---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: specialized license plates."
description: "Existing law authorizes a person who is a firefighter or a retired firefighter to apply for special license plates for his or her vehicle. The special license plates, which contain the words \"California Firefighter\" and run in a regular numerical series, are issued upon application to the Department of Motor Vehicles, presentation of proof of certain facts, and payment of certain fees."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 1338"
citation: "California AB 1338 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: specialized license plates."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Low"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-17"
last_action: "2017-07-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0b1ef62f-4ebe-4811-b0a4-23539f5c4729"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1338"
source_hash: "5635a866c7ede127ddc45b80e7e63e3723eb379802554e552c33771964b6a426"
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 1338 (20172018) — Vehicles: specialized license plates.

Existing law authorizes a person who is a firefighter or a retired firefighter to apply for special license plates for his or her vehicle. The special license plates, which contain the words "California Firefighter" and run in a regular numerical series, are issued upon application to the Department of Motor Vehicles, presentation of proof of certain facts, and payment of certain fees.

## 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=201720180AB1338&version=20170AB133899INT)
2. **07/24/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1338&version=20170AB133897CHP)
3. **AB1338** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1338)
4. **07/06/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1338&version=20170AB133898ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd AB1338 — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1338 LOW Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Low — 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.
- **2017-03-13** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (March 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-26** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-04-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1394.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-04** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-18** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (June 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-26** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2017-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-07-03** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 33. Noes 0. Page 1844.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-07-03** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2017-07-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:40 p.m.
- **2017-07-24** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-07-24** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 115, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0b1ef62f-4ebe-4811-b0a4-23539f5c4729`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).