republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20092010/ab-166.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vessels: abandonment: abatement."
description: "Existing law makes it an infraction with a minimum $500 fine and maximum $3,000 fine for a person to abandon a vessel upon a public waterway or public or private property without the express or implied consent of the owner or person in lawful possession or control of the property, except for the urgent and immediate concern for the safety of those aboard the vessel. Existing law provides that 80% of the moneys collected as fines shall be deposited in the Abandoned Watercraft Abatement Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the fund may be used for grants to be awarded by the Department of Boating and Waterways to local agencies for the abatement and removal of abandoned, wrecked, and dismantled vessels, or parts of those vessels."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20092010"
identifier: "AB 166"
citation: "California AB 166 (20092010)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vessels: abandonment: abatement."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lieu"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 30
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2009-01-28"
last_action: "2009-10-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b59a0cc1-b686-4777-b089-814458033a06"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166"
source_hash: "e336807950e92ad32bd06b5304e44ec6899b9f94d2a93675424793d27ed9b43e"
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 166 (20092010) — Vessels: abandonment: abatement.

Existing law makes it an infraction with a minimum $500 fine and maximum $3,000 fine for a person to abandon a vessel upon a public waterway or public or private property without the express or implied consent of the owner or person in lawful possession or control of the property, except for the urgent and immediate concern for the safety of those aboard the vessel. Existing law provides that 80% of the moneys collected as fines shall be deposited in the Abandoned Watercraft Abatement Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the fund may be used for grants to be awarded by the Department of Boating and Waterways to local agencies for the abatement and removal of abandoned, wrecked, and dismantled vessels, or parts of those vessels.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/28/09 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166&version=20090AB16699INT)
2. **07/14/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166&version=20090AB16698AMD)
3. **08/17/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166&version=20090AB16697AMD)
4. **09/02/09 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166&version=20090AB16696AMD)
5. **10/11/09 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166&version=20090AB16694CHP)
6. **AB166** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166)
7. **09/11/09 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=200920100AB166&version=20090AB16695ENR)

## Votes

- AB 166 LIEU Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Placed on Appropriations Suspense file. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and re-refer to Committee on Appropriations with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Assembly 3rd Reading AB166 Lieu By DeSaulnier — **pass** (pass) · upper
- AB 166 LIEU Assembly Third Reading — **pass** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations Recommend Consent. — **pass** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Judiciary Recommend Consent. — **pass** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lieu — primary (person)
- DeSaulnier — coauthor (person)
- Garrick — coauthor (person)
- John A. Perez — coauthor (person)
- Jones — coauthor (person)
- Krekorian — coauthor (person)
- Ma — coauthor (person)
- Portantino — coauthor (person)
- Saldana — coauthor (person)
- Silva — coauthor (person)
- Torlakson — coauthor (person)
- Wiggins — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2009-01-28** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2009-01-29** From printer. May be heard in committee February 28.
- **2009-01-29** (Corrected January 29.)
- **2009-02-26** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2009-03-24** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. Re-referred. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (March 23). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-04-01** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2009-05-29** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 28). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-05-29** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-06-01** Read third time, passed, and to Senate. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 1832.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2009-06-11** Referred to Coms. on N.R. & W. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2009-06-23** From committee: Do pass, and re-refer to Com. on JUD. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. Re-referred. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 23). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-06-29** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-07-01** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2009-07-13** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended, and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 7). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2009-07-14** Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-08-17** In committee: Placed on Appropriations suspense file.
- **2009-08-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, reading-2, amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2009-08-31** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (August 27). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2009-08-31** (received by desk August 28, 2009 pursuant to JR61(a)(11))
- **2009-09-01** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-09-02** Read third time, amended. To second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2009-09-03** Read second time. To third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2009-09-04** Read third time, passed, and to Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2209.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2009-09-08** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 10 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2009-09-09** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 3152.)
- **2009-09-09** Senate amendments concurred in. To enrollment. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 3185.) `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2009-09-28** Enrolled and to the Governor at 1 p.m.
- **2009-10-11** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2009-10-11** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 416, Statutes of 2009.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b59a0cc1-b686-4777-b089-814458033a06`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).