Arizona vs California: Local Ordinance Comparison (2026)

Beekeeping

Arizona requires every beekeeper to register apiaries with the State Department of Agriculture, regardless of city rules, and follows uniform statewide pest and disease management standards.

California law requires every beekeeper, apiary owner, broker, or person possessing an apiary in the state to register each colony's number and location by January 1 each year with the county agricultural commissioner, plus an annual fee up to $250.

Exotic Pets

Arizona Game and Fish Commission rules apply uniformly statewide and prohibit private possession of restricted live wildlife including big cats, primates, alligators, and venomous reptiles without a special license.

California prohibits importing, transporting, or possessing wild and exotic animals classified as restricted species, including ferrets, hedgehogs, monkeys, sugar gliders, and most big cats, unless you hold a revocable permit from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is not issued for ordinary pet keeping.

Wildlife Feeding

Arizona makes it unlawful to intentionally feed or attract wildlife, except birds and tree squirrels, in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties under A.R.S. 13-2927. The offense is a petty offense targeting coyotes, javelina, and similar animals.

California law makes it illegal to knowingly feed big game mammals, deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, black bear, and Nelson bighorn sheep, anywhere in the state. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife enforces this statewide prohibition, and there is no permit exception.

Paid Leave Preemption

Arizona preempts most local paid leave mandates, while requiring statewide earned paid sick time under Proposition 206 and ARS 23-371.

California's Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act under Labor Code 245-249 mandates paid sick leave for nearly all employees statewide. SB 616 (2023) raised the minimum to 40 hours or five days annually effective January 2024, applying universally.

Erosion Control

Arizona bans discharging pollutants to protected waters without an AZPDES permit under A.R.S. § 49-255.01. Construction sites disturbing one acre or more must obtain ADEQ's Construction General Permit and implement erosion and sediment controls through a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan.

California requires anyone clearing, grading, or disturbing one acre or more of land to obtain coverage under the State Water Board's Construction General Permit, file a Notice of Intent through SMARTS, and implement erosion and sediment controls before ground disturbance begins.

Flood Zones

Arizona statutorily delegates floodplain regulation to counties and flood control districts, setting uniform minimum standards for development in mapped floodplains statewide.

Government Code sections 65302 and 65962, together with Water Code section 8401 and the State Building Code Chapter 16, set uniform floodplain mapping, disclosure, and construction standards binding every California jurisdiction.

Neighbor Fence Rules

Arizona is an open-range state. Under A.R.S. 3-1427, a landowner cannot recover for damage caused by a neighbor's trespassing livestock unless the property is enclosed within a 'lawful fence' meeting the four-wire standard of A.R.S. 3-1426.

California Civil Code Section 841, the Good Neighbor Fence Act, presumes adjoining landowners share equal benefit and equal cost responsibility for boundary fences, applying statewide regardless of city ordinance.

Fireworks

A.R.S. 36-1606 makes permissible consumer fireworks a matter of statewide concern: cities and counties may regulate their use but may not ban their sale, and aerial fireworks remain illegal for consumers statewide.

California uniformly prohibits possession, sale, and use of dangerous fireworks statewide, while permitting cities to further restrict or ban Safe and Sane fireworks locally.

Open Carry

Arizona permits open carry of firearms by adults 18 and older without a license in most public spaces, subject to limited location restrictions.

California broadly prohibits open carry of firearms statewide under Penal Code 25850 (loaded firearms in public) and Penal Code 26350 (open carry of unloaded handguns). The prohibition applies uniformly across all California cities and counties without local variation.

Social Gambling Rules

Arizona law defines "social gambling" in ARS § 13-3301(9) and excludes it from criminal liability under § 13-3302(A)(2). A private game qualifies only if no player collects more than personal winnings, no host or third party takes a cut, and every player is at least 21. Miss any one element and the game becomes unlawful promotion of gambling or benefiting from gambling: a felony or misdemeanor under §§ 13-3303 and 13-3304.

California law exempts private home card games from gambling regulation entirely. Penal Code § 337j(e)(2)(D) excludes any card game played in a private home or residence from the definition of a "controlled game," so long as no one profits from operating it except as a player. Add a house rake or entry fee and the same game becomes an unlicensed "controlled game," a crime carrying up to a year in jail.

Sports Betting Law

Arizona legalized event wagering, commonly called sports betting, in 2021 under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 5, Chapter 11. The Department of Gaming may issue no more than ten event wagering operator licenses to non-tribal applicants, Arizona pro sports teams, PGA Tour host venues, or NASCAR national-touring-race promoters, or their designees, and no more than ten to Indian tribes that have signed the current tribal-state gaming compact. Offering event wagering without one of these licenses is unlawful statewide.

California has no legal sports betting, in stores or online. Penal Code section 337a criminalizes bookmaking, pool-selling, and placing or accepting any bet on the result of a sporting contest, with first-offense penalties up to a year in county jail or state prison and a $5,000 fine. Voters killed the only paths to legalization, Propositions 26 and 27, in November 2022, leaving no licensed sportsbook and no regulator for sports wagers.

Board Procedures

Arizona heavily regulates HOA governance: A.R.S. § 33-1804 requires open board and member meetings (with limited executive sessions) and lets members record them, A.R.S. § 33-1812 mandates absentee ballots and permits secret ballots for board elections, and A.R.S. § 33-1805 makes association financial and other records open to members for inspection.

California's Davis-Stirling Act gives every HOA member the right to inspect and copy association records under Civil Code § 5205. Boards must produce current-year records within 10 business days and records from the prior two fiscal years within 30 calendar days. Associations may charge only actual copying costs, plus up to $10 an hour, capped at $200, to redact enhanced records like invoices and bank statements.

Drought Landscaping Rights

Arizona does not give homeowners a general right to xeriscape, gravel, or desert landscaping over an HOA's objection; that stays governed entirely by each community's own declaration. What A.R.S. § 33-1819 grants is narrower: once a planned community's declarant control period ends, an association that already allows natural grass cannot flatly ban artificial turf on a member's lot, though it may regulate the turf's location, coverage, and quality.

Civil Code section 4735 voids any HOA rule that bans low-water plants, turf replacement, or artificial turf, and bars fines for cutting back watering during a declared drought emergency. Homeowners associations statewide must let owners xeriscape and cannot force water-efficient yards back to grass once an emergency ends.

Flag Display Rights

Arizona law bars homeowners associations from banning outdoor display of eight protected flags, including the American, Arizona state, POW/MIA, Gadsden and first responder flags. Under A.R.S. § 33-1808, an association may cap displays at two wall-mounted flagpole holders, two flags flying at once, and flagpole height at the member's rooftop line, but it cannot forbid installing a flagpole in the front or back yard.

Civil Code § 4705 bars every California homeowners association from limiting a member's display of the United States flag on their own lot or within their exclusive-use common area. The only carve-out is a restriction genuinely required for public health or safety. An HOA that violates the statute pays the prevailing party's attorney's fees and costs under subdivision (c).

Lien & Foreclosure Limits

Arizona bars an association from foreclosing an assessment lien until the owner passes a dollar figure or a time period, and the trigger is not the same in every community. In a condominium, A.R.S. § 33-1256(A) allows foreclosure only once the unit owner has been and remains delinquent for one year or owes $1,200 or more, whichever occurs first, measured on the date the action is filed. In a planned community the same sentence in A.R.S. § 33-1807(A) sets a much higher bar of eighteen months or $10,000. In both, the board must first make reasonable efforts to communicate with the owner and offer a reasonable payment plan.

A California homeowners association cannot foreclose on a member’s home over unpaid dues until the delinquent assessments alone reach $1,800, or until the assessments secured by the lien are more than 12 months delinquent. Civil Code section 5720(b) deliberately strips accelerated assessments, late charges, collection fees and costs, attorney’s fees and interest out of that $1,800 count, so an association cannot pad a small balance with penalties to reach the foreclosure line. Below the threshold the association may still record a lien, sue in small claims court, or collect any other way short of foreclosure. Disciplinary fines are further out of reach entirely: Civil Code section 5725(b) forbids treating a penalty for breaking the CC&Rs as an assessment that can become a lien enforceable by sale.

Cottage Food Operations

Arizona lets you cook for sale in your own kitchen once you register with the Department of Health Services and hold a current food handler certificate from an accredited program. A.R.S. § 36-136(I)(4)(g) exempts cottage food products made in a private home for commercial purposes from the state food establishment rules, so there is no licence, no inspection and no annual sales cap. What Arizona does impose is a packaging and labeling regime under A.R.S. § 36-932, plus separate delivery rules for anything containing dairy, meat or poultry and for anything that needs temperature control.

Government Code section 51035 forbids any California city, county, or city and county from prohibiting a cottage food operation in a residential dwelling. The local agency must pick one of three routes: classify the operation as a permitted residential use for zoning purposes, grant a nondiscretionary permit, or require a use permit that must be granted if the operation meets reasonable local standards, and those standards may reach only spacing and concentration, traffic control, parking and noise control. What the state does control is scale. Health and Safety Code section 113758 still prints $75,000 for a Class A operation and $150,000 for a Class B, but the same subdivision requires an annual CPI adjustment, and the California Department of Public Health puts the ceiling in force from January 1, 2026 at $88,878 and $177,756.

Stop & Identify Laws

Arizona does have a stop-and-identify statute, but it is a narrow one. A.R.S. § 13-2412 compels you to state your true full name only after a peace officer has lawfully detained you on reasonable suspicion of a crime and has first advised you that refusing to answer is unlawful. The same subsection says you cannot be compelled to answer any other question, and it asks for a spoken name rather than a document. Refusing is a class 2 misdemeanor, punishable by up to four months in jail and a fine of up to $750.

California has no general stop-and-identify statute. The old Penal Code § 647(e), which required a person lawfully detained to give "credible and reliable" identification, was held unconstitutionally vague in Kolender v. Lawson (1983), and subdivision (e) today punishes unlawful lodging instead. Two genuine identification duties survive: Vehicle Code § 12951 requires a driver to carry a valid license and present it on a peace officer’s demand, and Penal Code § 853.5 lets an officer who arrests you for an infraction require your license or other satisfactory evidence of identity, with custody as the consequence if you have none and refuse the statutory alternative.

Vehicle Search & Consent

Arizona is one of the few states whose legalisation act says in terms that lawful adult conduct "may not constitute the basis for detention, search or arrest." A.R.S. § 36-2852(A), enacted by Proposition 207 in November 2020, does exactly that, and subsection C adds that the odor of marijuana or burnt marijuana "does not by itself constitute reasonable articulable suspicion of a crime." The odor rule has one written exception: it does not apply while an officer is investigating impaired driving under A.R.S. § 28-1381. Conduct outside the protected amounts, including consuming in a moving vehicle, is not covered and can still supply cause for a search.

California has no statute that requires you to consent to a search of your car, and none that requires an officer to warn you that you may refuse. What the Legislature and the voters have done instead is strip away specific justifications and add procedural duties. Health and Safety Code § 11362.1(c), enacted by Proposition 64, provides that cannabis involved in conduct the section makes lawful is not contraband, is not subject to seizure, and that no conduct deemed lawful by the section shall constitute the basis for detention, search, or arrest. Penal Code § 1546.1 separately requires a warrant or your specific consent as the authorized possessor before a government entity reads anything on your phone, and since January 1, 2024 Vehicle Code § 2806.5 has required the officer to state the reason for the stop before any investigative questioning begins.

Native Plants

The Arizona Native Plant Law protects designated cacti, trees, and other species from destruction or removal without state permits, applying universally on private and public land regardless of municipal rules.

AB-1572 prohibits using potable water to irrigate non-functional turf at commercial, institutional, and HOA-common areas, accelerating native and low-water landscape conversions statewide.

Water Restrictions

Arizona regulates groundwater use through Active Management Areas (AMAs) under the 1980 Groundwater Management Act, applying mandatory conservation requirements to municipal water providers in five designated regions, including Phoenix and Tucson.

California's State Water Resources Control Board issues statewide drought emergency regulations and waste prohibitions that apply to every household, overriding more lenient local rules.

Golf Carts & Low-Speed Vehicles

Arizona runs two separate low-speed classes and gives neither one a local street-designation scheme. A neighborhood electric vehicle, the state's version of a federal low-speed vehicle, may not exceed 25 mph, may not be driven on a road posted above 35 mph except to cross at an intersection, and must carry a permanent notice of those restrictions in clear view of the driver under A.R.S. § 28-966. A golf cart is defined separately in A.R.S. § 28-101(37) and escapes registration only when it is used in the operation of a golf course or moved on a highway "only incidentally", so a cart used as everyday neighborhood transport has to be registered, equipped and driven by a licensed driver like any other motor vehicle. One narrow shoulder privilege exists, and it reaches only age restricted communities in unincorporated Maricopa County.

A low-speed vehicle in California may not be driven on any roadway with a speed limit above 35 miles per hour. Vehicle Code section 21260 permits it to cross a faster road only where the crossing begins and ends on a road posted 35 miles per hour or less and meets it at approximately 90 degrees, and never at an uncontrolled intersection with a state highway unless the agency with primary traffic enforcement responsibility has approved that crossing. A golf cart is a separate and smaller class under section 345, and it reaches public streets only through a local combined-use ordinance under section 21115 or a crossing-zone ordinance under section 21115.1. The broader neighborhood electric vehicle plans that lift the 35 mile per hour ceiling exist in only three parts of California.

Towing & Impound Rights

Arizona sets no statewide cap on what a private towing company can charge to remove a vehicle from private property: A.R.S. § 9-499.05(A) only lets an incorporated city or town regulate that maximum rate, so any dollar figure comes from local ordinance, not state law. What is uniform statewide is the sign, consent and permission rule a tow must follow, plus a separate one-hour duty to notify police under § 28-4836.

California doesn't ban private-property towing, but Vehicle Code Section 22658 controls how it happens. A posted sign at least 17 by 22 inches must warn drivers before a tow company can remove a car under an owner's general authorization. If you return before the vehicle leaves the lot, the drop fee is capped at half the regular tow charge, and refusing an unconditional release is a separate crime.

Eviction Notice & Process

Under A.R.S. § 33-1368, Arizona landlords must give a 5-day written notice for nonpayment of rent and a 10-day notice to cure for other material lease violations before filing. Material and irreparable breaches allow immediate termination. Evictions proceed as special detainer actions under A.R.S. § 33-1377, with trial set 3–6 days out.

California evictions run through the unlawful detainer process. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 1161, nonpayment requires a 3-day notice to pay rent or quit (excluding weekends and holidays), and lease violations require a 3-day notice to cure or quit. No-fault terminations of covered tenancies require 30, 60, or 90 days. Self-help lockouts are illegal.

Just Cause Eviction

The Arizona Residential Landlord-Tenant Act preempts the field of residential eviction grounds and procedures, preventing cities from imposing just-cause eviction requirements beyond the state-defined notice and breach standards.

Civil Code 1946.2 requires landlords statewide to have just cause to terminate tenancies of qualifying tenants who have lived in a covered unit at least 12 months.

Landlord Entry & Notice

Under A.R.S. § 33-1343, an Arizona landlord must give at least two days' notice of intent to enter and may enter only at reasonable times for legitimate purposes such as inspections, repairs, or showings. No notice is required in a genuine emergency, and access may not be abused to harass the tenant.

California Civil Code § 1954 limits when a landlord may enter a rented home. Except in emergencies, abandonment, or with tenant consent, the landlord must give reasonable written notice (24 hours is presumed reasonable) and may enter only during normal business hours, for specific permitted reasons such as repairs, inspections, or showings.

Lease Termination & Notice to Vacate

A.R.S. § 33-1375 requires 30 days' written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy (10 days week-to-week). Breaking a fixed-term lease early can incur damages, though landlords must mitigate. A.R.S. § 33-1318 lets domestic-violence and sexual-assault victims terminate early; military servicemembers terminate under the federal SCRA.

To end a California month-to-month tenancy, a tenant gives 30 days' written notice. A landlord gives 30 days if the tenant has lived there under a year, or 60 days if a year or more, under Civ. Code § 1946.1. AB 1482 requires just cause after 12 months; military and DV tenants may exit early.

Rent Control

Arizona prohibits local rent control. State law makes rent regulation on private residential property a matter of statewide concern and preempts the field, so cities, charter cities, towns, and counties cannot cap or freeze rents on private housing. There is no statewide rent cap, leaving private rents to the market.

California limits annual rent increases statewide to 5% plus the local change in the cost of living, capped at 10%, under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (AB-1482). It also lets cities and counties enact their own stricter rent-control ordinances, subject to the limits of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

Rent Increase Notice

Arizona has no statutory cap on how much a landlord may raise rent and no dedicated rent-increase notice statute. For a month-to-month tenancy, a rent change is implemented by serving the 30-day termination/change notice tied to the periodic rental date under A.R.S. § 33-1375. Fixed-term leases cannot be raised mid-term.

California requires written notice before raising a month-to-month tenant's rent. Under Civ. Code § 827, increases of 10% or less in 12 months need 30 days' notice; increases above 10% need 90 days' notice. AB 1482 separately caps yearly increases on covered units.

Repairs & Habitability

A.R.S. § 33-1324 requires Arizona landlords to keep rentals fit and habitable: meeting building codes, maintaining electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems, and supplying running water and heat. If a landlord fails to act, A.R.S. § 33-1361 lets tenants terminate after a 5-day or 10-day notice, and § 33-1363 allows repair-and-deduct.

California landlords must keep rentals fit to live in. Civil Code §§ 1941 and 1941.1, reinforced by Green v. Superior Court, imply a warranty of habitability covering plumbing, heat, water, electricity, and sanitation. If repairs fail after notice, a tenant may repair and deduct up to one month's rent under § 1942 or withhold rent.

Security Deposit Rules

Arizona caps security deposits at one and one-half month's rent. After the tenancy ends and the tenant requests it, a landlord has 14 days (excluding weekends and legal holidays) to return the deposit with an itemized list of deductions. Wrongful retention exposes the landlord to damages of twice the amount withheld.

As of July 1, 2024, California landlords may collect no more than one month's rent as a security deposit, regardless of whether the unit is furnished. The deposit, minus any lawful deductions, must be returned with an itemized statement within 21 days after move-out, or the landlord risks penalties of up to twice the deposit.

Insurance Requirements

A.R.S. 9-500.39 requires Arizona short-term rental operators to maintain at least $500,000 in liability insurance or rent through a marketplace providing equivalent coverage.

California requires hosting platforms to warn hosts to check their lease and insurance before listing (Business and Professions Code 22592), and AB 537 requires short-term lodging prices to be advertised with all mandatory fees included.

Plastic Bag Rules

Arizona prohibits cities, towns, and counties from regulating or banning auxiliary containers like plastic bags, cups, and bottles under ARS 9-500.38.

California prohibits grocery stores and large retailers from providing single-use plastic carryout bags under Public Resources Code 42280-42288, enacted by SB 270 (2014) and ratified as Proposition 67 in 2016. Recycled paper or reusable bags require a 10-cent minimum charge.

Polystyrene Foam Rules

Arizona preempts local bans and fees on polystyrene foam food containers as auxiliary containers under ARS 9-500.38 and ARS 11-269.16.

California restricts expanded polystyrene food containers statewide through SB 54 (2022) packaging requirements under Public Resources Code 42040-42081. The law mandates that polystyrene foodware achieve 25 percent recycling by 2025 or face statewide sales prohibition.

HOA Restrictions

Arizona law bars homeowners associations from banning solar energy devices outright. A.R.S. § 33-1816 lets an association adopt only reasonable placement rules, and only if those rules do not block installation, impair function, restrict use, or raise the device's cost or reduce its efficiency. Courts must award attorney fees and costs to whichever side wins a lawsuit over the section.

California Civil Code section 714 makes any HOA covenant, deed restriction, or governing document provision that effectively prohibits or restricts a solar energy system void and unenforceable. Associations may impose only reasonable restrictions that do not significantly raise cost or cut efficiency. An application not denied in writing within 45 days is automatically deemed approved. Violators face damages, a $1,000 civil penalty, and the losing side pays attorney's fees.

Tobacco Age Restrictions

Arizona bans the sale or furnishing of tobacco, vapor, and alternative nicotine products to anyone under 21 under A.R.S. 13-3622. The state raised its own minimum age from 18 to 21 in 2025 to match the federal Tobacco 21 standard.

California prohibits sale of tobacco and vapor products to anyone under 21 statewide under Business and Professions Code 22958, enacted by SBX2-7 in 2016. The Tobacco 21 standard applies uniformly across all California jurisdictions.

Dash Cam & Windshield Mounting

Arizona is one of the few states whose code names dash cam recording and permits it in so many words. A.R.S. section 28-963(A)(3) forbids recording or broadcasting video on a device while driving, then carves out use of the device for the sole purpose of continuously recording or broadcasting video within or outside of the motor vehicle, which is exactly what a dash cam does. For the mount itself, A.R.S. section 28-959.01(A)(12) exempts safety monitoring equipment and driver feedback devices from the windshield obstruction ban when they sit immediately behind, slightly above or slightly below the rearview mirror. A screen that plays video to the driver is a separate question and is prohibited while the vehicle is in motion.

California measures dash cam placement in square inches. Vehicle Code section 26708(b)(13) lets a video event recorder occupy a seven-inch square in the lower corner of the windshield farthest from the driver, a five-inch square in the lower corner nearest the driver and outside an airbag deployment zone, or a five-inch square mounted to the center uppermost portion of the interior of the windshield. Outside those three zones section 26708(a)(1) applies and the camera is an unlawful windshield obstruction. The exemption also carries conditions: a posted notice that a passenger conversation may be recorded, and no more than 30 seconds of storage before and after a triggering event.

Lane Splitting & Filtering

Arizona still prohibits lane splitting as most riders picture it, but A.R.S. § 28-903(F) opens a narrow lane-filtering exception. A two-wheeled motorcycle may move between lanes to pass a vehicle that is stopped ahead of it in the same lane, on a street with at least two lanes running the same way and a speed limit of 45 mph or less, at no more than 15 mph, and only if the move can be made safely. Outside those conditions subsections B and C of the same section still bar passing in an occupied lane and riding between lanes or adjacent rows of vehicles. A violation is a civil traffic violation under A.R.S. § 28-121(B).

Lane splitting is lawful in California. Vehicle Code section 21658.1, added by AB 51 in 2016, defines it as driving a motorcycle with two wheels in contact with the ground between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane, on divided and undivided roads alike, and no section of the Vehicle Code prohibits the maneuver. The statute fixes no maximum speed, no speed differential and no penalty, and it lets the California Highway Patrol publish educational guidelines rather than enforceable rules. A rider who splits lanes recklessly can still be cited under the basic speed law or the unsafe lane change statute.

Plate Covers & Obstruction

Arizona bans any plate cover, spray, electronic device or electrochromatic film that obscures the numbers, characters, year tabs or issuing state name "from any angle", under A.R.S. § 28-2354(D), unless ADOT authorises it. A separate rule in subsection C protects the word Arizona across the top of the plate, and it is the softer of the two: subsection E bars an officer from stopping or citing you for that alone, and subsection F sets the penalty at $30, rising to $100 for a repeat within twelve months. Subsection B adds the mounting rules, including a minimum height of twelve inches from the ground to the bottom of the plate. Arizona issues one plate for most vehicles, and it goes on the rear.

California does not let you put a cover over your license plate. Vehicle Code section 5201(c) allows exactly two things: a full car cover on a lawfully parked vehicle, and a license plate security cover that sits over the top of the registration tabs alone, obscures nothing else, and has no portion resting over the plate number. Subdivision (d) separately bans any casing, shield, frame, border, shade, tint or other device that impairs a law enforcement plate reader, a toll-facility reader or a remote emission sensor. In its current form, amended effective January 1, 2026, the section applies to temporary license plates as well as permanent ones.

Underglow & Auxiliary Lighting

Arizona allows a vehicle four kinds of extra forward lighting and puts a mounting-height band on each: one spot lamp, two fog lamps mounted 12 to 30 inches off the ground, two auxiliary passing lamps mounted 24 to 42 inches, and two auxiliary driving lamps mounted 16 to 42 inches. No more than four front lamps projecting a beam greater than 300 candlepower may be lit at any one time on a highway. Anything visible from directly in front of the vehicle must be amber or white, never red or red and blue, and flashing lights are barred outside a short list that covers emergency vehicles, school buses, snow removal equipment, warning lamps on a disabled or parked vehicle, and turn signals.

California works from a closed list: Vehicle Code section 24003 says no vehicle may carry any lamp or illuminating device not required or permitted by the code, so an accessory light is lawful only if a section names it. Underglow is named. Section 25400 lets any vehicle carry an exterior diffused nonglaring light of not more than 0.05 candela per square inch, in any color except red showing to the front, limited to 720 square inches and kept at least 12 inches clear of required lamps. Auxiliary driving lamps, passing lamps, foglamps and spotlamps are each permitted two at a time with their own mounting heights, and blue warning lights belong to peace officer emergency vehicles alone.

Window Tint Limits

Arizona lets the front side windows carry film with a light transmission of thirty-three percent plus or minus three percent, so a front window measuring down to 30 percent still complies, and it sets no darkness limit at all on the side windows behind the driver or on the rear window. Every tinted pane, front and rear, is capped at a luminous reflectance of thirty-five percent plus or minus three percent, which is what rules out mirrored and heavily metallic film. On the windshield the state allows a tint strip across the topmost portion provided the bottom edge of the material sits at least twenty-nine inches above the undepressed driver's seat and the strip is not red or amber. Arizona has no periodic passenger-vehicle safety inspection, so all of this is checked at the roadside rather than at a testing station.

California never publishes a "legal VLT" for front side windows because it does not permit aftermarket darkening there at all. Vehicle Code section 26708(d) allows only clear, colorless, transparent film with a minimum visible light transmittance of 88 percent beside the front seat, and the glass with that film applied must still meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 205 at 70 percent. The windshield may carry transparent material only above a line 29 inches above the undepressed driver seat, while side windows behind the driver and the rear window sit outside the rule and may be tinted to any darkness.