City-Sponsored Loud Noise Legislation Hits CA Governor's Desk

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — A piece of legislation sponsored by the City of Laguna Beach has just hit California Governor Gavin Newsom's desk and is currently awaiting his signature.

The legislation, the city said, is designed as a broader effort to address quality of life issues and crack down on noise pollution from illegally modified vehicles.

The CA State Legislature just passed the bill, known as Assembly Bill 2496, this past week. The bill was authored by Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris and drafted, as well as brought forward by, the Laguna Beach Police Department.

“The Laguna Beach Police Department shares the same concerns as our residents and visitors due to the nuisance of loud vehicles, and we continue to work diligently to address the issue,” Laguna Beach Police Chief Jeff Calvert said. “Though we’ve had some success to detour this quality of life issue by working with our regional law enforcement partners on joint loud exhaust enforcement operations, we have only been able to make an inconsequential impact. This legislation is important and will help us take our efforts a step further to finally address loud vehicles with modified exhaust impacting residents throughout Orange County.”

Under the current law, law enforcement officers can issue fix-it tickets to drivers operating illegally modified cars. These fix-it tickets can be resolved without the driver providing any evidence of fixing the modified equipment, the city said.

AB 2469 would require drivers ticketed for an illegally modified exhaust to prove that they fixed the modification within three months or face a hold on their vehicle registration.

“Reducing noise pollution is a top priority for improving our resident’s quality of life,” Laguna Beach Mayor Sue Kempf said. “This legislation will give our local law enforcement efforts more teeth and help deter drivers with illegally modified loud exhaust from continuing to disrupt our community.”