Article 1 - Exemptions

California Vehicle Code — §§ 9101-9107

Sections (10)

Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 594, Sec. 31. Effective January 1, 2004.

No fees specified in this code, except fees not exempted under Section 9103, need be paid for any vehicle operated by the state, or by any county, city, district, or political subdivision of the state, or the United States, as lessee under a lease, lease-sale, or rental-purchase agreement that grants possession of the vehicle to the lessee for a period of 30 consecutive days or more.

§ 9102

Enacted by Stats. 1959, Ch. 3.

The fees specified in this code except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards need not be paid for any vehicle owned by an educational institution of collegiate grade not conducted for profit and having an enrollment of 5,000 students or more and having an acreage of 5,000 acres or more, if such vehicle is used for fire-fighting purposes within the limits of the acreage of such institution and is operated principally on roads owned by such institution.

§ 9102.5

Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 719, Sec. 9. Effective January 1, 2004.

(a)In lieu of all other fees which are specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards, a fee of fifteen dollars ($15) shall be paid for the registration and licensing of any privately owned schoolbus, as defined in Section 545, which is either of the following:

(1)Owned by a private nonprofit educational organization and operated in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department of Education and the Department of the California

Highway Patrol exclusively in transporting school pupils, or school pupils and employees, of the private nonprofit educational organization.

(2)Operated in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department of Education and the Department of the California Highway Patrol exclusively in transporting school pupils, or school pupils and employees, of any public school or private nonprofit educational organization pursuant to a contract between a public school district or nonprofit educational organization and the owner or operator of the schoolbus.

This section does not apply to any schoolbus which is operated pursuant to any contract which requires the public school district or nonprofit educational organization to pay any amount representing the costs of registration and weight fees unless and until the contract is amended to require only the payment of an amount representing the fee required

by this section.

(b)When a schoolbus under contract and registered pursuant to subdivision (a) is to be temporarily operated in such a manner that it becomes subject to full registration fees specified in this code, the owner may, prior to that operation, as an alternative to the full registration, secure a temporary permit to operate the vehicle in this state for any one or more calendar months. The permit shall be posted upon the windshield or other prominent place upon the vehicle, and shall identify the vehicle to which it is affixed. When so affixed, the permit shall serve as indicia of full registration for the period designated on the permit. Upon payment of the fees specified in Section 9266.5, the department may issue a temporary permit under this section.

(c)Notwithstanding any other provision, any schoolbus used exclusively to transport students at or below the

12th-grade level to or from any school, for an education-related purpose, or for an activity sponsored by a nonprofit organization shall be deemed to be a schoolbus for the purposes of this section and shall pay a fee of fifteen dollars ($15) in lieu of all other fees which are specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards.

(d)This section does not apply to a schoolbus, operated to transport persons who are developmentally disabled, as defined by the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Division 4.5 (commencing with Section 4500) of the Welfare and Institutions Code), to or from vocational, prevocational, or work training centers sponsored by the State Department of Developmental Services.

§ 9103

Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 200, Sec. 8. (SB 734) Effective January 1, 2010.

(a)Fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards, are not required to be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code owned by the United States or by any state or political subdivision of a state or by any municipality duly organized under the California Constitution or laws of this state.

(b)The registration fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards, are not required to be paid for any vehicle owned by a public entity described in subdivision (f) of Section 15975 of the Government Code.

§ 9104

Amended by Stats. 1979, Ch. 517.

The fees specified in this code except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards need not be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code owned by a public fire department organized as a nonprofit corporation and used exclusively for firefighting or rescue purposes or exclusively as an ambulance, nor for any vehicle owned by a voluntary fire department organized under the laws of this state and used exclusively for firefighting or rescue purposes or exclusively as an ambulance.

§ 9104.2

Added by Stats. 2008, Ch. 92, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2009.

The fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates, or cards need not be paid for a vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe that has entered into a mutual aid agreement with a state, county, city, or other governmental municipality for fire protection and emergency response, and the equipment is used exclusively for firefighting or rescue purposes or exclusively as an ambulance.

§ 9104.5

Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 911, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2000.

The fees specified in this code, except fees for registration under Section 9250, need not be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code if the vehicle is owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe and the vehicle is used exclusively within the boundaries of lands under the jurisdiction of that Indian tribe, including the incidental use of that vehicle on highways within those boundaries.

§ 9105

§ 9106

Enacted by Stats. 1959, Ch. 3.

The fees specified in this code, except fees for duplicate plates, certificates or cards, need not be paid for any vehicle of a type subject to registration under this code which is operated by the Civil Air Patrol, when the vehicle has been transferred to the Civil Air Patrol by the United States Government, or any agency thereof, if by federal regulation or directive the use of such vehicle is restricted to defined activities of the Civil Air Patrol, and if by federal regulation or directive the vehicle must be returned to the United States Government when no longer required or suited for use by the Civil Air Patrol. Such vehicles shall be registered as otherwise required

under this code by the Civil Air Patrol and the Civil Air Patrol shall display a license plate or plates bearing distinguishing marks or symbols as specified in this code, which plate or plates shall be furnished by the department free of charge.

§ 9107

Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 594, Sec. 32. Effective January 1, 2004.

The weight fees for commercial vehicles specified in Sections 9400 and 9400.1 do not apply to any of the following:

(a)A vehicle operated by a passenger stage corporation, as defined in Section 226 of the Public Utilities Code, that is subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission, if all of the following conditions are met:

(1)The vehicle is operated exclusively on any line or lines having a one-way route mileage

not exceeding 15 miles, and each of those lines is operated in either of the following areas:

(A)In urban or suburban areas or between cities in close proximity.

(B)Between nonadjacent urban or suburban areas or cities, the area between which is substantially residential, commercial, or industrial as distinguished from rural.

(2)The principal business of the passenger stage corporation is the operation of vehicles on a route or routes as defined in paragraph (1).

(b)A vehicle operated exclusively on any line or lines within the limits of a single city by a person engaged as a common carrier of passengers between fixed termini or over a regular route, 98 percent of whose operations, as measured by total route mileage operated, are exclusively within

the limits of a single city, and who by reason thereof is not a passenger stage corporation subject to the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commission.

(c)Vanpool vehicles.

(d)A vehicle purchased with federal funds under the authority of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Section 5310 of Title 49 of the United States Code or Chapter 35 (commencing with Section 3001) of Title 42 of the United States Code for the purpose of providing specialized transportation services to senior citizens and handicapped persons by public and private nonprofit operators of specialized transportation service agencies.

(e)A vehicle operated solely for the purpose of providing specialized transportation services to senior citizens and persons with disabilities, by a nonprofit, public benefit consolidated transportation service

agency designated under Section 15975 of the Government Code.