) If a v ehicle is left unattended upon a bridge, viaduct, or line 12 causeway or in a tube or tunnel where the v ehicle constitutes an line 13 obstruction to traffic.
line 14 (b) If a vehicle is parked or left standing upon a highw ay in a line 15 position so as to obstruct the normal mo vement of traffic or in a line 16 condition so as to create a hazard to other traffic upon the highway. line 17 (c) If a vehicle is found upon a highw ay or public land and a line 18 report has pre viously been made that the v ehicle is stolen or a line 19 complaint has been filed and a warrant thereon is issued charging line 20 that the vehicle was embezzled.
line 21 (d) If a vehicle is illegally parked so as to block the entrance to line 22 a private driveway, and it is impractical to move the vehicle from line 23 in front of the driveway to another point on the highway. line 24 (e) If a v ehicle is ille gally parked so as to pre vent access by line 25 firefighting equipment to a fire hydrant, and it is impracticable to line 26 move the vehicle from in front of the fire hydrant to another point line 27 on the highway.
line 28 (f) If a v ehicle, except highway maintenance or construction line 29 equipment, is stopped, parked, or left standing for more than four line 30 hours upon the right-of-way of a freeway that has full control of line 31 access and no crossings at grade, and the driver, if present, cannot line 32 move the vehicle under its own power.
line 33 (g) If the person in charge of a vehicle upon a highway or public line 34 land is, by reason of ph ysical injuries or illness, incapacitated to line 35 an extent so as to be unable to provide for its custody or removal. line 36 (h) (1) If an officer arrests a person dri ving or in control of a line 37 vehicle for an alle ged offense, and the officer is, by this code or 99 — 2 — AB 875
line 1 other law, required or permitted to tak e, and, except as provided line 2 in Section 23109.3, does take, the person into custody. line 3 (2) If an officer serv es a notice of an order of suspension or line 4 revocation pursuant to Section 13388 or 13389.
line 5 (i) (1) If a vehicle, other than a rented v ehicle, is found upon line 6 a highway or public land, or is removed pursuant to this code, and line 7 it is known that the vehicle has been issued fiv e or more notices line 8 of parking violations to which the o wner or person in control of line 9 the vehicle has not responded within 21 calendar days of notice line 10 of citation issuance or citation issuance or 14 calendar days of the line 11 mailing of a notice of delinquent parking violation to the agenc y line 12 responsible for processing notices of parking violations, or the line 13 registered owner of the vehicle is known to have been issued five line 14 or more notices for failure to pay or failure to appear in court for line 15 traffic violations for which a certificate has not been issued by the line 16 magistrate or clerk of the court hearing the case showing that the line 17 case has been adjudicated or concerning which the re gistered line 18 owner’s record has not been cleared pursuant to Chapter 6 line 19 (commencing with Section 41500) of Division 17, the vehicle may line 20 be impounded until that person furnishes to the impounding la w line 21 enforcement agency all of the following:
line 22 (A) Evidence of their identity.
line 23 (B) An address within this state where they can be located. line 24 (C) Satisfactory evidence that all parking penalties due for the line 25 vehicle and all other vehicles registered to the registered owner of line 26 the impounded vehicle and all traffic violations of the re gistered line 27 owner have been cleared.
line 28 (2) The requirements in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) shall line 29 be fully enforced by the impounding law enforcement agency on line 30 and after the time that the Department of Motor Vehicles is able line 31 to provide access to the necessary records.
line 32 (3) A notice of parking violation issued for an unlawfully parked line 33 vehicle shall be accompanied by a warning that repeated violations line 34 may result in the impounding of the vehicle. In lieu of furnishing line 35 satisfactory evidence that the full amount of parking penalties or line 36 bail has been deposited, that person may demand to be tak en line 37 without unnecessary delay before a magistrate, for traffic offenses, line 38 or a hearing e xaminer, for parking of fenses, within the county line 39 where the of fenses charged are alle ged to ha ve been committed line 40 and who has jurisdiction of the of fenses and is nearest or most 99 AB 875 — 3 —
line 1 accessible with reference to the place where the v ehicle is line 2 impounded. Evidence of current re gistration shall be produced line 3 after a v ehicle has been impounded, or , at the discretion of the line 4 impounding la w enforcement agenc y, a notice to appear for line 5 violation of subdivision (a) of Section 4000 shall be issued to that line 6 person.
line 7 (4) A vehicle shall be released to the legal owner, as defined in line 8 Section 370, if the legal owner does all of the following:
line 9 (A) Pays the cost of towing and storing the vehicle. line 10 (B) Submits evidence of payment of fees as provided in Section line 11 9561.
line 12 (C) Completes an affida vit in a form acceptable to the line 13 impounding law enforcement agency stating that the vehicle was line 14 not in possession of the le gal owner at the time of occurrence of line 15 the offenses relating to standing or parking. A vehicle released to line 16 a legal owner under this subdivision is a repossessed v ehicle for line 17 purposes of disposition or sale. The impounding agency shall have line 18 a lien on any surplus that remains upon sale of the vehicle, to which line 19 the registered owner is or may be entitled, as security for the full line 20 amount of the parking penalties for all notices of parking violations line 21 issued for the v ehicle and for all local administrati ve char ges line 22 imposed pursuant to Section 22850.5. The le gal o wner shall line 23 promptly remit to, and deposit with, the agenc y responsible for line 24 processing notices of parking violations from that surplus, on line 25 receipt of that surplus, the full amount of the parking penalties for line 26 all notices of parking violations issued for the v ehicle and for all line 27 local administrative charges imposed pursuant to Section 22850.5. line 28 (5) The impounding agency that has a lien on the surplus that line 29 remains upon the sale of a vehicle to which a registered owner is line 30 entitled pursuant to paragraph (4) has a deficienc y claim against line 31 the registered owner for the full amount of the parking penalties line 32 for all notices of parking violations issued for the vehicle and for line 33 all local administrati ve char ges imposed pursuant to Section line 34 22850.5, less the amount received from the sale of the vehicle. line 35 (j) If a vehicle is found illegally parked and there are no license line 36 plates or other evidence of registration displayed, the vehicle may line 37 be impounded until the owner or person in control of the v ehicle line 38 furnishes the impounding la w enforcement agenc y evidence of line 39 their identity and an address within this state where the y can be line 40 located.
99 — 4 — AB 875
line 1 (k) If a vehicle is parked or left standing upon a highway for 72 line 2 or more consecuti ve hours in violation of a local ordinance line 3 authorizing removal.
line 4 (l) If a vehicle is illegally parked on a highway in violation of line 5 a local ordinance forbidding standing or parking and the use of a line 6 highway, or a portion thereof, is necessary for the cleaning, repair, line 7 or construction of the highw ay, or for the installation of line 8 underground utilities, and signs giving notice that the vehicle may line 9 be removed are erected or placed at least 24 hours prior to the line 10 removal by a local authority pursuant to the ordinance. line 11 (m) If the use of the highw ay, or a portion of the highw ay, is line 12 authorized by a local authority for a purpose other than the normal line 13 flow of traffic or for the mo vement of equipment, articles, or line 14 structures of unusual size, and the parking of a v ehicle w ould line 15 prohibit or interfere with that use or movement, and signs giving line 16 notice that the v ehicle may be remo ved are erected or placed at line 17 least 24 hours prior to the remo val by a local authority pursuant line 18 to the ordinance.
line 19 (n) Whenever a vehicle is parked or left standing where local line 20 authorities, by resolution or ordinance, ha ve prohibited parking line 21 and have authorized the removal of vehicles. Except as provided line 22 in subdivisions (v) and (w), a vehicle shall not be removed unless line 23 signs are posted giving notice of the removal.
line 24 (o) (1) If a vehicle is found or operated upon a highway, public line 25 land, or an of fstreet parking f acility under an y of the follo wing line 26 circumstances:
line 27 (A) (i) With a re gistration e xpiration date in e xcess of six line 28 months before the date it is found or operated on the highw ay, line 29 public lands, or the offstreet parking facility. line 30 (ii) Prior to removing a vehicle pursuant to this subparagraph, line 31 the officer or emplo yee shall verify, using available Department line 32 of Motor Vehicles records, that no current re gistration exists for line 33 the v ehicle. A v ehicle shall not be remo ved pursuant to this line 34 subparagraph if it has a current re gistration on file with the line 35 Department of Motor Vehicles, regardless of whether the vehicle line 36 is in compliance with subdivision (a) of Section 5204. If the officer line 37 or employee does not ha ve immediate access to those records, a line 38 vehicle shall not be removed pursuant to this subparagraph. line 39 (B) Displaying in, or upon, the v ehicle, a re gistration card, line 40 identification card, temporary receipt, license plate, special plate, 99 AB 875 — 5 —
line 1 registration stick er, de vice issued pursuant to Section 4853, or line 2 permit that w as not issued for that v ehicle or is not otherwise line 3 lawfully used on that vehicle under this code.
line 4 (C) Displaying in, or upon, the v ehicle, an altered, for ged, line 5 counterfeit, or f alsified re gistration card, identification card, line 6 temporary receipt, license plate, special plate, registration sticker, line 7 device issued pursuant to Section 4853, or permit. line 8 (D) (i) The vehicle is operating using autonomous technology, line 9 without the registered owner or manufacturer of the vehicle having line 10 first applied for and obtained a v alid permit that is required to line 11 operate the v ehicle on public roads pursuant to Section 38750, line 12 Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 227.00) of Title 13 of the line 13 California Code of Regulations, and Article 3.8 (commencing with line 14 Section 228.00) of Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations. line 15 (ii) The vehicle is operating using autonomous technology after line 16 the registered owner or person in control of the v ehicle received line 17 notice that the v ehicle’s permit required for the operation of the line 18 vehicle pursuant to Section 38750, Article 3.7 (commencing with line 19 Section 227.00) of Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations, line 20 and Article 3.8 (commencing with Section 228.00) of Title 13 of line 21 the California Code of Re gulations is suspended, terminated, or line 22 revoked.
line 23 (iii) For purposes of this subdi vision, the terms “autonomous line 24 technology” and “autonomous vehicle” have the same meanings line 25 as in Section 38750.
line 26 (iv) This subparagraph does not provide the authority for a peace line 27 officer to stop an autonomous v ehicle solely for the purpose of line 28 determining whether the v ehicle is operating using autonomous line 29 technology without a v alid permit required to operate the line 30 autonomous vehicle on public roads pursuant to Section 38750, line 31 Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 227.00) of Title 13 of the line 32 California Code of Regulations, and Article 3.8 (commencing with line 33 Section 228.00) of Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations. line 34 (2) If a vehicle described in paragraph (1) is occupied, only a line 35 peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section line 36 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, may remove the vehicle. line 37 (3) For the purposes of this subdi vision, the v ehicle shall be line 38 released under any of the following circumstances:
line 39 (A) If the vehicle has been removed pursuant to subparagraph line 40 (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1), to the re gistered owner of, or 99 — 6 — AB 875
line 1 person in control of, the v ehicle only after the o wner or person line 2 furnishes the storing law enforcement agency with proof of current line 3 registration and a valid driver’s license to operate the vehicle. line 4 (B) If the vehicle has been removed pursuant to subparagraph line 5 (D) of paragraph (1), to the registered owner of, or person in control line 6 of, the autonomous v ehicle, after the re gistered owner or person line 7 furnishes the storing law enforcement agency with proof of current line 8 registration and a valid driver’s license, if required to operate the line 9 autonomous vehicle, and either of the following:
line 10 (i) Proof of a valid permit required to operate the autonomous line 11 vehicle using autonomous technology on public roads pursuant to line 12 Section 38750, Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 227.00) of line 13 Title 13 of the California Code of Re gulations, and Article 3.8 line 14 (commencing with Section 228.00) of Title 13 of the California line 15 Code of Regulations.
line 16 (ii) A declaration or sworn statement to the Department of Motor line 17 Vehicles that states that the autonomous v ehicle will not be line 18 operated using autonomous technology upon public roads without line 19 first obtaining a v alid permit to operate the v ehicle pursuant to line 20 Section 38750, Article 3.7 (commencing with Section 227.00) of line 21 Title 13 of the California Code of Re gulations, and Article 3.8 line 22 (commencing with Section 228.00) of Title 13 of the California line 23 Code of Regulations.
line 24 (C) To the le gal owner or the le gal owner’s agency, without line 25 payment of an y fees, fines, or penalties for parking tick ets or line 26 registration and without proof of current registration, if the vehicle line 27 will only be transported pursuant to the e xemption specified in line 28 Section 4022 and if the legal owner does all of the following:
line 29 (i) Pays the cost of towing and storing the vehicle. line 30 (ii) Completes an affida vit in a form acceptable to the line 31 impounding law enforcement agency stating that the vehicle was line 32 not in possession of the le gal owner at the time of occurrence of line 33 an offense relating to standing or parking. A vehicle released to a line 34 legal owner under this subdi vision is a repossessed v ehicle for line 35 purposes of disposition or sale. The impounding agency has a lien line 36 on any surplus that remains upon sale of the vehicle to which the line 37 registered o wner is or may be entitled, as security for the full line 38 amount of parking penalties for any notices of parking violations line 39 issued for the v ehicle and for all local administrati ve char ges line 40 imposed pursuant to Section 22850.5. Upon receipt of any surplus, 99 AB 875 — 7 —
line 1 the le gal o wner shall promptly remit to, and deposit with, the line 2 agency responsible for processing notices of parking violations line 3 from that surplus, the full amount of the parking penalties for all line 4 notices of parking violations issued for the vehicle and for all local line 5 administrative charges imposed pursuant to Section 22850.5. line 6 (4) The impounding agency that has a lien on the surplus that line 7 remains upon the sale of a vehicle to which a registered owner is line 8 entitled has a deficiency claim against the registered owner for the line 9 full amount of parking penalties for an y notices of parking line 10 violations issued for the v ehicle and for all local administrati ve line 11 charges imposed pursuant to Section 22850.5, less the amount line 12 received from the sale of the vehicle.
line 13 (5) As used in this subdivision, “offstreet parking facility” means line 14 an offstreet facility held open for use by the public for parking line 15 vehicles and includes a publicly owned facility for offstreet parking line 16 and a privately owned facility for offstreet parking if a fee is not line 17 charged for the privilege to park and it is held open for the common line 18 public use of retail customers.
line 19 (p) If the peace officer issues the driver of a vehicle a notice to line 20 appear for a violation of Section 12500, 14601, 14601.1, 14601.2, line 21 14601.3, 14601.4, 14601.5, or 14604, and the v ehicle is not line 22 impounded pursuant to Section 22655.5. A vehicle so remo ved line 23 from the highw ay or public land, or from pri vate property after line 24 having been on a highway or public land, shall not be released to line 25 the registered owner or their agent, e xcept upon presentation of line 26 the re gistered o wner’s or their agent’ s currently v alid dri ver’s line 27 license to operate the v ehicle and proof of current v ehicle line 28 registration to the impounding la w enforcement agency or upon line 29 order of a court.
line 30 (q) If a vehicle is parked for more than 24 hours on a portion line 31 of highway that is located within the boundaries of a common line 32 interest development, as defined in Section 4100 or 6534 of the line 33 Civil Code, and signs, as required by paragraph (1) of subdivision line 34 (a) of Section 22658 of this code, have been posted on that portion line 35 of highway providing notice to drivers that vehicles parked thereon line 36 for more than 24 hours will be remo ved at the o wner’s expense line 37 pursuant to a resolution or ordinance adopted by the local authority. line 38 (r) If a vehicle is illegally parked and blocks the movement of line 39 a legally parked vehicle.
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line 1 (s) (1) If a vehicle, except highway maintenance or construction line 2 equipment, an authorized emergency vehicle, or a vehicle that is line 3 properly permitted or otherwise authorized by the Department of line 4 Transportation, is stopped, parked, or left standing for more than line 5 eight hours within a roadside rest area or viewpoint. line 6 (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if a commercial motor line 7 vehicle, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section line 8 15210, is stopped, parked, or left standing for more than 10 hours line 9 within a roadside rest area or viewpoint.
line 10 (3) For purposes of this subdi vision, a roadside rest area or line 11 viewpoint is a publicly maintained vehicle parking area, adjacent line 12 to a highway, utilized for the convenient, safe stopping of a vehicle line 13 to enable motorists to rest or to vie w the scenery. If two or more line 14 roadside rest areas are located on opposite sides of the highw ay, line 15 or upon the center divider, within seven miles of each other, then line 16 that combination of rest areas is considered to be the same rest line 17 area.
line 18 (t) If a peace officer issues a notice to appear for a violation of line 19 Section 25279.
line 20 (u) If a peace officer issues a citation for a violation of Section line 21 11700, and the vehicle is being offered for sale. line 22 (v) (1) If a vehicle is a mobile billboard advertising display, as line 23 defined in Section 395.5, and is parked or left standing in violation line 24 of a local resolution or ordinance adopted pursuant to subdivision line 25 (m) (l) of Section 21100, if the registered owner of the vehicle was line 26 previously issued a warning citation for the same offense pursuant line 27 to paragraph (2).
line 28 (2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 22507, a city or line 29 county, in lieu of posting signs noticing a local ordinance line 30 prohibiting mobile billboard advertising displays adopted pursuant line 31 to subdivision (m) (l) of Section 21100 may pro vide notice by line 32 issuing a w arning citation advising the re gistered owner of the line 33 vehicle that the y may be subject to penalties upon a subsequent line 34 violation of the ordinance that may include the remo val of the line 35 vehicle as pro vided in paragraph (1). A city or county is not line 36 required to provide further notice for a subsequent violation prior line 37 to the enforcement of penalties for a violation of the ordinance. line 38 (w) (1) If a vehicle is parked or left standing in violation of a line 39 local ordinance or resolution adopted pursuant to subdivision (p) line 40 (o) of Section 21100, if the re gistered owner of the v ehicle was 99 AB 875 — 9 —
line 1 previously issued a warning citation for the same offense pursuant line 2 to paragraph (2).
line 3 (2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 22507, a city or line 4 county, in lieu of posting signs noticing a local ordinance regulating line 5 advertising signs adopted pursuant to subdivision (p) (o) of Section line 6 21100 may provide notice by issuing a warning citation advising line 7 the registered owner of the v ehicle that the y may be subject to line 8 penalties upon a subsequent violation of the ordinance that may line 9 include the removal of the v ehicle as provided in paragraph (1). line 10 A city or county is not required to pro vide further notice for a line 11 subsequent violation before the enforcement of penalties for a line 12 violation of the ordinance.
line 13 (x) If a person is operating a bicycle with an electric motor that line 14 is capable of speeds greater than any speed permitted by an electric line 15 bicycle, including a bicycle with an electric motor capable with line 16 the ability to exclusively propel the bicycle at a speed greater than line 17 20 miles per hour, on a highway.
line 18 (y) If a person is operating a class 3 electric bicycle in violation line 19 of Section 21213.
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99 — 10 — AB 875