republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20192020/ab-1638.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Search warrants: vehicle recording devices."
description: "Existing law allows a search warrant to be issued upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, naming or describing the person to be searched or searched for, and particularly describing the property, thing, or things and the place to be searched. Existing law also specifies the grounds upon which a search warrant may be issued, including, among other grounds, when the property or things to be seized constitute evidence showing that a felony has been committed."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20192020"
identifier: "AB 1638"
citation: "California AB 1638 (20192020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Search warrants: vehicle recording devices."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Obernolte"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-02-22"
last_action: "2019-08-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1e3342fa-0d5f-483d-9677-882ceef628ce"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1638"
source_hash: "45bba4434cf2406d4ec7af0f66cda99f59c3e8a76851bb9c3e1a9e35d201b005"
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 1638 (20192020) — Search warrants: vehicle recording devices.

Existing law allows a search warrant to be issued upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, naming or describing the person to be searched or searched for, and particularly describing the property, thing, or things and the place to be searched. Existing law also specifies the grounds upon which a search warrant may be issued, including, among other grounds, when the property or things to be seized constitute evidence showing that a felony has been committed.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/22/19 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1638&version=20190AB163899INT)
2. **04/11/19 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1638&version=20190AB163898AMD)
3. **07/08/19 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1638&version=20190AB163897AMD)
4. **08/30/19 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1638&version=20190AB163895CHP)
5. **AB1638** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1638)
6. **08/20/19 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1638&version=20190AB163896ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1638 Obernolte Assembly Third Reading — **60–7** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1638 Obernolte By Wiener — **32–4** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Privacy and Consumer Protection] — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1638 Obernolte Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **60–9** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **4–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Obernolte — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-22** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2019-02-23** From printer. May be heard in committee March 25.
- **2019-02-25** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-18** Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2019-04-10** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (April 9). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-04-11** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-04-22** Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (April 30). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2019-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-05-09** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 7. Page 1571.) `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-05-09** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2019-05-22** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2019-07-05** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (July 2). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2019-07-08** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2019-08-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 2181.). `passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2019-08-15** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 17 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2019-08-19** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 9. Page 2749.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-08-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2019-08-30** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2019-08-30** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 196, Statutes of 2019.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1e3342fa-0d5f-483d-9677-882ceef628ce`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).