---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: temporary license plates."
description: "Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) , upon registering a vehicle, to issue to the owner 2 license plates, as specified. Existing law also requires vehicle dealers and lessor-retailers to attach a numbered report-of-sale form issued by the DMV to a vehicle at the time of sale, and to submit to the DMV an application for registration of the vehicle, and the applicable fees, within a specified period after the date of sale. Existing law authorizes a dealer, as specified, to assess a specified document processing charge on the purchaser or lessee of a vehicle for the preparation and processing of documents, disclosures, and titling, registration, and information security obligations imposed by state and federal law. Existing law generally makes a violation of the Vehicle Code an infraction, but makes counterfeiting a license plate a felony."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 516"
citation: "California AB 516 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: temporary license plates."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mullin"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 36
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2015-02-23"
last_action: "2016-07-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f5b7dccc-f672-4585-8ac7-0054fc3f3ba5"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516"
source_hash: "5518c9ad8f182694beef7ae17821d96a4fe427fd6435f90853f7226a476b350c"
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 516 (20152016) — Vehicles: temporary license plates.

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) , upon registering a vehicle, to issue to the owner 2 license plates, as specified. Existing law also requires vehicle dealers and lessor-retailers to attach a numbered report-of-sale form issued by the DMV to a vehicle at the time of sale, and to submit to the DMV an application for registration of the vehicle, and the applicable fees, within a specified period after the date of sale. Existing law authorizes a dealer, as specified, to assess a specified document processing charge on the purchaser or lessee of a vehicle for the preparation and processing of documents, disclosures, and titling, registration, and information security obligations imposed by state and federal law. Existing law generally makes a violation of the Vehicle Code an infraction, but makes counterfeiting a license plate a felony.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51699INT)
2. **04/20/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51698AMD)
3. **06/01/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51697AMD)
4. **06/23/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51694AMD)
5. **06/30/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51696AMD)
6. **07/16/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51695AMD)
7. **07/25/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51692CHP)
8. **AB516** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516)
9. **07/01/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB516&version=20150AB51693ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Public Safety] — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 516 MULLIN Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **12–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- AB 516 MULLIN Assembly Third Reading — **74–1** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB516 Mullin By Hill — **30–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mullin — primary (person)
- Chiu — coauthor (person)
- Hill — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-24** From printer. May be heard in committee March 26.
- **2015-03-05** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-20** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-21** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-13** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-05-20** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-05-28** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (May 28). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-06-01** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-06-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 1. Page 1924.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-06-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-18** Referred to Coms. on T. & H. and PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-30** 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. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (July 7). Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-15** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 14). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2015-07-16** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-17** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-08-24** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (August 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-10** Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Hill.
- **2016-02-08** From inactive file.
- **2016-02-08** Ordered to second reading.
- **2016-02-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-06-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-06-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 6. Page 4637.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after July 29 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-06-30** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Ayes 49. Noes 25. Page 5595.)
- **2016-06-30** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 49. Noes 25. Page 5595.)
- **2016-06-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 5597.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-07-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2016-07-25** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-07-25** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 90, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f5b7dccc-f672-4585-8ac7-0054fc3f3ba5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).