---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: recreational off-highway vehicles."
description: "(1) Existing law, commencing January 1, 2013, establishes rules for the operation of, and requirements for equipment of, an off-highway vehicle, including prohibiting a person who is operating a recreational off-highway vehicle from allowing a passenger to occupy a separate seat location not designed and provided by the manufacturer for a passenger. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2013, prohibits a person operating a recreational off-highway vehicle from riding with a passenger, unless the passenger, among other things, have both feet flat on the floorboard."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 1266"
citation: "California AB 1266 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: recreational off-highway vehicles."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nielsen"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 35
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2011-02-18"
last_action: "2012-09-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2156e888-f526-4cf5-b3e7-5ed1e2252494"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1266"
source_hash: "b778d0c041493c2be75d05e4e28eba8c44a09b3465a9ba6cd5bd0dd953ee87ca"
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 1266 (20112012) — Vehicles: recreational off-highway vehicles.

(1) Existing law, commencing January 1, 2013, establishes rules for the operation of, and requirements for equipment of, an off-highway vehicle, including prohibiting a person who is operating a recreational off-highway vehicle from allowing a passenger to occupy a separate seat location not designed and provided by the manufacturer for a passenger. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2013, prohibits a person operating a recreational off-highway vehicle from riding with a passenger, unless the passenger, among other things, have both feet flat on the floorboard.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/18/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1266&version=20110AB126699INT)
2. **08/23/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1266&version=20110AB126698AMD)
3. **08/29/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1266&version=20110AB126697AMD)
4. **09/25/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1266&version=20110AB126695CHP)
5. **AB1266** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1266)
6. **09/11/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB1266&version=20110AB126696ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1266 NIELSEN Consent Calendar Second Day — **78–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Agriculture. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Supp 1 AB1266 Nielsen By Emmerson Urgency Clause — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be placed on the Consent Calendar. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1266 COOK Concurrence - Urgency Added — **77–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nielsen — primary (person)
- Cook — author (person)
- V. Manuel Pérez — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2011-02-18** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-20** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2011-03-21** Referred to Coms. on L. GOV. and AGRI. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on AGRI. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (May 4). Re-referred to Com. on AGRI. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-11** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (May 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-12** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-19** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1449.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-19** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-06-02** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-08** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2011-07-07** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (July 6). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-11** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-07-14** From consent calendar.
- **2011-07-14** Ordered to third reading.
- **2011-07-14** Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator La Malfa.
- **2012-08-20** From inactive file.
- **2012-08-20** Ordered to second reading.
- **2012-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 4787.) `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-27** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(c). `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-29** Senate Rule 29.3(b) suspended. (Page 4945.)
- **2012-08-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-08-30** Joint Rules 33.1 and 61(b)(15) suspended. (Page 5028.)
- **2012-08-30** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 5028.)
- **2012-08-30** Re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-31** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 30). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-31** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5072.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2012-08-31** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 6775.)
- **2012-08-31** Urgency clause adopted. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 6777.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12:15 p.m.
- **2012-09-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 529, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2156e888-f526-4cf5-b3e7-5ed1e2252494`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).