SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill inspired by a drama-filled tweetstorm over a stolen rental car.

AB2620 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, shortens the time a rental company must wait before turning on a car’s GPS location feature. Ting proposed the bill in response to a series of tweets in February by Sharky Laguana that quickly went viral.

Laguana, owner of the San Francisco rental van company Bandago, described in 37 tweets how one of his vans had been stolen, but that he had been barred from turning on its GPS until it had been overdue for a week.

“OK,” the saga began, “a little thread about crime in SF and why it’s so incredibly frustrating for the people who live here.”

To report the van stolen, Laguana had to wait until it was five days overdue, and he had to send a certified letter to the address on the rental contract. Allowing that much time to pass significantly reduces the chances of ever getting a car back, Laguana said.

Under AB2620, which Brown signed Tuesday, the wait period for turning on the GPS locator will be three days instead of seven. The five-day period before alerting police remains in place.

Ok a little thread about crime in SF and why it’s so incredibly frustrating for the people who live here.



(Hopefully @LondonBreed will help? I know she cares a lot about this issue, hope she reads this thread) @hknightsf might be interested too. — Sharky Laguana (@Sharkyl) February 9, 2018

“California has the highest number of rental car thefts in the nation, and the problem has become especially rampant in San Francisco,” Ting said. “The current one-week waiting period is far too long, allowing cars to sometimes end up in another country before a rental car company can turn on GPS tracking.”

In Laguana’s case, he happened upon his stolen van and persuaded the people living in it to give it back by falsely telling them he had filed a stolen vehicle report and that their arrest was imminent.

“I was extremely lucky to come across my stolen van by chance a few days after it wasn’t returned, but it’s not feasible to always rely on luck,” Laguana said in a statement provided by Ting’s office. “By being able to activate GPS tracking earlier, companies can at least keep tabs on where their vehicle is until help can be obtained.”

On Tuesday, Laguana issued another tweet: “I have an article I’m planning on ‘How To Turn Your Tweets Into Law.’ ”

The new law takes effect Jan. 1.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez