republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-1901.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Vehicles: total loss claim: salvage certificate or nonrepairable vehicle certificate."
description: "Existing law requires, if an insurance company makes a total loss settlement on a total loss salvage vehicle or a nonrepairable vehicle, the insurance company, an occupational licensee of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) authorized by the insurance company, or a salvage pool authorized by the insurance company to, within 10 days from the settlement of the loss or after receipt of title, forward the properly endorsed certificate of ownership or other evidence of ownership acceptable to the DMV, the license plates, and a fee, to the DMV, except as specified, and requires the DMV, upon receipt of those required items, to issue a salvage certificate or a nonrepairable vehicle certificate for the vehicle. A violation of the Vehicle Code is an infraction."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 1901"
citation: "California AB 1901 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Vehicles", "salvage certificate or nonrepairable vehicle certificate", "total loss claim"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chen"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2024-01-23"
last_action: "2024-09-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4abc6e3b-6889-4823-9a09-2a509575b3e6"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1901"
source_hash: "d2cafbade17d0b1913a241e6eab95967e842e768cd12baee2f2ab85d0893a230"
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 1901 (20232024) — Vehicles: total loss claim: salvage certificate or nonrepairable vehicle certificate.

Existing law requires, if an insurance company makes a total loss settlement on a total loss salvage vehicle or a nonrepairable vehicle, the insurance company, an occupational licensee of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) authorized by the insurance company, or a salvage pool authorized by the insurance company to, within 10 days from the settlement of the loss or after receipt of title, forward the properly endorsed certificate of ownership or other evidence of ownership acceptable to the DMV, the license plates, and a fee, to the DMV, except as specified, and requires the DMV, upon receipt of those required items, to issue a salvage certificate or a nonrepairable vehicle certificate for the vehicle. A violation of the Vehicle Code is an infraction.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/23/24 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1901&version=20230AB190199INT)
2. **05/29/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1901&version=20230AB190198AMD)
3. **06/20/24 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1901&version=20230AB190197AMD)
4. **09/22/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1901&version=20230AB190195CHP)
5. **AB1901** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1901)
6. **09/04/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1901&version=20230AB190196ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1901 Chen By Niello — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1901 Chen Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1901 Chen Consent Calendar Second Day — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **13–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chen — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-23** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2024-01-24** From printer. May be heard in committee February 23.
- **2024-02-05** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2024-03-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (March 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-04-10** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 10). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-04-11** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-04-18** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-04-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2024-05-01** Referred to Com. on TRANS. `referral-committee`
- **2024-05-23** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2024-05-29** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on TRANS. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (June 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-20** 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, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-07-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 1). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-07-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-29** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2024-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 77. Noes 0.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2024-09-22** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-22** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 364, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4abc6e3b-6889-4823-9a09-2a509575b3e6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).