---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: vehicle license fee and registration fees: exemptions."
description: "Existing law exempts, except as specified, a vehicle that is owned by a disabled veteran, a former American prisoner of war, or a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, or the surviving spouse of a former American prisoner of war or Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who has elected to retain special license plates, that is of a type subject to registration under the Vehicle Code, and that is not used for hire, compensation, or profit, from certain fees imposed pursuant to the Vehicle Code and a vehicle license fee imposed for the privilege of operating specified vehicles."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 2509"
citation: "California AB 2509 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles: vehicle license fee and registration fees: exemptions."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Fong"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 26
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2022-02-17"
last_action: "2022-09-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1a59744c-8844-4317-aea9-90259d917018"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2509"
source_hash: "748133cae332df6b1912bb50fda79eca7c1f46262b38e69fae62663074eb7e00"
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 2509 (20212022) — Vehicles: vehicle license fee and registration fees: exemptions.

Existing law exempts, except as specified, a vehicle that is owned by a disabled veteran, a former American prisoner of war, or a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, or the surviving spouse of a former American prisoner of war or Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who has elected to retain special license plates, that is of a type subject to registration under the Vehicle Code, and that is not used for hire, compensation, or profit, from certain fees imposed pursuant to the Vehicle Code and a vehicle license fee imposed for the privilege of operating specified vehicles.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/22 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2509&version=20210AB250999INT)
2. **06/30/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2509&version=20210AB250998AMD)
3. **08/22/22 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2509&version=20210AB250997AMD)
4. **09/17/22 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2509&version=20210AB250995CHP)
5. **AB2509** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2509)
6. **09/02/22 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2509&version=20210AB250996ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Military and Veterans Affairs] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Military and Veterans Affairs] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2509 Fong Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Special Consent AB2509 — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2509 Fong Assembly Third Reading — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Fong — primary (person)
- Gabriel — coauthor (person)
- Seyarto — coauthor (person)
- Umberg — coauthor (person)
- Voepel — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-17** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2022-02-18** From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
- **2022-03-10** Referred to Coms. on TRANS. and M. & V.A. `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on M. & V.A. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (March 28). Re-referred to Com. on M. & V.A. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-04-27** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 26). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-05-11** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-05-19** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 19). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-05-19** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-05-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 4937.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-05-26** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2022-06-08** Referred to Coms. on TRANS. and M. & V.A. `referral-committee`
- **2022-06-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on M. & V.A. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 14). Re-referred to Com. on M. & V.A. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-29** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 28). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-30** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2022-08-02** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2022-08-11** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (August 11). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-08-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-22** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-23** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2022-08-30** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2022-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 5365.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2022-08-31** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2022-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2022-09-17** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2022-09-17** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 382, Statutes of 2022. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1a59744c-8844-4317-aea9-90259d917018`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).