(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), no towing service shall provide and no person or public entity shall accept any direct or indirect commission, gift, or any compensation whatever from a towing service in consideration of arranging or requesting the services of a tow truck. As used in this section, “arranging” does not include the activities of employees or principals of a provider of towing services in responding to a request for towing services.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not preclude a public entity otherwise authorized by law from requiring a fee in connection with the award of a franchise for towing vehicles on behalf of that public entity. However, the fee in those cases may not exceed the amount necessary to reimburse the public entity for its actual and reasonable costs incurred in connection with the towing program.

(c) Any towing service or any employee of a towing service that accepts or agrees to accept any money or anything of value from a repair shop and any repair shop or any employee of a repair shop that pays or agrees to pay any money or anything of value as a commission, referral fee, inducement, or in any manner a consideration, for the delivery or the arranging of a delivery of a vehicle, not owned by the repair shop or towing service, for the purpose of storage or repair, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable as set forth in subdivision (d). Nothing in this subdivision prevents a towing service from towing a vehicle to a repair shop owned by the same company that owns the towing service.

(d) Any person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) or (c) shall be punished as follows:

(1) Upon first conviction, by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the violation of subdivision (a) or (c) is committed by a tow truck driver, the person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle shall be suspended by the department under Section 13351.85. The clerk of the court shall send a certified abstract of the conviction to the department. If the violation of either subdivision (a) or (c) is committed by a tow truck driver, the court may order the impoundment of the tow truck involved for not more than 15 days.

(2) Upon a conviction of a violation of subdivision (a) or (c) that occurred within seven years of one or more separate convictions of violations of subdivision (a) or (c), by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the violation of subdivision (a) or (c) is committed by a tow truck driver, the person’s privilege to operate a motor vehicle shall be suspended by the department under Section 13351.85. The clerk of the court shall send a certified abstract of the conviction to the department. If the violation of either subdivision (a) or (c) is committed by a tow truck owner, the court may order the impoundment of the tow truck involved for not less than 15 days but not more than 30 days.

(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 641, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)