---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: distinguishing placards and special license plates."
description: "(1) Existing law prohibits a person to whom a disabled person placard has been issued from lending the placard to another person, and prohibits a disabled person from knowingly permitting the use of the placard, or special license plates for a disabled person or disabled veteran, for parking purposes by one not entitled to the placard or license plates. Existing law also generally prohibits a person from displaying a disabled person placard that was not issued to him or her or that has been canceled or revoked as specified, and prohibits a person using a vehicle displaying special license plates issued to another person from parking in specified parking stalls or spaces designated for disabled persons, unless transporting a disabled person. A violation of any of those prohibitions is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $250 and not more than $1,000, imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 6 months, or both that fine and imprisonment. Existing law also provides that a person who, with fraudulent intent, displays or causes or permits to be displayed a forged, counterfeit, or false disabled person placard is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for 6 months, or both that fine and imprisonment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 144"
citation: "California AB 144 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: distinguishing placards and special license plates."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ma"]
version_count: 8
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2009-01-22"
last_action: "2009-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3c820029-c7c7-469e-b6cd-ec4d22ebb15c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144"
source_hash: "448cc0ce0f8d86916e422031ca9441951b77593c94e6593cc4671da5916a7fa4"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 144 (20092010) — Vehicles: distinguishing placards and special license plates.

(1) Existing law prohibits a person to whom a disabled person placard has been issued from lending the placard to another person, and prohibits a disabled person from knowingly permitting the use of the placard, or special license plates for a disabled person or disabled veteran, for parking purposes by one not entitled to the placard or license plates. Existing law also generally prohibits a person from displaying a disabled person placard that was not issued to him or her or that has been canceled or revoked as specified, and prohibits a person using a vehicle displaying special license plates issued to another person from parking in specified parking stalls or spaces designated for disabled persons, unless transporting a disabled person. A violation of any of those prohibitions is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $250 and not more than $1,000, imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 6 months, or both that fine and imprisonment. Existing law also provides that a person who, with fraudulent intent, displays or causes or permits to be displayed a forged, counterfeit, or false disabled person placard is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for 6 months, or both that fine and imprisonment.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/22/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144&version=20090AB14499INT)
2. **03/02/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144&version=20090AB14498AMD)
3. **04/15/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144&version=20090AB14497AMD)
4. **05/11/09 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144&version=20090AB14496AMD)
5. **06/24/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144&version=20090AB14495AMD)
6. **10/11/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144&version=20090AB14493CHP)
7. **AB144** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144)
8. **09/04/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB144&version=20090AB14494ENR)

## Votes

- AB 144 MA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Assembly 3rd Reading AB144 Ma By Alquist — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- AB 144 MA Assembly Third Reading — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ma — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2009-01-22** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2009-01-23** From printer. May be heard in committee February 22.
- **2009-02-26** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-02** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-03-04** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-14** From committee: Amend, do pass as amended, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 1.) (April 13). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2009-04-15** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-04-16** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2009-04-30** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 29). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-05-04** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-05-11** Read third time, amended, and returned to third reading. (Page 1354.). `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-05-18** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 3. Page 1532.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-05-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-06-04** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-16** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2009-06-24** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2009-06-29** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-07-01** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-07-08** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Re-referred. (Ayes 7. Noes 3.) (July 7). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-07-23** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2009-08-17** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-08-31** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 23. Noes 10. Page 2011.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-09-01** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 3 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2009-09-02** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 48. Noes 27. Page 2889.)
- **2009-09-02** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 69. Noes 7. Page 2899.) `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-09-08** Enrolled and to the Governor at 2:45 p.m.
- **2009-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 415, Statutes of 2009.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3c820029-c7c7-469e-b6cd-ec4d22ebb15c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).