California Phone & Distracted Driving Laws
Whether handheld phone use and texting are banned for all drivers, additional restrictions on minors, and first-offense fines.
- Handheld phone: banned for all drivers?
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yes
Source: California Driver's Handbook (2025), Section 8: Safe Driving (Cell Phones and Texting), pp. 70-71.
- Texting: banned for all drivers?
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yes
Source: California Driver's Handbook (2025), Section 8: Safe Driving (Cell Phones and Texting), p. 70.
- Hands-free also banned for minors?
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yes
Source: California Driver's Handbook (2025), Section 8: Safe Driving (Minors and Cell Phones), p. 71.
- Phone First Offense Fine
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The statute sets a $20 base fine for a first handheld-phone offense, and $50 for a second. What you actually pay is several times that, because California adds court assessments and penalty fees on top of every base fine. Treat the $20 as the starting figure, not the bill.
Source: California Vehicle Code section 23123(b): "a base fine of twenty dollars ($20) for a first offense and fifty dollars ($50) for each subsequent offense" (version effective January 1, 2008, operative July 1, 2011). Verified Aug 2026
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