2021 State Legislation Summary
City of Riverside Housing and Homelessness Committee
No. AB/SB Bill No. Topic General Overview Effective Date 1 SB 808 Enforcement Expedites judicial review of housing development project denials. January 1, 2026 2 SB 786 Enforcement Reforms housing element law litigation. January 1, 2026 3 AB 87 Density Bonus Makes state density bonus law benefits inapplicable to hotel portions of mixed-use projects. January 1, 2026 4 SB 92 Density Bonus Imposes state density bonus law limits on commercial floor area increases for commercial portions of mixed-use projects. January 1, 2026
5 AB 1021 Streamlining Expands streamlining for educational agency projects. January 1, 2026 6 AB 457 Streamlining Expands streamlining for farmworker housing. January 1, 2026 7 SB 838 Streamlining Makes Housing Accountability Act (HAA) protections inapplicable to hotel portions of mixed-use projects. January 1, 2026 8 AB 893 Streamlining Extends AB 2011 (of 2022) to student campus development zones. January 1, 2026 9 AB 357 Streamlining Creates California Coastal Commission streamlining for student housing. January 1, 2026 10 SB 340 Housing Element Imposes additional processing protections for onsite emergency shelter services. January 1, 2026 11 SB 507 Housing Element Creates Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) credit for Tribal housing development. January 1, 2026 12 AB 480 Affordable Housing Amends the process for selling low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). January 1, 2026
LOW IMPACT
2 2021 State Legislation Summary
City of Riverside Housing and Homelessness Committee
No. AB/SB Bill No. Topic General Overview Effective Date
LOW IMPACT
13 AB 462 ADUs, Duplexes, and
Lot Splits Streamlines coastal development permit approvals for ADUs located in the coastal zone. October 10, 2025 14 AB 226 Wildfire and Disaster
Recovery Makes new liquidity available for California FAIR Plan Association. January 1, 2026 15 SB 79 Density Bonus
Overrides local zoning limitations to allow greater heights and densities for residential development near transit stops. The bill implements a tiered system with greater benefits for projects that are close to heavy rail transit or commuter rail with 72 or more trains per day, and lesser benefits for projects close to light rail, commuter rail with 48 to 71 trains per day or bus rapid transit (BRT) lines. Currently, this bill is not applicable to the City, as there are not enough rail stations in Riverside County to qualify. However, this bill could become high-impact in the future if subsequent legislation extends its applicability to counties with fewer than 15 rail stations.
January 1, 2026
3 2021 State Legislation Summary
City of Riverside Housing and Homelessness Committee
No. AB/SB Bill No. Topic General Overview Effective Date
LOW IMPACT
1 AB 712 Enforcement Enhances fines and penalties against local governments for violating housing reform laws. January 1, 2026 2 AB 920 Permitting
Requires cities or counties with a population of 150,000 or more persons to make a centralized online application portal available on its internet website to applicants for housing development projects for housing projects by January 1, 2030.
January 1, 2026
3 SB 489 Permitting Requires agencies and local agency formation commissions (LAFCOs) to publish lists of information required of housing projects online. January 1, 2026
4 AB 1007 Permitting Shortens responsible agency shot-clock for housing approvals. January 1, 2026 5 AB 253 Permitting Establishes a post-entitlement permit approval shot-clock and authorizes applicants to retain private plan checkers for small residential projects. January 1, 2026 6 AB 301
Permitting Imposes shot-clock for state agency post-entitlement permits. January 1, 2026
MODERATE IMPACT
4 2021 State Legislation Summary
City of Riverside Housing and Homelessness Committee
No. AB/SB Bill No. Topic General Overview Effective Date LOW IMPACT7 AB 1308 Permitting Imposes residential permit inspection timelines. January 1, 2026 8 AB 507 Streamlining Expands streamlining for adaptive reuse projects. January 1, 2026 9 AB 610 Housing Element Enhances requirements for housing element constraints analysis. January 1, 2026 10 AB 1275 Housing Element Improves alignment between RHNA and regional transportation plan/sustainable communities strategy (RTP/SCS) planning. January 1, 2026
11 SB 262 Housing Element Expands "prohousing" designation for "policies that keep people housed." January 1, 2026 12 AB 670 Housing Element Enhances reporting requirements for demolished units. January 1, 2026 13 AB 1050 Constraints and
Costs
Expands the ability of developers to eliminate restrictive covenants that prohibit converting commercial property to residential use. January 1, 2026
14 SB 358 Constraints and
Costs
Expands limits on vehicular traffic impact fees for housing projects that limit parking and are near transit and amenities. January 1, 2026
15 AB 1529 Affordable Housing Redefines "affordable rent" in affordable housing programs. January 1, 2026 16 AB 818 Wildfire and Disaster
Recovery Requires 10-day approvals for temporary structures. January 1, 2026 17 SB 625 Wildfire and Disaster
Recovery Streamlined redevelopment of structures destroyed in a disaster. January 1, 2026 5 2021 State Legislation Summary
City of Riverside Housing and Homelessness Committee
No. AB/SB Bill No. Topic General Overview Effective Date
LOW IMPACT
1 SB 9 ADUs, Duplexes, and
Lot Splits Requires local local laws to be consistent with state laws for ADU construction. January 1, 2026 2 SB 543 ADUs, Duplexes, and
Lot Splits
Establishes a penalty for failing to provide a copy of the local ADU ordinance to HCD within 60 days. Specifies that allowable square footage of an ADU or JADU refers to "interior living space." Removes development impact fees for ADUs smaller than 750 square feet and JADUs smaller than 500 sqare feet. Clarifies combinations of ADUs, JADUs, and lot splits. Establishes a 15-day shot clock for ADU applications. Removes ability of local jurisdictions to impose several development standards on all ADUs, including minimum square footage requirements, maximum square footage requirements that are less than 800 square feet or 1,000 square feet for ADUs that provide more than one bedroom, maximum lot coverage, minimum lot size, setbacks greater than 4 feet, and minimum parking requirements. SB 543 also provides additional height limit provisions based on certain lot characteristics.
January 1, 2026
3 AB 1154 ADUs, Duplexes, and
Lot Splits Limits the applicability of owner-occupancy conditions on JADUs. January 1, 2026 4 AB 1061 ADUs, Duplexes, and
Lot Splits
Streamlines lot splits and duplexes in historic districts, as long as development does not alter or demolish an existing historic struc January 1, 2026
5 AB 130
CEQA Exempts qualifying “infill” housing projects from CEQA, with no wage standard requirements for projects up to 85 feet in height. Imposes a new 30-day deadline for agencies to act to approve or disapprove qualifying projects July 1, 2025
HIGH IMPACT
6 2021 State Legislation Summary
City of Riverside Housing and Homelessness Committee
No. AB/SB Bill No. Topic General Overview Effective Date
LOW IMPACT
6 SB 158 CEQA Clarifies AB 130's 30-day shot-clock. July 1, 2025 7 SB 131 CEQA
Constrains CEQA review for housing projects that narrowly fail to qualify for a CEQA exemption. CEQA review for such projects is now limited to the environmental effects caused by the condition that precluded applicability of the CEQA exemption
July 1, 2025
7