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Cal. VEH § 27605

This is the official text of Cal. VEH § 27605, part of California’s Vehicle Code — governs traffic laws, driver's licenses, and vehicle registration.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

(a) No person shall own or operate a motor vehicle painted in the manner described in Section 40800 to resemble a motor vehicle used by a peace officer or traffic officer on duty for the primary purpose of enforcing the provisions of Division 10 (commencing with Section 20000) or Division 11 (commencing with Section 21000) pursuant to Section 40800.

(b) This section shall not apply to vehicles which are painted one solid color or to vehicles first registered on or before January 1, 1979. These provisions shall not apply to vehicles that are any of the following:

(1) Owned by vehicle manufacturers or dealers.

(2) Used by law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of the provisions of Division 10 (commencing with Section 20000) or Division 11 (commencing with Section 21000).

(3) Owned by persons or companies who use the vehicles exclusively for movie or television production and display signs stating “movie car” prominently on the doors.

(4) Owned by persons or companies who use the vehicles exclusively for funeral escort purposes.

(5) Motorcycles, as defined in Section 400, without insignia.

(c) This section shall not apply to a vehicle, if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The vehicle is possessed by a federal, state, or local historical society or museum that is open to the public.

(2) The vehicle is secured from unauthorized operation.

(3) The vehicle is not operated on any public road or highway, unless one of the following applies:

(A) The vehicle is being operated within a temporary street closure for the purposes of celebrations, parades, local special events, and other purposes when the operation is approved by local authorities having jurisdiction over the street closure.

(B) The vehicle is of a model year of at least twenty-five years prior to the year of operation.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.