Yes. Gov. Newsom signed SB 988, the California Motor Vehicle Glass Act, on September 27, 2026. It was filed with the Secretary of State as Chapter 666, Statutes of 2026, and takes effect January 1, 2027.

What does the California Motor Vehicle Glass Act require of glass shops?

Before work, a shop must tell you whether your vehicle has ADAS and whether the manufacturer calls for a recalibration afterwards, and give you a good-faith estimate. When the job is done it must give you an itemized invoice and a written notice of whether any calibration succeeded. Shops may not offer rebates, gifts or cash to steer an insurance claim.

Does SB 988 let me choose my own auto glass shop?

Yes. An insured who makes a glass claim cannot be required to use a particular shop or recalibration facility to receive claim payments, and an insurer may not purposefully mislead, threaten or coerce you about which shop to use. Insurers can still recommend shops and keep a network.

Does SB 988 cap what a glass shop can charge?

It does not set a price list or fee schedule. It does say a shop may not charge more than reasonable and customary fees and costs, and may not charge more than a reasonable price for the area.

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SB 988 California Motor Vehicle Glass Act: Now Law

Q: What are the penalties under SB 988?

A civil penalty of up to $500 for a first violation and up to $2,000 for each later one, recovered in a civil action brought by a city attorney, county counsel or the Attorney General.

September 18, 2026 · updated October 6, 2026

Last updated October 6, 2026. Gov. Newsom signed SB 988 on September 27, 2026. It is now law, filed as Chapter 666, Statutes of 2026, and takes effect January 1, 2027. You can read the chaptered text on the bill’s page on leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. This post is a plain-English summary, not legal advice.

Where the bill stands

SB 988, the California Motor Vehicle Glass Act, was concurred in by the Senate on August 26, 2026 (37 to 0), enrolled and presented to the Governor on August 31, and approved on September 27, 2026.

It adds a new Title 1.5C, sections 1784.50 through 1784.58, to the Civil Code. The act takes effect January 1, 2027. Until then, none of it can be enforced, so the practices below are what to ask for, not yet what a shop is required to do.

What the law requires of glass shops

The core of the act is a set of duties on the business doing the glass work. A shop must:

Tell you whether the vehicle has ADAS — the camera and sensor systems behind the windshield — before service. If it does, the shop must say whether the manufacturer recommends a calibration afterwards and whether the shop intends to do it to the manufacturer’s specifications. If it can’t or won’t, it must tell you to take the vehicle to the manufacturer’s certified dealership or a qualified specialist.
Give written notice of whether a calibration succeeded. If it didn’t, the shop must tell you not to rely on the ADAS until a dealer or qualified specialist has calibrated it.
Provide a good-faith estimate before the work, and an updated estimate before performing the service.
Issue an itemized invoice and, on payment, a receipt when the job is complete.
Have a claim or referral number before contracting for work that will be paid by a first-party insurance policy.
Not charge more than reasonable and customary fees and costs, including for any manufacturer-recommended calibration.

Most of that is what a careful shop already does. The act makes it a requirement and gives a customer something to point to when it isn’t done.

What the law prohibits

The second half is a list of practices a shop may not engage in. A shop, or anyone paid to solicit insurance claims, may not:

Offer a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon, prize, bonus or any other thing of value in exchange for directing or making a glass claim.

A shop also may not:

Charge more than a reasonable price for the area.
Submit false, misleading or incomplete documentation or information to a customer or an insurer.
Misrepresent the price of the work to a customer or an insurer.
Say an insurer has approved the work without verifying coverage with the insurer or its agent and getting that confirmation in writing or on a recorded channel.
Say the work will be paid for entirely by the insurer at no cost to you unless the insurer or its agent has verified the coverage.
Damage a vehicle, or encourage you to, to increase the scope of the repair.
Falsely sign a work order or insurance form, or advise you to falsify the date of damage.
Report work as done in a different geographic area from where it happened, when that would raise the insurance payment or change coverage status.
Perform work clearly beyond what is needed to restore the vehicle to a safe pre-damage condition.
Misrepresent its relationship to you or the insurer’s agent.

Several of those describe specific patterns that have shown up in glass claims — the “free windshield” pitch that turns out to be a claim against the customer’s policy, and the incentive-for-referral arrangement — which is presumably why they’re named.

What it means for your insurance claim

Two provisions are aimed at the relationship between you, the shop and your insurer:

You can’t assign your policy benefits. An insured under a policy that covers windshield and calibration work may not assign, delegate or transfer their duties, rights or benefits under the policy, and a contract that does so, entered into on or after January 1, 2027, is void and unenforceable. The act does not stop you from authorizing or directing payment to a shop for work the policy covers.
You keep the right to choose your shop. You can’t be required to use a particular shop or recalibration facility to get claim payments. Independent and dealership, network and non-network — your choice. An insurer can still recommend a shop, explain your coverage and keep a network, but it may not purposefully mislead, threaten or coerce you about which shop to use. (California already says something similar in Insurance Code § 758.5 — see does insurance cover windshield replacement — so this reinforces existing law rather than creating a new right.)

Enforcement

Violations carry a civil penalty of up to $500 for the first and up to $2,000 for each later one, recovered in a civil action brought by a city attorney, county counsel or the Attorney General. Those are the only dollar amounts in the act.

What isn’t in it

A few things people might expect from a “glass act” that it doesn’t do:

It doesn’t set a price list or fee schedule for glass work. It limits charges to reasonable and customary fees, which is a standard, not a number.
It doesn’t require insurers to cover glass, waive deductibles, or offer any particular coverage. Whether a windshield is covered stays a policy question.
It doesn’t license auto glass technicians or create a certification.
It doesn’t tell you whether your chip is a repair or a replacement — that’s still the damage itself. The repair or replace guide covers that.

Why the ADAS disclosure matters most

Of everything in the act, the calibration disclosure is the part most likely to change what a customer experiences. On a camera-equipped vehicle, a windshield replacement moves the camera, and the manufacturer typically specifies a recalibration afterwards. Today, whether you’re told that — and whether you get anything in writing about it — depends on the shop. From January 1, 2027 you should be told up front, and you should get a written result.

A resin fill on a chip doesn’t involve the camera, so fixing a chip early keeps you out of the calibration question altogether.

You don’t have to wait for the law to take effect to ask for that. Whether the vehicle is parked at an office in Irvine or a hotel lot in Anaheim, ask before the glass comes out: does this vehicle need recalibration, who does it, and will it be documented. If you’d rather it all happen at your address, mobile service does the glass where the vehicle is parked. The ADAS recalibration post goes through what to expect.

Text us a photo of the damage through the contact page and we’ll tell you what the vehicle needs — glass and camera both.