--- type: "Bill" title: "Department of Motor Vehicles: records." description: "Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to permit inspection of, or sell, or both, information from its records concerning the registration of a vehicle or information from the files of drivers' licenses at a charge sufficient to pay at least the actual cost to the department for providing the inspection or sale of that information, except as specified." jurisdiction: "us/states/ca" legislature: "California Legislature" session: "20212022" identifier: "AB 398" citation: "California AB 398 (20212022)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Department of Motor Vehicles: records."] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Fong"] version_count: 6 action_count: 22 vote_count: 6 first_action: "2021-02-03" last_action: "2021-07-16" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3e3fbd48-db4d-451a-a6dc-1e8e27cdb02a" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB398" source_hash: "60f330cc66d6d1ba7ba7de644c777dcb553371423933bae1bfeaa60303ad147f" 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 398 (20212022) — Department of Motor Vehicles: records. Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to permit inspection of, or sell, or both, information from its records concerning the registration of a vehicle or information from the files of drivers' licenses at a charge sufficient to pay at least the actual cost to the department for providing the inspection or sale of that information, except as specified. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **02/03/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB398&version=20210AB39899INT) 2. **03/10/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB398&version=20210AB39898AMD) 3. **05/26/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB398&version=20210AB39897AMD) 4. **07/16/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB398&version=20210AB39895CHP) 5. **AB398** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB398) 6. **06/29/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB398&version=20210AB39896ENR) ## Votes - Consent Calendar AB398 — **39–0** (pass) · upper - Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **4–0** (pass) · upper - AB 398 Fong Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower - AB 398 Fong Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower - Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **15–0** (pass) · lower - Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **16–0** (pass) · lower ## Sponsors - Fong — primary (person) - Chau — author (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2021-02-03** Read first time. To print. `reading-1` - **2021-02-04** From printer. May be heard in committee March 6. - **2021-02-12** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee` - **2021-03-10** 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-1, reading-2` - **2021-03-11** Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee` - **2021-03-23** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (March 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2021-04-14** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. - **2021-04-28** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 28). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2021-04-29** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-05-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1335.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-05-06** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1` - **2021-05-19** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee` - **2021-05-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee` - **2021-06-08** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 8). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2021-06-21** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2` - **2021-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-06-24** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1633.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-06-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after June 26 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77. - **2021-06-28** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2132.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2021-07-05** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m. - **2021-07-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2021-07-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 90, Statutes of 2021. `became-law` ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/3e3fbd48-db4d-451a-a6dc-1e8e27cdb02a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).