Ending Poverty Tows (AB 516)

  • Status: Failed
  • Position: Support
  • Bill Number: AB 516
  • Session: 2019-2010
  • Latest Update: March 4, 2019
car being towed

Summary

Living in California is already expensive enough: for many working families, it's almost impossible to afford to live here because of astronomically high housing prices and equally expensive childcare and higher education costs. Towing people's cars only makes it more difficult for families struggling to get by, particularly Black and Brown communities who are overpoliced.

Every year in California, local and state governments tow hundreds of thousands of cars for non-safety reasons, pushing families deeper into debt and poverty. Cars are a necessary lifeline to countless Californians who rely on them to drive to work.

AB 516 will help working families continue to drive to work, pay their rent and bills, and provide for their families. The bill will end poverty tows for unpaid parking tickets and prevent cars from being towed unless they're parked in one place for more than five business days.

Bill Developments

August 30, 2019: Held in the Senate Appropriations Committee
July 9, 2019: Approved by the Senate Public Safety Committee
June 25, 2019: Approved by the Senate Transportation Committee
May 13, 2019: Passed Assembly
April 22, 2019: Approved by Assembly Transportation Committee
February 13, 2019: Bill introduced

Authors:
Assemblymember Chiu. Co-authors: Assemblymembers Bonta, Chu, Gipson; Senator Wiener.
Sponsors:
ACLU of California, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Western Center on Law and Poverty

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News & Commentary
Aug 22, 2019
A black sedan on the truck bed of a towing truck
  • Economic Justice|
  • +1 Issue

California Is Pushing People Deeper into Poverty by Towing Their Cars for Non-Safety Reasons

Living in California is already expensive enough for working families — paying rent, paying for childcare, putting food on the table, etc. — without also having to pay to retrieve a towed car. But every year, California local governments push countless families that are struggling to make ends meet deeper into poverty by towing their legally parked cars. Hundreds of thousands of cars are towed each year for non-safety reasons and to collect minor debts.