(1) Existing law prohibits a person from, among other things, engaging in, aiding, or abetting a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on a highway or in an offstreet parking facility. A violation of this provision is punishable as a misdemeanor, as specified. Existing law, beginning on January 1, 2029, authorizes a court to suspend the privilege to operate a vehicle for 90 days to 6 months for a person who engages in, aids, or abets a motor vehicle exhibition of speed that occurred as part of a sideshow. For these purposes, existing law defines “sideshow” as an event in which 2 or more persons block or impede traffic on a highway or in an offstreet parking facility for the purpose of performing motor vehicle stunts, motor vehicle speed contests, motor vehicle exhibitions of speed, or reckless driving for spectators.

This bill would prohibit a person from engaging in, aiding, or abetting a sideshow and would make a violation of this provision a misdemeanor. The bill would revise the definition of sideshow to include the use or operation of any motor vehicle, including, but not limited to, motorcycles or off-highway motor vehicles, as specified, to barricade, block, impede, or otherwise obstruct traffic. For a person convicted of this provision who was driving a performing vehicle, as defined, the bill would make a first conviction punishable as a misdemeanor and a 2nd or subsequent conviction a misdemeanor or felony. By creating a new crime, the bill would create a state-mandated local program.

(2) Existing law authorizes a magistrate to issue a warrant or order authorizing a peace officer to immediately seize and cause the removal of a vehicle if presented with a peace officer’s affidavit establishing reasonable cause to believe that the vehicle was an instrumentality used in the peace officer’s presence in violation of certain offenses.

The bill would allow a peace officer’s affidavit presented to a magistrate to be based on video from a reasonably reliable source that the vehicle was an instrumentality used in violation of the above offenses.

(3) Existing law defines a nuisance, in part, as anything which is injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property and defines a public nuisance as one that affects an entire community, neighborhood, or a considerable number of persons at the same time. Existing law authorizes various remedies for nuisances, including a criminal action, civil action, or abatement.

This bill would provide that a performing vehicle, as defined, used in the commission of a sideshow is a public nuisance that may be subject to forfeiture upon the conviction of the operator of the performing vehicle. The bill would establish the procedures to serve notice of the intended forfeiture to the legal and registered owner of the performing vehicle, to file a claim opposing forfeiture, and for the forfeiture hearing. The bill would require the Attorney General or a district attorney to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the operator of the performing vehicle was convicted of this offense and the vehicle was used in the commission of the violation that gave rise to the underlying conviction. The bill would require the court to, if the burden of proof has been met and the court finds there is no undue hardship to a person other than the defendant, enter judgment in favor of the Attorney General or district attorney, declare the performing vehicle a public nuisance, and order the vehicle to be immediately forfeited to the state or local government entity, as specified. The bill would establish the procedures for the impoundment, sale, or disposal of a performing vehicle subject to forfeiture.