Automakers warn California vehicle sales could be halted Wednesday if bill doesn’t pass
The Alliance of Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) warns that new and used vehicle sales in California could be suspended if the July 1 effective date for legislation passed in 2024 is not pushed back.
It asks that the California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom enact SB 719, which would update the implementation schedule for vehicle technologies required under SB 1394.
The passage of SB 1394 in 2024 requires OEMs to provide options for vehicle tracking to be disabled by the owner in an attempt to protect victims of domestic or sexual assault and human trafficking.
Starting July 1, OEMs are required, by the bill, to provide a driver with the ability to terminate a person’s access to a connected vehicle service. The provider should terminate a person’s access to the vehicle within two business days after a request from a driver is made, the bill says.
A driver can prove they have the authority to terminate a person’s access to the vehicle via multiple options such as legal title, dissolution decree, or a court order proving exclusive use or possession of the vehicle.
Starting Jan. 1, 2028, vehicles must clearly indicate to those inside of it, who has accessed the connected vehicle service and/or location from outside of the vehicle. OEMs also would be required to include a mechanism in vehicles that allows the driver to immediately disable connected vehicle location access, according to the bill.
“Without SB 719 being signed into law before July 1, there is substantial risk that auto sales in California will be suspended,” said Curt Augustine, Auto Innovators senior director of state affairs, in a release. “Automakers are already implementing the domestic violence victim protections required by SB 1394, but compliance with some elements of the law is impossible this year. The additional year provided by SB 719 merely aligns implementation with the reality of vehicle design and manufacturing.”
According to Auto Innovators, SB 719 would make no substantive changes to the request process and the two business day deadline. It would move the deadline to July 1, 2027 for model year 2027 and older vehicles unless implementation is technologically infeasible.
It also would require implementation for 2028-2030 model year vehicles as soon as practicable after sale, unless technologically infeasible and for all vehicles beginning with the 2031 model year.
The 2031 model year would require the vehicle to clearly indicate whether connected vehicle location access is enabled.
“Passage of Sen. Cabaldon’s bill is being complicated by last-minute opposition and misinformation by the trial lawyer ally Consumer Federation of California,” Augustine said in the press release issued June 23. “Their misleading attempt to keep this bill from passage before July 1 should be confirmation that our members will be vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits for vehicles that cannot comply with the current deadline.”
A California newspaper, Vanguard News Group, reported days before Auto Innovators press release that the Consumer Federation of California was criticizing last-minute changes to SB 719. The federation was a sponsor to SB 1394, the article notes.
“In the dark of night and at the last minute, the auto industry is working overtime to avoid helping protect victims of domestic violence and those at risk of domestic violence,” said Robert Herrell, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, in the article.
Vanguard reports that the Consumer Federation of California criticizes the 2031 deadline and uses “technologically infeasible” wording.
The bill has had some movement since Auto Innovators issued its press release. It received a recommendation to pass and be placed on the consent calendar by the Assembly’s Committee on Appropriations the following day. It then was ordered for a third reading by the Assembly on Thursday.
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