---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: firefighter endorsements."
description: "Existing law provides that in order to operate firefighting equipment, a driver is required to (1) obtain and maintain a firefighter endorsement issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles and obtain and maintain a restricted class A license, a noncommercial class B license, or a class C license, as specified, or (2) obtain and maintain a class A or B license, as specified, for the size and configuration of the firefighting equipment operated. To qualify for a firefighter endorsement, existing law requires a driver to provide to the Department of Motor Vehicles proof of current employment as a firefighter or volunteer firefighter and evidence of fire equipment operation training that includes directly supervised behind-the-wheel driver training."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20132014"
identifier: "AB 2438"
citation: "California AB 2438 (20132014)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: firefighter endorsements."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lowenthal"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 19
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2014-02-21"
last_action: "2014-07-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1cebe651-a660-41a6-b494-8909ebc2c88f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2438"
source_hash: "cae47f6ab09a0d64af151ca58b8d84c440c9ad7d38f535df86cd0eb5f9d9557e"
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 2438 (20132014) — Vehicles: firefighter endorsements.

Existing law provides that in order to operate firefighting equipment, a driver is required to (1) obtain and maintain a firefighter endorsement issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles and obtain and maintain a restricted class A license, a noncommercial class B license, or a class C license, as specified, or (2) obtain and maintain a class A or B license, as specified, for the size and configuration of the firefighting equipment operated. To qualify for a firefighter endorsement, existing law requires a driver to provide to the Department of Motor Vehicles proof of current employment as a firefighter or volunteer firefighter and evidence of fire equipment operation training that includes directly supervised behind-the-wheel driver training.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/21/14 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2438&version=20130AB243899INT)
2. **03/28/14 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2438&version=20130AB243898AMD)
3. **07/08/14 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2438&version=20130AB243896CHP)
4. **AB2438** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2438)
5. **06/30/14 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2438&version=20130AB243897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. — **10–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2438 LOWENTHAL Consent Calendar Second Day — **75–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent #17 AB2438 Lowenthal By Walters — **32–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lowenthal — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2014-02-21** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2014-02-23** From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
- **2014-02-24** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2014-03-28** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2014-03-28** 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`
- **2014-04-01** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2014-04-29** From committee: Do pass. To consent calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (April 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2014-04-30** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2014-05-05** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 4765.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2014-05-05** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2014-05-15** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2014-06-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 10). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2014-06-12** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2014-06-18** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2014-06-26** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 0. Page 4147.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2014-06-26** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2014-07-02** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:15 p.m.
- **2014-07-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2014-07-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 97, Statutes of 2014.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1cebe651-a660-41a6-b494-8909ebc2c88f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).