The safety measure passed 42 to 26 -- that's just one vote more than needed. In 2004, 24-year-old Raechel Houck and her 20-year-old sister, Jacquie, died in an accident involving a rented vehicle that had been recalled a month earlier.
The bill by Assm. Bill Monning, D- Monterey, would ban companies from renting or selling recalled vehicles; opponents said the bill goes too far.
"If this bill related to life-threatening defects, recalls that are life threatening, that would make sense, if it were drafted to exclude windshield wipers, that would make sense," said Assm. Charles Calderon, D-Montabello.
"I find it interesting that one of my colleagues minimized the impact of defective windshield wipers or a defroster. Do you want you or your family on a two-lane highway on a rainy night with somebody unfamiliar with their new rental vehicle coming at you and veeting over that center line and taking out your whole family, I think not," said Monning.
The measure now goes onto the state Senate.
