New California Driving Laws: All 14 Bills for 2026

Note what the law criminalizes: the manufacture of the device, not merely owning a tinted cover. That distinction matters because it aims at the supply chain — the sellers marketing “toll-proof” covers online — rather than only at drivers. Separately, California law already prohibits operating a vehicle with an obscured plate (Vehicle Code §5201 requires plates to be clearly legible and mounted), so drivers using these devices can still be cited under existing rules — the new $1,000 figure targets makers and sellers, while drivers remain under the existing fine framework (up to $250).

AB 544 — E-Bike Rules: Lights, Reflectors, and a Second Chance for Minors

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 36, Statutes of 2025.

AB 544 tightens the equipment rules for electric bicycles while softening one penalty path for young riders:

• Red reflector or red light at all times. E-bikes must now display a red reflector — or a red light — on the rear at all times of operation, not just at night. If your e-bike came without one, add it before you ride.
• Minors and helmet violations: a rider under 18 cited for a helmet violation may now satisfy it by completing the CHP’s online bicycle-safety course instead of paying the fine route alone: with proof delivered within 120 days that the minor completed the course and has a compliant helmet, no record is transmitted to court and no fee is imposed.

The law sits inside a bigger 2026 two-wheel picture: SB 586 (below) pulls throttle-heavy “eMotos” out of the e-bike category into off-highway rules, while AB 544 keeps true pedal-assist e-bikes in the bicycle lane with clearer equipment duties. If you ride a Sur-Ron-style bike with no pedals, read the SB 586 section — you are probably not riding an “e-bike” in the eyes of the law anymore.

SB 586 — eMotos Are Now Off-Highway Vehicles

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 588, Statutes of 2025.

“Off-highway electric motorcycles” — electric dirt bikes like the Sur-Ron class: no pedals, straddle seat, handlebars, designed for off-road use — are now off-highway motor vehicles under California law. Two duties follow:

• Display a DMV-issued ID plate or placard (the green-sticker / OHV identification program), and
• Wear a helmet while operating one.

This ends the gray zone that let powerful electric dirt bikes be ridden as if they were bicycles. The practical consequence: an eMoto ridden on public roads or trails without OHV identification and a helmet is now straightforwardly citable, and dealers can no longer sell them as “just e-bikes.” If you already own one, the move is to get it into the OHV identification program and keep a DOT-compliant helmet on your head — the same rules that have long applied to gas dirt bikes now apply to yours.

AB 486 — Key-Programming Tools Classified as Burglary Tools

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 367, Statutes of 2025.

Devices that program or duplicate vehicle keys — and radio-signal extenders/relays used to capture a key fob’s signal from inside a house — are now classified as burglary tools under Penal Code §466. Possessing them with intent to commit theft or burglary is a misdemeanor.

The “with intent” element is the whole law: legitimate locksmiths, dealers, and repair shops using the same tools in the course of business are not the target. The target is the relay-attack crew — one person holds a signal extender near your front door to relay your fob’s signal, another opens and starts your car in the driveway. Police and prosecutors previously had to stretch older statutes to cover the tools; now the tools themselves are named.

AB 289 — Speed Cameras in Highway Work Zones

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 684, Statutes of 2025.

California may now deploy up to 35 automated speed-safety systems in state highway work zones — and citations issue only when Caltrans workers (including contractors) are present, and only for vehicles going 11 mph or more over the posted limit. Penalties are civil only — no DMV points, no license suspension — on an escalating schedule of $50, $100, $200, and $500. The authorizing article sunsets January 1, 2032, making this a six-year experiment the Legislature must renew. The program targets the deadliest predictable driving environment in the state: workers on foot, feet from 70-mph traffic.

Two things to know as a driver. First, this is separate from the red-light camera program (SB 720, below) and from the earlier speed-safety pilot in six cities — work zones are their own category with their own authorizing law. Second, the program is tied to active work zones: it exists to protect workers on foot, not to create permanent enforcement points. The behavioral rule is simple and was already the law: slow down in the cone zone — now the cones may be watching.

SB 720 — Red-Light Camera Programs for Local Governments

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 782, Statutes of 2025.

SB 720 authorizes local governments to operate automated red-light enforcement programs, with violations treated as civil penalties — not criminal citations. That civil framing matters: it keeps a camera ticket from becoming a criminal matter while still carrying a real financial penalty.

California’s relationship with red-light cameras has been stop-start for two decades — cities adopted them, courts and councils fought over them, several programs shut down. SB 720 gives the programs a cleaner, current statutory footing with uniform rules. The fine schedule is written into the statute and escalates within a 3-year window: $100 for a first violation, then $200, $350, and $500. Because violations are civil only, they bring no DMV points and no license suspension — and no insurance-points pathway. Before any real citations begin, a jurisdiction must run a 60-day warning-only period plus a 30-day public announcement, so the first you hear about your city’s cameras should not be a ticket in the mail.

SB 480 — Marker Lamps for Autonomous Vehicles

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 415, Statutes of 2025.

Autonomous vehicles may now display special marker lamps that signal when the automated driving system is actively engaged — a visual “the computer is driving” indicator for everyone else on the road. The law creates a standardized signal so that other drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and first responders can tell at a glance whether a vehicle with no apparent driver attention is in autonomous mode.

For ordinary drivers this law requires nothing — you will not be installing these lamps. Its significance is as infrastructure for the AV era: California is writing the visual language of mixed human-and-machine traffic before the vehicles arrive in volume, rather than after the first confusion-caused crash. The lamp is the turquoise/cyan “ADS marker” defined in Vehicle Code §§25950/38750 — it tells everyone nearby the automated driving system is engaged. The same bill looks further ahead: starting January 1, 2030, autonomous vehicles of model year 2031 and newer under 8,501 lbs may operate under a deployment permit only as zero-emission vehicles (to the extent federal law allows).

AB 630 — Faster Removal of Abandoned RVs

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 699, Statutes of 2025.

Abandoned recreational vehicles — stripped, non-running RVs left on streets and lots — have been one of the hardest vehicle types for cities to clear, because RVs fall between the normal abandoned-vehicle and oversized-vehicle procedures and because towing and disposing of a 30-foot motorhome is expensive. AB 630 streamlines the removal process in a pilot covering Alameda and Los Angeles counties (new Vehicle Code §22851.5), giving local authorities a faster path from tagging to tow to disposal. The pilot covers abandoned RVs valued at $4,000 or less, requires at least a 72-hour notice attached to the vehicle, and sunsets January 1, 2030 — the Legislature will decide then whether the streamlined process goes statewide.

This is the rare 2026 law aimed at cities and counties rather than drivers. If you own an RV: nothing about legal parking or registration changes — but an RV you abandon will now disappear faster in the pilot counties, and the program’s results will decide whether the streamlined process goes statewide. Our registration renewal guide covers keeping an RV’s registration current so it is never mistaken for abandoned.

SB 506 — Get a Duplicate License After a Change of Address

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 417, Statutes of 2025.

California law has always required you to notify the DMV of an address change within 10 days — that duty is unchanged. What SB 506 adds is the other half of the process: after you update your address, you may now request a duplicate (replacement) driver’s license showing the new address.

The two-step process: first update your address (online through a MyDMV account, or by mail with Form DMV 14), allow a few days for the update to process, then request the replacement card through the DMV’s online duplicate-license system. The physical card with your new address is optional — the legal requirement is the notification itself — but if you want your license to match where you live (useful for travel ID checks, employment verification, and voting registration address matches), the path is now explicit in statute. When the duplicate arrives, destroy the previous card — the statute says so.

AB 366 — DUI Ignition-Interlock Pilot Extended to 2033

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 689, Statutes of 2025.

California’s ignition interlock device (IID) pilot program — the framework that keeps certain DUI offenders driving legally only in vehicles fitted with a breath-test ignition lock — was scheduled to sunset. AB 366 extends the pilot to January 1, 2033, keeping the program running for another seven years while the state evaluates long-term data.

For drivers, this changes nothing about any individual case — it preserves the status quo rather than creating new penalties. Its importance is structural: the IID program is the alternative to hard suspension for many DUI offenders, and its extension means courts and the DMV continue operating under the same interlock rules they used in 2025. Our California DUI laws guide and Braun’s Law guide cover what an IID order means for your license in practice.

AB 1087 — Longer Probation for Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated

Status: effective and operative January 1, 2026. Chapter 180, Statutes of 2025.

A conviction for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated now carries 3 to 5 years of probation (Penal Code §191.5(e)), up from the previous 2-year baseline. This is a sentencing-law change — it lengthens the court’s supervision window after conviction for the most serious alcohol-related driving offense short of murder.

The practical effect is on the back end of a case: a longer probation term means a longer period of DUI-program requirements, interlock or restricted-license conditions, and exposure to violation-of-probation consequences. It does not change the DMV’s separate administrative actions (APS suspension, SR-22, point assessment), which run on their own tracks — see our DUI laws guide for how the criminal and DMV sides interact.

Starting October 1, 2026: The CARS Act (SB 766)

Status: effective January 1, 2026; operative October 1, 2026. Chapter 354, Statutes of 2025. Signed October 6, 2025.

The California Combating Auto Retail Scams (CARS) Act is the most consumer-facing law of the 2026 batch — and the one whose operative date matters most, because the nine-month gap between “effective” and “operative” confused even dealer trade press. The cancellation right below has applied since October 1, 2026.

• 3-business-day right to cancel a used-vehicle purchase. Buy or lease a used vehicle for $50,000 or less from a dealer, and you may cancel within 3 business days (days the dealership is open, counted from the day after signing) — provided the vehicle has been driven fewer than 400 miles since the sale. The dealer may charge a restocking fee of 1.5% of the price (minimum $200, maximum $600) plus $1 per mile over 250 miles (capped at $150), and must refund you within 48 hours. Private-party sales and new cars are not covered.
• True-price advertising. Dealers must disclose the total price in advertisements and in the first written communication — the number you see is the number the negotiation starts from.
• Add-ons must be genuinely optional. Dealer add-ons have to be clearly identified as optional, and a dealer cannot charge you for an add-on you cannot use — the law’s own examples include nitrogen tire fill below 95% purity and oil-change packages sold with an electric vehicle.
• Complaints go to the DMV. Dealer misconduct complaints under the Act are filed with the California DMV (1-800-777-0133) — the same agency that licenses dealers.

Coming January 1, 2031: 20-mph School Zones (AB 382)

Status: effective January 1, 2026; operative January 1, 2031. Chapter 555, Statutes of 2025.

AB 382 lowers the speed limit in school zones from 25 mph to 20 mph — but not until January 1, 2031. The five-year runway is deliberate: cities need time to re-sign thousands of school zones, recalibrate enforcement, and run the public-awareness campaigns that make a lower limit actually change behavior rather than just change ticket counts.

The 20-mph limit will apply where signs read “speed limit 20 when flashing” with beacons flashing, where signs indicate children are present and children are present, or equivalent posted conditions — and until 2031, a city may impose 20 mph only by local ordinance. Until 2031, the 25-mph school-zone limit stands exactly as before — do not drive 20 mph in a 25 zone expecting the new law to protect you from a ticket today, and do not assume a 26-mph school-zone ticket in 2027 will be dismissed under a law that is not operative yet. When 2031 arrives, expect the change to be highly visible: new signage, flashing beacons re-timed, and an enforcement grace period in most cities.

The 4 Laws With Their Own Deep-Dive Guides

Four of 2026’s driving-law stories are big enough to need full guides of their own. This hub summarizes the batch; these pages go deep:

• Braun’s Law (SB 907) — the 2026 DUI package. Signed September 25, 2026 (effective/operative January 1, 2027): the Watson advisement now required when a DUI plea-bargains down, plus the companion bills AB 1546 (repeat-offender penalties), AB 1685 (DMV point changes), and AB 1687 (“Irene’s Law”). The DMV-side consequences — suspensions, points, IID — explained.
• Jay Leno’s Law (SB 1392) — the classic-car smog exemption. Signed September 16, 2026: a narrow smog-check exemption for qualifying collector vehicles, phasing in from January 1, 2028. Which cars qualify, the year-by-year phase-in calendar, and the collector-insurance proof rules.
• The CARS Act (SB 766) — used-car buyer’s rights. The full 3-day cancellation walkthrough: the $50,000 cap, the 400-mile condition, the $200–$600 restocking fee, the add-on rules, and the DMV complaint path.
• Mobile driver’s license (mDL, SB 169) — California’s digital ID. Where the digital license works, how to set it up, and what it does and doesn’t replace.

Together with this hub, those four guides cover every 2026 driving law that changes something a California driver, buyer, or rider actually does.

Related Guides

Last verified against leginfo.legislature.ca.gov: October 23, 2026. Statutes change — confirm current law on the California Legislative Information site before acting.