---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: child safety seats."
description: "Existing law requires a parent, legal guardian, or the driver of a motor vehicle to properly secure a child under 8 years of age in an appropriate passenger restraint system while the child is riding in a motor vehicle. A violation of the Vehicle Code is a crime."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 53"
citation: "California AB 53 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: child safety seats."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cristina Garcia"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2014-12-01"
last_action: "2015-09-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e9297b28-3c17-44fe-b79a-dda4fcfccd76"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB53"
source_hash: "3d47f6dbeb1bccdad45a898448466560817fa21913c9867cbe384cddc7ea063e"
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 53 (20152016) — Vehicles: child safety seats.

Existing law requires a parent, legal guardian, or the driver of a motor vehicle to properly secure a child under 8 years of age in an appropriate passenger restraint system while the child is riding in a motor vehicle. A violation of the Vehicle Code is a crime.

## Version chain

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

1. **12/01/14 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB53&version=20150AB5399INT)
2. **04/14/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB53&version=20150AB5398AMD)
3. **09/21/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB53&version=20150AB5396CHP)
4. **AB53** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB53)
5. **08/27/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB53&version=20150AB5397ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **14–3** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB53 Cristina Garcia By Pan — **32–7** (pass) · upper
- AB 53 GARCIA, C. Assembly Third Reading — **65–13** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cristina Garcia — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2014-12-01** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2014-12-02** From printer. May be heard in committee January 1.
- **2015-01-22** Referred to Coms. on TRANS. and APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-13** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-04-14** 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`
- **2015-04-15** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-06** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 3.) (May 6). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 65. Noes 13. Page 1382.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-21** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-18** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 1.) (July 7). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-17** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2015-08-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-24** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 7. Page 2154.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-25** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2015-09-01** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-09-21** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-09-21** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 292, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e9297b28-3c17-44fe-b79a-dda4fcfccd76`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).