SB 897

Bill Text  - SB-897 Vehicles: abandoned vehicles.
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                      |  Add To My Favorites   |  Track Bill   |   Version:  	 08/24/26 - Chaptered
	 08/05/26 - Enrolled
	 01/16/26 - Introduced
                     SB-897 Vehicles: abandoned vehicles. (2025-2026)
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               Date Published: 08/24/2026 09:00 PM
SB897:v97#DOCUMENT
       Bill Start
                Senate Bill
                        No. 897
                      CHAPTER 126       An act to amend Section 22710 of the Vehicle Code relating to vehicles.
                  [
                Approved  by
                Governor
                 August 24, 2026.
                Filed with
                Secretary of State
                 August 24, 2026.
                       ]
                    LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST     SB 897, Choi.
                          Vehicles: abandoned vehicles.     Existing law authorizes a county satisfying specified conditions to establish a service authority for the abatement of abandoned vehicles and to impose a $1 vehicle registration fee for the abatement of abandoned vehicles. The fees imposed and the moneys received by the service authority from the Abandoned Vehicle Trust Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, can only be used for the abatement, removal, and disposal of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles from private or public property. The service authority is authorized to adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for the abatement, removal, and disposal, as a public nuisance, of an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicle and for the recovery of costs.  This bill, notwithstanding these provisions, would authorize the City of Laguna Woods to use the amount of
		abandoned vehicle abatement funds received from the fee imposed by the service authority that formerly operated in the County of Orange, and the interest accrued thereon, for purposes of enforcing provisions of this code on public highways.  This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Laguna Woods.     Digest Key
      Vote:
       MAJORITY   
      Appropriation:
       NO   
      Fiscal Committee:
       NO   
      Local Program:
       NO        Bill Text     The people of the State of California do enact as follows:      SECTION 1.  Section 22710 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:       22710.  (a) A service authority for the abatement of abandoned vehicles may be established, and a one dollar ($1) vehicle registration fee imposed, in a county if the board of supervisors of the county, by a two-thirds vote, and a majority of the cities having a majority of the incorporated population within the county have adopted resolutions providing for the establishment of the authority and imposition of the fee. The membership of the authority shall be determined by concurrence of the board of supervisors and a majority vote of the majority of the cities within the county having a majority of the incorporated population.  (b) The authority may contract and may undertake any act convenient or necessary to carry out a law relating to the authority. The authority shall be
				  staffed by existing personnel of the city, county, or county transportation commission.  (c) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a service authority may adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for the abatement, removal, and disposal, as a public nuisance, of an abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicle or part of the vehicle from private or public property; and for the recovery, pursuant to Section 25845 or 38773.5 of the Government Code, or assumption by the service authority, of costs associated with the enforcement of the ordinance. Cost recovery shall only be undertaken by an entity that may be a county or city or the department, pursuant to contract with the service authority as provided in this section.  (2) (A) The money received by an authority pursuant to Section 9250.7 and this section shall be used
				  only for the abatement, removal, or the disposal as a public nuisance of any abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicle or part of the vehicle from private or public property. The money received shall not be used to offset the costs of vehicles towed under authorities other than an ordinance adopted pursuant to paragraph (1) or when costs are recovered under Section 22850.5.  (B) The money received by a service authority pursuant to Section 9250.7 and this section that are unexpended in a fiscal year may be carried forward by the service authority for the abandoned vehicle abatement program in the following fiscal year as agreed upon by the service authority and its member agencies.  (d) (1) An abandoned vehicle abatement program and plan of a service authority shall be implemented only with the approval of the county and a majority of the cities
				  having a majority of the incorporated population.  (2) (A) The department shall provide guidelines for an abandoned vehicle abatement program. An authority’s abandoned vehicle abatement plan and program shall be consistent with those guidelines, and shall provide for, but not be limited to, an estimate of the number of abandoned vehicles, a disposal and enforcement strategy including contractual agreements, and appropriate fiscal controls.  (B) The department’s guidelines provided pursuant to this paragraph shall include, but not be limited to, requiring each service authority receiving funds from the Abandoned Vehicle Trust Fund to report to the Controller on an annual basis pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 9250.7, in a manner prescribed by the department, and pursuant to an approved abandoned vehicle abatement program.  (C) A service authority may carry out an abandoned vehicle abatement from a public property after providing a notice as specified by the local ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 22660 of the jurisdiction in which the abandoned vehicle is located and that notice has expired.  (3) After a plan has been approved pursuant to paragraph (1), the service authority shall, not later than August 1 of the year in which the plan was approved, submit it to the department for review, and the department shall, not later than October 1 of that same year, either approve the plan as submitted or make recommendations for revision. After the plan has received the department’s approval as being consistent with the department’s guidelines, the service authority shall submit it to the Controller.  (4) Except as provided in subdivision (e),
				  the Controller shall not make an allocation for a fiscal year, commencing on July 1 following the Controller’s determination to suspend a service authority when a service authority has failed to comply with the provisions set forth in Section 9250.7.  (5) A governmental agency shall not receive funds from a service authority for the abatement of abandoned vehicles pursuant to an approved abandoned vehicle abatement program unless the governmental agency has submitted an annual report to the service authority stating the manner in which the funds were expended, and the number of vehicles abated. The governmental agency shall receive that percentage of the total funds collected by the service authority that is equal to its share of the formula calculated pursuant to paragraph (6).  (6) Each service authority shall calculate a formula for apportioning funds to each governmental agency
				  that receives funds from the service authority and submit that formula to the Controller with the annual report required pursuant to paragraph (2). The formula shall apportion 50 percent of the funds received by the service authority to a governmental agency based on the percentage of vehicles abated by that governmental agency of the total number of abandoned vehicles abated by all member agencies, and 50 percent based on population and geographic area, as determined by the service authority. When the formula is first submitted to the Controller, and each time the formula is revised thereafter, the service authority shall include a detailed explanation of how the service authority determined the apportionment between per capita abatements and service area.  (7) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision, the Controller may allocate to the service authority in the County of Humboldt the net amount of the abandoned vehicle abatement
				  funds received from the fee imposed by that authority, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 9250.7, for calendar years 2000 and 2001.  (8) Notwithstanding any other law, the City of Laguna Woods may use the amount of abandoned vehicle abatement funds received from the fee imposed by the service authority that formerly operated in the County of Orange pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.7, and the interest accrued thereon, for purposes of enforcing provisions of this code on public highways.  (e) A plan that has been submitted to the Controller pursuant to subdivision (d) may be revised pursuant to the procedure prescribed in that subdivision, including compliance with any dates described therein for submission to the department and the Controller, respectively,
				  in the year in which the revisions are proposed by the service authority. Compliance with that procedure shall only be required if the revisions are substantial.  (f) For purposes of this section, “abandoned vehicle abatement” means the removal of a vehicle from public or private property by towing or any other means after the vehicle has been marked as abandoned by an official of a governmental agency that is a member of the service authority.  (g) A service authority shall cease to exist on the date that all revenues received by the authority pursuant to this section and Section 9250.7 have been expended.  (h) In the event of a conflict with other provisions of law, this section shall govern the disbursement of money collected pursuant to this section and from the Abandoned Vehicle Trust Fund for the implementation of
				  the abandoned vehicle abatement program.  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances relating to the abatement of abandoned vehicles in the City of Laguna Woods.