---
type: "Bill"
title: "Counties: search or rescue: costs."
description: "Existing law provides that persons whose specified actions cause an incident resulting in an appropriate emergency response are liable for the expenses of an emergency response by a public agency to the incident, up to $12,000 per incident."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 896"
citation: "California AB 896 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Counties: search or rescue: costs."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Wagner"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 23
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-02-26"
last_action: "2015-10-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/96b8eab1-bb99-4457-957c-bb7a0aa5c056"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB896"
source_hash: "78caf9dd07a08c6ff2d9695e0d0217fa90bc768bf6a052c8b746dd8ba310c474"
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 896 (20152016) — Counties: search or rescue: costs.

Existing law provides that persons whose specified actions cause an incident resulting in an appropriate emergency response are liable for the expenses of an emergency response by a public agency to the incident, up to $12,000 per incident.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/26/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB896&version=20150AB89699INT)
2. **08/18/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB896&version=20150AB89698AMD)
3. **10/02/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB896&version=20150AB89696CHP)
4. **AB896** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB896)
5. **09/03/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB896&version=20150AB89697ENR)

## Votes

- AB 896 WAGNER Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **7–1** (pass) · lower
- AB 896 WAGNER Assembly Third Reading — **73–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent #8 AB896 Wagner By Berryhill — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Wagner — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-26** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-27** From printer. May be heard in committee March 29.
- **2015-03-16** Referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-09** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (April 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-28** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 73. Noes 1. Page 1618.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-28** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-11** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-24** In committee: Testimony taken. Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2015-07-15** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 15). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-18** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-26** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2015-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2312.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 2 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2015-09-01** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 2729.)
- **2015-09-01** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 1. Page 2747.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-09** Enrolled measure version corrected.
- **2015-09-10** Enrolled measure version corrected.
- **2015-09-16** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-10-02** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-02** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 436, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/96b8eab1-bb99-4457-957c-bb7a0aa5c056`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).