---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: electronic wireless communications devices."
description: "Existing law makes it a crime to drive a motor vehicle while holding and operating a handheld wireless telephone or electronic wireless communications device, as specified. Existing law defines an electronic wireless communications device as including, but not limited to, a broadband personal communication device, a specialized mobile radio device, a handheld device or laptop computer with mobile data access, a pager, or a two-way messaging device."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1222"
citation: "California AB 1222 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: electronic wireless communications devices."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Quirk"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-02-17"
last_action: "2017-09-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/54671f96-9ae5-4f97-9292-18c51b405dd6"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1222"
source_hash: "a231f05eb2c4ee07669c254536e1463b02efe96ec2b8767d78829c3a7866930a"
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 1222 (20172018) — Vehicles: electronic wireless communications devices.

Existing law makes it a crime to drive a motor vehicle while holding and operating a handheld wireless telephone or electronic wireless communications device, as specified. Existing law defines an electronic wireless communications device as including, but not limited to, a broadband personal communication device, a specialized mobile radio device, a handheld device or laptop computer with mobile data access, a pager, or a two-way messaging device.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1222&version=20170AB122299INT)
2. **04/17/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1222&version=20170AB122298AMD)
3. **09/26/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1222&version=20170AB122296CHP)
4. **AB1222** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1222)
5. **09/05/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1222&version=20170AB122297ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1222 QUIRK Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **12–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB1222 Quirk By Cannella — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Quirk — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21.
- **2017-03-09** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on TRANS. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-03** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-04** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1484.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-24** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2017-07-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (July 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-08-21** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 2341.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-31** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2017-09-07** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-09-26** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-26** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 297, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/54671f96-9ae5-4f97-9292-18c51b405dd6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).