Vehicles: nuisance abatement: impoundment.

Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to establish a 5-year pilot program that implements a procedure to declare a motor vehicle to be a public nuisance when the motor vehicle is used in the commission of specified crimes related to prostitution. This bill would repeal the provisions authorizing the pilot program and would instead authorize a city, county, or city and county to adopt an ordinance declaring a motor vehicle to be a nuisance subject to an impoundment period of up to 30 days when the motor vehicle is involved in the commission of any one or more of specified crimes related to prostitution or illegal dumping of commercial quantities of waste matter upon a public or private highway or road, if the owner or operator of the vehicle has had a prior conviction for the same offense within the past 3 years. The bill would require the ordinance to include specified provisions related to notice, the payment of towing, storage, and administrative fees, the provision of a poststorage hearing, and the release of the impounded vehicle. This bill would also require the ordinance to provide that a person operating or in charge of a storage facility is civilly liable to the owner of the vehicle or the person who tendered the towing, storage, and related fees for 4 times the amount, not to exceed $500, if the person operating or in charge of the storage facility fails to comply with specified requirements to accept a valid bank credit card or cash for the payment of those fees.