---
type: "Bill"
title: "Sales and use taxes: auction: vehicles."
description: "The Sales and Use Tax Law presumes that all proceeds from retail sales are subject to tax until the contrary is established. The burden of proving a sale of tangible personal property is not a retail sale subject to tax is on the seller unless the seller takes a resale certificate in good faith from a person engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property who holds a permit under that law. Under that law, a person engaged in the business of making retail sales at auction of tangible personal property owned by others is a retailer. That law generally provides that retail sales of vehicles subject to registration under the Vehicle Code are subject to sales tax when sold by a person licensed or certificated under the Vehicle Code and subject to use tax, collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles, when sold by a person not so licensed or certificated. A vehicle not registered under the Vehicle Code, such as a salvage vehicle, is not subject to the special rules for registered vehicles."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 2618"
citation: "California AB 2618 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Sales and use taxes: auction: vehicles."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ma"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 25
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2012-02-24"
last_action: "2012-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/17a8e917-1694-44ca-8203-7dc25e0c074a"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2618"
source_hash: "a14a4550ed66eaa34d916e6fdb3983fe7cf08a0a471c153ee6dd60eb63e83448"
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 2618 (20112012) — Sales and use taxes: auction: vehicles.

The Sales and Use Tax Law presumes that all proceeds from retail sales are subject to tax until the contrary is established. The burden of proving a sale of tangible personal property is not a retail sale subject to tax is on the seller unless the seller takes a resale certificate in good faith from a person engaged in the business of selling tangible personal property who holds a permit under that law. Under that law, a person engaged in the business of making retail sales at auction of tangible personal property owned by others is a retailer. That law generally provides that retail sales of vehicles subject to registration under the Vehicle Code are subject to sales tax when sold by a person licensed or certificated under the Vehicle Code and subject to use tax, collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles, when sold by a person not so licensed or certificated. A vehicle not registered under the Vehicle Code, such as a salvage vehicle, is not subject to the special rules for registered vehicles.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/24/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2618&version=20110AB261899INT)
2. **03/29/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2618&version=20110AB261898AMD)
3. **04/18/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2618&version=20110AB261897AMD)
4. **09/29/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2618&version=20110AB261895CHP)
5. **AB2618** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2618)
6. **08/16/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2618&version=20110AB261896ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2618 MA Assembly Third Reading — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB2618 Ma By La Malfa — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Be referred to Committee on Revenue and Taxation. — **9–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ma — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-24** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2012-02-26** From printer. May be heard in committee March 27.
- **2012-02-27** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2012-03-29** Referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-19** Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-19** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-23** From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on REV. & TAX. Re-referred. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on REV. & TAX. `referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2012-05-15** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to REV. & TAX. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2012-05-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (May 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 5059.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-29** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-06-07** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-07-02** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2012-07-03** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-13** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 4474.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-13** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2012-08-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2012-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 756, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/17a8e917-1694-44ca-8203-7dc25e0c074a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).