California Gov. signs bill pushing deadline on vehicle technology requirements
Hours before a July 1 deadline that would have required automakers to implement technology requirements in the state of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that pushes back the deadline.
The Alliance of Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) warned late last month that new and used vehicle sales in California could be suspended, if SB 719 was not passed.
SB 719 updates the implementation schedule for technologies required under a 2024 bill, SB1394, that requires OEMs to provide options for vehicle tracking to be disabled by the owner in an attempt to protect victims of domestic and sexual assault, along with human trafficking.
In the final hour, California’s Assembly passed SB 719, sending it to the governor at 6 p.m. A press release posted by the governor’s office late Monday shows the bill as one of many signed by the governor that day.
The governor’s release doesn’t provide any comments on the bill, nor does there appear to be any public comments made.
It’s not the first time the governor has seen to eye to eye with automakers. In 2024, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required intelligent speed assistance (ISA) in all vehicles in the state starting in 2030.
Similar to SB1394, the ISA bill would have required specific technology be in vehicles sold in California, a requirement that the rest of the nation doesn’t have.
“While I appreciate the intent to improve traffic safety, this bill presents several challenges,” Newsom said at the time. “Federal law, as implemented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), already regulates vehicle safety standards, and adding California-specific requirements would create a patchwork of regulations that undermines this longstanding federal framework. NHTSA is also actively evaluating intelligent speed assistance systems, and imposing state-level mandates at this time risks disrupting these ongoing federal assessments.”
While the governor’s veto stopped the requirement for ISA, the passage of SB 719 only pushes back the requirement deadlines for ways to disable tracking technology.
SB 1394 required OEMS to provide a driver with the ability to terminate a person’s access to a connected vehicle service by July 1. The provider would be required to terminate a person’s access to the vehicle within two business days after a request from a driver is made.
The 2024 bill required that by Jan. 1, 2028, vehicles would clearly indicate to those inside of it, who had accessed the connected vehicle service and/or location from outside of the vehicle. OEMs also would have been required to include a mechanism in vehicles that allows the driver to immediately disable connected vehicle location access.
According to Auto Innovators, SB 719 makes no substantive changes to the request process and the two business day deadline. It moves the deadline to July 1, 2027 for model year 2027 and older vehicles unless implementation is technologically infeasible.
It also requires 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 is required to clearly indicate whether connected vehicle location access is enabled.
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