Existing law makes it unlawful for a peace officer or an unauthorized person to remove an unattended vehicle from a highway, except as provided. Under existing law, the removal of a vehicle is a seizure, subject to the limits set forth in jurisprudence for the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to adopt an ordinance establishing procedures for the abatement and removal, as public nuisances, of abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or inoperative vehicles or parts of vehicles from private or public property. Existing law requires that any ordinance for the removal of abandoned vehicles contain certain provisions, including a provision exempting vehicles under certain circumstances, and a provision providing no less than a 10-day notice of intention to abate and remove the vehicle or part thereof as a public nuisance, unless the property owner and the owner of the vehicle sign releases. Existing law also exempts from the 10-day notice prior to removal provision, a vehicle meeting specified requirements, including being valued at less than $200 and being determined to be a public nuisance, if the property owner has signed a release.

This bill would specifically authorize a local government to perform emergency summary abatement of vehicles creating imminent health and safety hazards. The bill would modify the exemption from prior 10-day notice of intention to abate and remove a vehicle to no longer require that both the vehicle be determined to be a public nuisance and that the property owner sign a release.