Amended by Stats. 1974, Ch. 545.
The Department of Transportation shall erect appropriate signs at each entrance to a vehicular crossing to notify traffic that it is entering upon a vehicular crossing.
Article 3 - Tolls and Other Charges
California Vehicle Code — §§ 23300-23309
Sections (14)
Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 871, Sec. 1. (AB 2949) Effective January 1, 2023.
Except as provided in Sections 23301.3 and 23301.5, a vehicle that enters into or upon a vehicular crossing is liable for those tolls and other charges prescribed by the California Transportation Commission.
Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 871, Sec. 2. (AB 2949) Effective January 1, 2023.
(a)A vehicle described in subdivision (b) is exempt from a toll or other charge on a toll road, toll bridge, toll highway, vehicular crossing, or other toll facility.
(b)The exemption described in subdivision (a) applies only to a vehicle that meets all of the following criteria:
(1)The vehicle is registered to a veteran.
(2)The vehicle is displaying one of the following license plates:
(A)A license plate issued to a disabled veteran, pursuant to Section 5007.
(B)A license plate
issued to a Pearl Harbor survivor, pursuant to Section 5101.3.
(C)A license plate issued to a recipient of the Army Medal of Honor, Navy Medal of Honor, Air Force Medal of Honor, Army Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, or Air Force Cross, pursuant to Section 5101.4.
(D)A license plate issued to a former American prisoner of war, pursuant to Section 5101.5.
(E)A license plate issued to a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, pursuant to Section 5101.6.
(F)A license plate issued to a recipient of the Purple Heart, pursuant to Section 5101.8.
(3)The vehicle is registered to a transponder or other electronic toll payment device account with an issuing agency as defined in
Section 40250.
(c)This section does not exempt a vehicle described in subdivision (b) from a toll on a high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane.
(d)Sections 23302 and 23302.5 do not apply to a vehicle exempt pursuant to this section.
Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 87, Sec. 1. (AB 1114) Effective January 1, 2026.
(a)An authorized emergency vehicle is exempt from any requirement to pay a toll or other charge on a vehicular crossing, toll highway, or high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane, including the requirements of Section 23301, if all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(1)The authorized emergency vehicle is properly displaying an exempt California license plate, and is properly identified or marked as an authorized emergency vehicle, including, but not limited to, displaying an external surface-mounted red warning light, blue warning light, or both, and displaying either of the following:
(A)Public agency
identification, including, but not limited to, “Fire Department,” “Sheriff,” or “Police.”
(B)“Ambulance.”
(2)(A) The vehicle is being driven while responding to or returning from an urgent or emergency call, engaged in an urgent or emergency response, or engaging in a fire station coverage assignment directly related to an emergency response.
(B)For purposes of this paragraph, an “urgent” response or call means an incident or circumstance that requires an immediate response to a public safety-related incident, but does not warrant the use of emergency warning lights. “Urgent” does not include any personal use, commuting, training, or administrative uses.
(C)Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), an authorized emergency vehicle, when returning from an urgent or emergency call, or from being engaged in an urgent or emergency response, or from engaging in a fire station coverage assignment directly related to an emergency response, shall not be exempt from any requirement to pay a toll or other charge imposed while traveling on a HOT lane.
(3)The driver of the vehicle determines that the use of the toll facility shall likely improve the availability or response and arrival time of the authorized emergency vehicle and its delivery of essential public safety services.
(b)If the operator of a toll facility elects to send a bill or invoice to the public agency for the use of the toll facility by an authorized emergency
vehicle, exempt pursuant to subdivision (a), the fire chief, police chief, county sheriff, head of the public agency, ambulance corporation chief executive, or their designee, is authorized to certify in writing that the authorized emergency vehicle was responding to or returning from an emergency call or response and is exempt from the payment of the toll or other charge in accordance with this section. The letter shall be accepted by the toll operator in lieu of payment and is a public document.
(c)An authorized emergency vehicle that does not comply with this section is not exempt from the requirement to pay a toll or other charge on a toll highway, vehicular crossing, or HOT lane. Upon information and belief of the toll operator that an authorized emergency vehicle is not in compliance with this section, the fire chief, police chief,
county sheriff, head of the public agency,
ambulance corporation chief executive, or their designee, upon the written request of the owner or operator of the toll facility, shall provide or otherwise make accessible to the toll operator the dispatch records or log books relevant to the time period when the vehicle was in use on the toll highway, vehicular crossing, or HOT lane.
(d)Upon the request of a private or public local emergency service provider, an owner or operator of a toll facility shall enter into an agreement to establish mutually agreed upon terms for the use of the toll facility by the emergency service provider, including, but not limited to, being exempt from toll payment. This section shall not prohibit the owner or operator of a toll facility from having a policy that meets or exceeds this section. If at any time an emergency service provider or
the owner or operator of a toll facility opts to terminate an agreement regarding the payment and processing of tolls or other charges, this section shall apply to the emergency service provider and the toll facility. An agreement between an emergency service provider and the owner or operator of a toll facility does not exempt other emergency service providers not named in the original agreement and the toll facility from the requirements of this section when those other emergency service providers use a toll facility in the jurisdiction of the owner or operator of the toll facility.
(e)Sections 23302 and 23302.5 do not apply to authorized emergency vehicles exempt pursuant to this section.
(f)As used in this section, “toll facility” includes a toll road, HOT lane, toll bridge,
toll highway, a vehicular crossing for which payment of a toll or charge is required, or any other toll facility.
Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 459, Sec. 1. (AB 628) Effective January 1, 2010.
Where an issuing agency permits pay-by-plate toll payment as described in subdivision (e) of Section 23302, it shall communicate, as practicable, the pay-by-plate toll amount in the same manner as it communicates other toll payment methods. The issuing agency shall provide publicly available information on how pay-by-plate toll payment works, including the toll amount, process for payment, and period of time a vehicle has to resolve the payment before an issuing agency may process the trip as a violation under Section 40255.
Communication of this information may include the Department of Transportation’s approved signage, posting of information on the issuing agency’s Internet Web site, media advertising, public meeting or disclosure as required by the issuing agency’s policies, or other methods of communication. Except where the issuing agency has an agreement with a vehicle owner that specifies in advance any administrative fees that will be imposed on the owner for pay-by-plate toll payment, administrative costs shall be incorporated into the pay-by-plate toll amount, and no additional administrative costs shall be added above the posted pay-by-plate toll amount.
Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 969, Sec. 3. (AB 2594) Effective January 1, 2023.
(a)(1) It is unlawful for a driver to fail to pay tolls or other charges on any vehicular crossing or toll highway. Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), (c), or (d), it is prima facie evidence of a violation of this section for a person to drive a vehicle onto any vehicular crossing or toll highway without either lawful money of the United States in the driver’s immediate possession in an amount sufficient to pay the prescribed tolls or other charges due from that driver or a transponder or other electronic toll payment device associated with a valid Automatic Vehicle Identification account with a balance sufficient to pay those tolls.
(2)Except as specified in paragraph (3), if a transponder or other electronic toll payment
device is used to pay tolls or other charges due, the device shall be located in or on the vehicle in a location so as to be visible for the purpose of enforcement at all times when the vehicle is located on the vehicular crossing or toll highway. If required by the operator of a vehicular crossing or toll highway, this requirement applies even if the operator offers free travel or nontoll accounts to certain classes of users.
(3)If a motorcyclist uses a transponder or other electronic toll payment device to lawfully enter a vehicle crossing or toll highway, the motorcyclist shall use any one of the following methods as long as the transponder or device is able to be read by the toll operator’s detection equipment:
(A)Place the transponder or other electronic toll payment device in the motorcyclist’s pocket.
(B)Place the transponder or other electronic toll payment device inside a cycle net that drapes over the gas tank of the motorcycle.
(C)Mount the transponder or other electronic toll payment device on license plate devices provided by the toll operator, if the toll operator provides those devices.
(D)Keep the transponder or other electronic toll payment device in the glove or storage compartment of the motorcycle.
(E)Mount the transponder or other electronic toll payment device on the windshield of the motorcycle.
(b)For vehicular crossings and toll highways that use electronic toll collection as the only method of paying tolls or other charges, it is prima facie evidence of a violation of this section for a driver to drive a vehicle
onto the vehicular crossing or toll highway without a transponder or other electronic toll payment device associated with a valid Automatic Vehicle Identification account with a balance sufficient to pay those tolls.
(c)For vehicular crossings and toll highways where the issuing agency, as defined in Section 40250, permits pay-by-plate payment of tolls and other charges, in accordance with policies adopted by the issuing agency, it is prima facie evidence of a violation of this section for a driver to drive a vehicle onto the vehicular crossing or toll highway without at least one of the following:
(1)Lawful money of the United States in the driver’s immediate possession in an amount sufficient to pay the prescribed tolls or other charges due from that person.
(2)A transponder or other electronic toll payment
device associated with a valid Automatic Vehicle Identification account with a balance sufficient to pay those tolls.
(3)Valid vehicle license plates, registered to a vehicle with an up-to-date vehicle registration address pursuant to Section 4159, properly attached pursuant to Section 4850.5 or 5200 to the vehicle in which that driver enters onto the vehicular crossing or toll highway.
(d)For vehicular crossings and toll highways where the issuing agency, as defined in Section 40250, permits pay-by-plate payment of tolls and other charges in accordance with policies adopted by the issuing agency, and where electronic toll collection is the only other method of paying tolls or other charges, it is prima facie evidence of a violation of this section for a driver to drive a vehicle onto the vehicular crossing or toll highway without either a transponder or other electronic toll
payment device associated with a valid Automatic Vehicle Identification account with a balance sufficient to pay those tolls or valid vehicle license plates, registered to a vehicle with an up-to-date vehicle registration address pursuant to Section 4159, properly attached to the vehicle pursuant to Section 4850.5 or 5200 in which that driver enters onto the vehicular crossing or toll highway.
(e)As used in this article, “pay-by-plate toll payment” means an issuing agency’s use of on-road vehicle license plate identification recognition technology to accept payment of tolls in accordance with policies adopted by the issuing agency.
(f)This section does not require an issuing agency to offer pay-by-plate toll processing as a method for paying tolls.
Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 739, Sec. 7. Effective January 1, 1996.
(a)No person shall evade or attempt to evade the payment of tolls or other charges on any vehicular crossing or toll highway.
(b)A violation of subdivision (a) is subject to civil penalties and is neither an infraction nor a public offense, as defined in Section 15 of the Penal Code. The enforcement of those civil penalties shall be governed by the civil administrative procedures set forth in Article 4 (commencing with Section 40250) of Chapter 1 of Division
17.
Amended by Stats. 1974, Ch. 545.
The Department of Transportation shall have a lien and may enforce such lien, as provided in Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 3067) of Title 14 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, for all tolls and charges provided by this chapter.
Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 969, Sec. 4. (AB 2594) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative July 1, 2024, by its own provisions.
(a)With respect to a toll bridge, an issuing agency that permits pay-by-plate toll payment as described in subdivision (e) of Section 23302 or that permits payment by a transponder or other electronic toll payment device shall send an invoice by mail for any unpaid toll to the registered vehicle owner. The invoice shall include a notice to the registered owner that, unless the registered owner pays the toll by the due date shown on the invoice, a toll evasion penalty will be assessed. The invoice due date shall not be less than 30 days from the invoice date.
(b)If a toll invoice is not paid by the due date shown on the invoice, the nonpayment shall be deemed an evasion of tolls and the issuing agency, or processing agency as the case may be,
shall mail a notice of toll evasion violation to the registered owner pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 40254.
(c)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 969, Sec. 5. (AB 2594) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative July 1, 2024, by its own provisions.
(a)An issuing agency shall allow a driver of a rental vehicle to register the rental vehicle to a transponder or other electronic toll payment device account with the issuing agency prior to traveling on the issuing agency’s toll facility for the purpose of paying all tolls with a credit or debit card. The issuing agency may require the use of a transponder for this purpose.
(b)The public entities operating or planning to implement a toll facility in this state shall cooperate to publish an internet website at which the public and rental car agencies can view and download, or that provides direct links to, information about how to open an account or acquire a transponder or other electronic toll payment device, for use of each issuing agency’s
toll facility. The rental car agency shall provide the customer with a written or electronic notice, including the electronic link for the internet website. The notice shall be separate from the rental contract and, if an electronic notice, emailed to the rental customer.
(c)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 969, Sec. 6. (AB 2594) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative July 1, 2024, by its own provisions.
(a)(1) An issuing agency that operates an electronic toll collection system that permits payment by a transponder or other electronic toll payment device shall, directly or through a third-party vendor, make the transponder or other electronic toll payment device available for acquisition online, by mail, and in person at a retail outlet, the office of an issuing agency or processing agency, as defined in Section 40253, or customer service center.
(2)At least one retail outlet, kiosk, or customer service center that offers the transponder or other electronic toll payment device associated with the issuing agency shall be located within the jurisdiction of the issuing agency.
(3)The issuing agency shall post on an internet website related to its electronic toll collection system locations where tolls may be paid with cash, and locations at which a transponder or other electronic toll payment device may be acquired.
(b)The price of the transponder or other electronic toll payment device shall not exceed the reasonable cost to the issuing agency based on the estimated cost to procure and distribute the device.
(c)As used in this article, “retail outlet” includes a store managed by the issuing agency, a cash payment location, or other locations not managed by the issuing agency.
(d)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 969, Sec. 7. (AB 2594) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative July 1, 2024, by its own provisions.
(a)If an issuing agency offers a transponder or other electronic toll payment device, a person shall be allowed to acquire a transponder or other electronic toll payment device with cash, or with a credit or debit card, and shall be allowed to load a minimum of one hundred dollars ($100) onto the associated account with cash or with a credit or debit card.
(b)Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b) of Section 23306, there shall be no additional transaction fee charged to acquire the transponder or other electronic toll payment device.
(c)An issuing agency shall not assess any additional transaction fee to the amount a person is charged by a cash payment network company to
load funds to an account using cash through a cash payment network.
(d)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 969, Sec. 8. (AB 2594) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative July 1, 2024, by its own provisions.
(a)Subject to extenuating circumstances and holidays, the hours during which one of the issuing or processing agency’s offices or customer service centers are open to the public to provide customer service related to electronic toll collection shall include at least five hours per week between the hours of 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. or 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., or on a Saturday.
(b)A person shall be able to conduct all of the following transactions at either the issuing agency’s office or customer service center:
(1)Acquire the issuing agency’s transponder or other electronic toll payment device.
(2)Load money onto an account with
the issuing agency.
(3)Pay a toll notice, including fines and penalties.
(4)Register or remove a license plate to or from a transponder or other electronic toll payment device account with the issuing agency for payment of tolls.
(c)Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b) of Section 23306, the issuing agency shall not charge persons paying cash an additional transaction fee for any transaction listed in paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (b) that are conducted at the issuing or processing agency’s office, or customer service center. There shall be at least one issuing or processing agency’s office or customer service center within the issuing agency’s jurisdiction.
(d)The issuing agency shall have two or more physical locations
within each county in which a toll facility operated by the issuing agency is located for purposes of conducting the transactions set forth in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (b).
(e)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024.
Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 969, Sec. 9. (AB 2594) Effective January 1, 2023. Operative July 1, 2024, by its own provisions.
(a)Subject to extenuating circumstances and holidays, the issuing agency, directly or through a third-party vendor, shall maintain a customer service telephone line that shall be operated by a live person for at least 35 hours per week between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and an additional 5 hours per week between the hours of 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., or on a Saturday. The customer service telephone line shall be available to address questions related to acquiring a transponder or other electronic toll payment device, paying toll notices, disputing tolls and penalties, setting up payment plans, and registering the license plate of a vehicle to a transponder or other electronic toll payment device account.
(b)The customer
service telephone line shall provide language interpreter services and assistance for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals.
(c)This section shall become operative on July 1, 2024.