---
type: "Bill"
title: "Autoettes."
description: "Existing law defines an autoette as a motor vehicle, located on a natural island with an area in excess of 20,000 acres and that is within a county having a population in excess of 4,000,000, and meeting all of several other requirements, including, but not limited to, the vehicle having a length of no more than 120 inches, including the front and rear bumpers. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to register an autoette as a motor vehicle."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 705"
citation: "California AB 705 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Autoettes"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lowenthal"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-02-13"
last_action: "2023-07-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b2c207dd-17b3-4010-8d29-45c8980beaca"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB705"
source_hash: "e19cdf04e68c5822b73dd433450ced31a5aaafcb6f2135182a21231b7afe3058"
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 705 (20232024) — Autoettes.

Existing law defines an autoette as a motor vehicle, located on a natural island with an area in excess of 20,000 acres and that is within a county having a population in excess of 4,000,000, and meeting all of several other requirements, including, but not limited to, the vehicle having a length of no more than 120 inches, including the front and rear bumpers. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to register an autoette as a motor vehicle.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/13/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB705&version=20230AB70599INT)
2. **07/21/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB705&version=20230AB70597CHP)
3. **AB705** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB705)
4. **06/30/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB705&version=20230AB70598ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **16–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **15–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 705 Lowenthal Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Lowenthal — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-13** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-14** From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
- **2023-02-23** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (March 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-29** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (March 29). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-30** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-04-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 1179.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-04-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-03** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-14** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (June 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-26** From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2023-06-27** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-06-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1828.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-06-29** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2023-07-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2023-07-21** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-07-21** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 91, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b2c207dd-17b3-4010-8d29-45c8980beaca`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).