Veh. Code, § 40508 · Article 2. Release Upon Promise to Appear

Veh. Code, § 40508

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) A person willfully violating their written promise to appear or a lawfully granted continuance of their promise to appear in court or before a person authorized to receive a deposit of bail is guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which the person was originally arrested.

(b) A person willfully failing to pay bail in installments as agreed to under Section 40510.5 or a lawfully imposed fine for a violation of a provision of this code or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to this code within the time authorized by the court and without lawful excuse having been presented to the court on or before the date the bail or fine is due is guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the full payment of the bail or fine after that time.

(c) A person willfully failing to comply with a condition of a court order for a violation of this code, other than for failure to appear or failure to pay a fine, is guilty of a misdemeanor, regardless of their subsequent compliance with the order.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 356, Sec. 2. (AB 1125) Effective January 1, 2024.

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&sectionNum=40508.
Text hash: sha256 45c6c1e10b10e6b3264eeb34e92384d036474cf76fe27e06aeadb2e14fd79310
Composed by: 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

BenchPath cards that rely on this text

Siskiyou County Superior Court — Standing Motion to Amend Misdemeanor Vehicle Code Section 40508 to Infraction (January 14, 1993)

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

Veh. Code, § 40510.5Printed as Section 40510.5

Cited by 10 provisions

Provisions in this library whose text cites Veh. Code, § 40508. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.

Penal Code

Pen. Code, § 19.8Printed as Sections 5201.1, 12500, 14601.1, 27150.1, and 40508 of the Vehicle Code

Vehicle Code

California Rules of Court

Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.104Procedures and eligibility criteria for attending traffic violator schoolPrinted as Vehicle Code section 40508(a)

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.