Veh. Code, § 12500 · Article 1. Persons Required to Be Licensed, Exemptions, and Age Limits
Veh. Code, § 12500
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A person may not drive a motor vehicle upon a highway, unless the person then holds a valid driver’s license issued under this code, except those persons who are expressly exempted under this code.
(b) A person may not drive a motorcycle, motor-driven cycle, or motorized bicycle upon a highway, unless the person then holds a valid driver’s license or endorsement issued under this code for that class, except those persons who are expressly exempted under this code, or those persons specifically authorized to operate motorized bicycles or motorized scooters with a valid driver’s license of any class, as specified in subdivision (h) of Section 12804.9.
(c) A person may not drive a motor vehicle in or upon any offstreet parking facility, unless the person then holds a valid driver’s license of the appropriate class or certification to operate the vehicle. As used in this subdivision, “offstreet parking facility” means any offstreet facility held open for use by the public for parking vehicles and includes any publicly owned facilities for offstreet parking, and privately owned facilities for offstreet parking where no fee is charged for the privilege to park and which are held open for the common public use of retail customers.
(d) A person may not drive a motor vehicle or combination of vehicles that is not of a type for which the person is licensed.
(e) A motorized scooter operated on public streets shall at all times be equipped with an engine that complies with the applicable State Air Resources Board emission requirements.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 630, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2008.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH§ionNum=12500.
- Text hash
- sha256 0ee840c5cbe18d2feb8a8da672623ea700a7389822c983b693d84ce99423919a
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Vehicle Code
Cited by 16 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Veh. Code, § 12500. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Penal Code
Vehicle Code
- Veh. Code, § 2810.2Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 2814.2Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 12501Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 14601Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 14601.1Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 14601.2Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 14601.5Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 14607.6Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 14607.8Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 22651Printed as Section 12500, 14601, 14601.1, 14601.2, 14601.3, 14601.4, 14601.5, or 14604
- Veh. Code, § 23103Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 23109Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 40000.10Printed as Section 12500
- Veh. Code, § 40611Printed as Section 12500 or 12951
Welfare and Institutions Code
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