City Council and Authorities Concurrent
January 27, 2026

EXECUTIVE BRANCH ACTIVITY

Throughout December, Governor Newsom advanced a series of initiatives focused on accountability, public safety, and targeted community investment across the state.

Early in the month, the Governor announced the launch of a new statewide online portal allowing
Californians to report suspected misconduct by federal agents operating within the state. The portal enables members of the public to submit photos, videos, or written accounts of incidents they believe may violate constitutional or statutory protections. Submissions will be reviewed by the California Department of Justice, which may use the information to inform investigations or potential legal action. State officials emphasized that federal agencies retain the authority to enforce federal law, but must do so within constitutional boundaries. They clarified that the portal is intended as a transparency and information-gathering tool, rather than a replacement for emergency services or formal law enforcement reporting.

Later in December, Governor Newsom announced
a package of actions aimed at strengthening
communities through investments in housing, public health, and youth services. The Administration will distribute more than $52 million in federal funding to support local infrastructure improvements and homelessness-related services statewide. These investments are expected to benefit more than 160,000 residents through projects such as homelessness prevention programs, emergency shelter, rapid rehousing efforts, and facility upgrades.

The Governor also highlighted progress under the state’s CalRx initiative to expand access to
naloxone, reporting that state -supported distribution efforts have contributed to the reversal of nearly 400,000 opioid overdoses. Beginning January 1, 2026, CalRx -branded naloxone nasal spray is available over the counter without a prescription for $19 per dose, while free naloxone distribution to eligible organizations will continue through existing state programs.

In addition, Governor Newsom announced nearly $47 million in grants to support youth substance use prevention initiatives. The funding will be directed to community -based and tribal organizations providing mentorship, leadership development, and prevention services, with a particular emphasis on supporting young men and boys facing elevated risk factors.

Attorneys General Coalition Challenges Federal Policy Affecting H-1B Visa Applications

On December 12, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California, along with a
coalition of 19 attorneys general, filed a lawsuit challenging a new $100,000 fee imposed by the Trump Administration on certain H-1B visa petitions. The lawsuit seeks to block implementation of the fee, which would apply to new applications under the H -1B visa program commonly used by employers to hire workers in specialized occupations.

According to the complaint, the federal government lacks statutory authority to impose a fee of this magnitude and adopted the policy without following required administrative procedures. The lawsuit argues that the increase far exceeds existing visa-related fees and could create significant financial burdens for employers that rely on the H -1B program, including public agencies and nonprofit organizations.

The coalition is asking the court to halt enforcement of the fee, asserting that it violates federal administrative law and exceeds executive authority. The attorneys general contend that, if allowed to take effect, the policy could have far-reaching consequences for workforce recruitment across key sectors.

PRIORITY LEGISLATION

Legislative Calendar

Below are the upcoming relevant dates for the Legislature:

January 5
th – Legislature reconvenes session
January 10th – Deadline for Governor to release his January Budget proposal January 16th – Deadline for policy committees to consider two-year bills in their House of Origin January 23rd – Deadline for fiscal committees to consider two-year bills in their House of Origin January 31st – Deadline for two-year bills to be passed out of their House of Origin

Priority Bills

The Legislature is scheduled to reconvene session on January 5 th. At that time, legislators will be
able to introduce new bills for consideration in 2026. Additionally, the Legislature will utilize the month of January to consider two-year bills that remain in their House of Origin. These measures, which were introduced in 2025, but did not advance beyond the House they were introduced in, will need to be approved by policy committees, fiscal committees, and the Senate or Assembly Floor prior to the end of January. Any two- year bill that remains in its House of Origin after the January 31
st deadline will be considered dead and no longer eligible for consideration.

For bills that are newly introduced in 2026, measures will need to be in print for 30 days before they are eligible to be considered in a policy committee. The bulk of new bills will be considered by policy committees during the month of April.

FEDERAL UPDATES

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH ACTIVITY

Federal Government Shutdown Ended on November 12

The federal government shutdown officially ended on November 12th when a number of moderate Senate Democrats agreed to vote with Republicans to pass a modified version of the House - passed clean continuing resolution, HR 5371, with an end date of January 30, 2026 . The House then passed the measure, returning to Washington DC after being out of session since September 19, followed by the President signing the resolution that evening.

In exchange, Democrats were assured a December floor vote in the Senate to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance premium subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, the reversal of layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown, and a temporary prohibition on further layoffs until January 30, 2026 . There is no guarantee the vote to extend the subsidy passes, and House Speaker Mike Johnson refused
to guarantee a floor vote in the regardless of
Senate action. Attached to the shutdown ending continuing resolution were three of the twelve regular, full-year appropriations bills intended to jumpstart a return to the normal process of funding the government.

The three full-year appropriations bills are generally the bipartisan versions previously passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Included are the Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch bills, which would fully fund the Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/CalFresh), another program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF/CalWORKS).

Also included are a number of  extensions of authorities for Farm Bill programs not previously included in HR 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and authorities for certain telehealth, prescription, and health center programs that expired at the end of Fiscal Year 2025 on September 30th.

Congress Sees Minimal Progress on FY26 Funding Bills, Efforts Ongoing in Both Chambers

Efforts were ongoing in December to finalize the appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2026 as HR 5371 the continuing resolution (CR), which reopened the federal government is set to expire on January 30, 2026. The House and the Senate remain stalled on advancing a minibus package combining between three and five of the nine remaining full-year appropriations bills left to pass.

The House is working towards a smaller set of three to four bills, while the Senate is seeking to advance five bills covering Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, Commerce- Justice-Science, and Interior programs. The Senate’s proposal would contain the vast majority of discretionary spending alongside Community Projects Funding and Congressionally-Directed Spending requests, also known as earmarks. Some Senators are keeping the Senate from advancing their minibus over the size of the packages, objections to the inclusion of earmarks, and previous legislative promises given during the first shutdown by Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

In parallel, Democrats have not yet been included in negotiating the bills, which require 60 votes in the Senate and therefore must be bipartisan. Aside from the policy language usually attached to the legislation, leadership has not yet finalized topline funding numbers for each bill and some of the larger funding accounts, which would allow committee staff to begin compiling floor-ready legislation. It generally takes six weeks for staff to draft and vet floor-ready bills once topline numbers have been agreed to. In theory, a tighter timeline is attainable if appropriators are able to finalize more detailed negotiations, but the shortened timeframe increases the risk of a second, albeit partial, government shutdown.

House Passes Permitting Reform Efforts, Work Expected to Continue Into 2026

During the two weeks of session in December, the House worked through a number of permitting reform bills intended to streamline and reform the National Environmental Review Act (NEPA) environmental review process for certain infrastructure projects and bring federal law into compliance with a Supreme Court decision regarding the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS).

On December 9, the House passed HR 4503, the ePermit Act, on a bipartisan vote. The bill would digitize and streamline National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews for certain federally subsidized projects. The measure would require the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to develop and implement software that would centralize data relevant to a project, allowing multiple agencies and offices to access it and avoid redundant work.

On December 11, the House passed HR 3898, the PERMIT Act, which would limit the scope of the Clean Water Act by creating exclusions for certain projects and waterways that could be considered “navigable” and making other changes to the definition of Waters of the United States

(WOTUS). The Environmental Protection Agency recently released a proposed rule making additional modifications to WOTUS definitions.

On December 12, the House passed HR 3668, the Improving Interagency Coordination for Pipeline Reviews Act, which would centralize environmental review authority for interstate natural gas pipeline projects with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The week of December 15, the House passed HR 4776, the SPEED Act, a bipartisan NEPA reform package that would notably create effective equivalency for CEQA and NEPA reviews and limit the types of projects subject to a full NEPA review, and HR 3632, the Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025, would allow FERC to delay power plant retirements and has the potential to bias generation towards older, and potentially less efficient, fossil fuel power sources.

HR 3616, the Reliable Power Act, would create a new process for determining and prioritizing grid stability when the federal government, via the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and FERC, assesses the grid impacts of new regulations imposed by other federal agencies or states. Under the bill, FERC would be required to review the proposals and provide recommendations on how to prevent a negative impact on bulk-power systems. The agencies wouldn’t be allowed to finalize the proposals without FERC approval.

The Senate is anticipated to consider the bills in the Spring as the House continues to work on regulatory reforms to make federally funded construction easier.

Housing for the 21st Century Act Introduced, Promises Housing Policy Reforms

On December 11, HR 6644, the Housing for the 21st Century Act, was introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill and Ranking Member Maxine Waters. The Committee also provided an analysis of the legislation.

The introduction of the bill follows the Chairman’s successful effort to remove S 2651, the ROAD to Housing Act, from the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which became law in mid- December. The Housing for the 21st Century Act has significant overlap with housing policy changes, though it is significantly less proscriptive than the Road to Housing Act.

The bill would require the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to produce zoning recommendations, reclassify housing projects exempt from NEPA reviews, order the government to create policy definitions for middle-income and workforce housing, update HOME Investment Partnerships, reform Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and make them contingent on reviews of local land use policies, and creates baseline policies for manufactured homes.

The Committee on Financial Services included the Housing for the 21st Century Act in a December 17 markup. The Chairman expressed confidence the bill would be brought for a vote on the floor in Spring 2026.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH ACTIVITY

HUD Temporarily Revoked Updated Continuum of Care Application, Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Further Complicating the Case

On December 8, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) revoked the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Continuum of Care (CoC) program.

The NOFO intentionally rebalanced the portfolio toward transitional housing and Supportive Services Only projects and conditioned a much larger share of funding on enforcement-oriented approaches.

The most consequential change was a 30% cap on the amount of annual renewal demand (ARD) funding available for permanent supportive housing (PSH). Previously, 90% of funding was allocated for PSH, and CoC’s operating PSH programs in that 90% were classified as Tier 1 and considered part of the ARD, providing strong protection to existing projects. The NOFO was challenged by a number of states and HUD intends to release an updated version with “technical corrections.” In their filing, HUD noted the January 14 deadline will likely have to be changed, though it did not guarantee it would be. In their notice, they also stated they do not plan to renew existing projects and will continue to pursue the policy changes in the NOFO. Regardless of action on the new NOFO, rent payments for permanent supportive housing recipients awarded by prior NOFOs will likely lapse beginning in January.

A preliminary injunction issued on December 19 further complicated the issue, effectively preventing HUD from reissuing the same NOFO and requiring that it maintain the status quo in the interim. HUD has not responded formally, or provided details on how they intend to comply, though the Department confirmed to the Judge that they have notified appropriate staff of the decision and that they intend to comply

In California, the updated NOFO was expected to create a $500 million dollar deficit and effectively remove up to 80,000 recipients from the program. HUD CoC generally serves individuals with severe disabilities, mental illness, and chronic health conditions that rely on the CoC funding for housing. HUD CoC is designed to quickly rehouse homeless individuals, families, persons fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and youth while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness.

USDA to Withhold SNAP Administrative Payments Unless California Provides Recipient Data

During an early December Cabinet Meeting, Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins reiterated her previous intention to withhold funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), administered in California as CalFresh, until the State complied with a July
request to provide recipient information to USDA for additional eligibility verification. USDA stated the request is part of an effort to prevent benefits fraud and create an Integrity Team to counter welfare fraud.

Following the July request, a number of states, including California, won a preliminary injunction allowing them to decline the request for information. USDA has argued this request is different than the one subject to the preliminary injunction, as USDA would only be withholding the funding for SNAP’s administrative cost share, therefore not impacting beneficiaries. In FY23, California received $1.2 billion in administrative funding, which covers 50% of the costs incurred by the state and counties to run the program.

President Signs Executive Order on AI and EPA Provides Guidance on Clean Air Act Enforcement for Data Centers

The Administration worked towards a federal regulatory regime for Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the President signing Executive Order (EO) 14365 on December 11, titled Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcing Clean Air Act clarifications for data center developers.

The most consequential provision in the EO is an attempt to preempt state and local regulations impacting AI use, misuse, and infrastructure, with funding conditions and penalties for jurisdictions that do not comply with the EO. The legality of similar funding conditions has been successfully challenged throughout the year, while the Supreme Court is anticipated to better define the limits of Presidential authority over Congressionally-appropriated funding in June.

The EPA announcement covered a new Clean Air Act resource specifically detailing the EPA’s interpretation of the applicability of the Clean Air Act to data centers and developers. In particular, it highlights proposed regulatory changes to New Source Review for new energy projects required to support the grid demand necessary to sustain data centers.

2025 Q4 Legislative Action Summary
Below is a summary of the actions that were taken during 2025 Q4 in alignment with the City of Santa Clara’s 2025 Legislative Advocacy Positions (LAPs), guiding principles for legislative advocacy, approved City policies (e.g., City Council Goals and Priorities), and/or Council action.

Pub
lic Safety LAP
• October 7, 2025 Request for signature letter for SB 258 (Wahab) – Crimes:

R
ape submitted to California Governor Gavin Newsome
• October 7, 2025 Request for signatur e letter for SB 701 (Wahab) – Signal jammers submitted to California Governor Gavin Newsome
City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible

1500 Warburton Avenue ● Santa Clara, CA 95050 ● Phone: 408-615-2200 ● Fax: 408-241-6771 ● SantaClaraCA.gov Lisa M. Gillmor
Mayor

October 7, 2025

The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: SB 258 (Wahab): Crimes: Rape
City of Santa Clara – Request for Signature

Dear Governor Newsom:

On behalf of the City of Santa Clara, I write to respectfully ask for your signature on SB 258 (Wahab), which expands the circumstances under which sexual intercourse with a spouse is rape, to include where a spouse is incapable of giving “legal consent” due to a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability.

Currently, California law defines rape as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished under specific circumstances, including situations where the victim is incapable of giving legal consent due to a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability. However, this definition excludes instances where the perpetrator is the spouse of the victim. SB 258 rectifies this inconsistency by eliminating the spousal exception, thereby ensuring that all individuals, regardless of marital status, are afforded equal protection under the law.

The City of Santa Clara supports legislation that aims to assist vulnerable populations. By removing outdated legal distinctions that differentiate between married and unmarried individuals in cases of sexual assault, SB 258 reinforces the principle that consent must be respected in all relationships, including marriage, and that all victims deserve justice.

For these reasons, the City of Santa Clara respectfully asks for your signature on SB 258 (Wahab).

Sincerely,

Lisa M. Gillmor
Mayor
City of Santa Clara
City of
Santa Clara
The Center of Wh~t's Possible

1500 Warburton Avenue ● Santa Clara, CA 95050 ● Phone: 408-615-2200 ● Fax: 408-241-6771 ● SantaClaraCA.gov Lisa M. Gillmor
Mayor

October 7, 2025

Governor Gavin Newsom
California State Capitol
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: Senate Bill 701 (Wahab): Signal jammers
City of Santa Clara – Request for Signature

Dear Governor Newsom:

I write on behalf of the City of Santa Clara to respectfully request your signature on SB 701 (Wahab), which aims to strengthen California’s response to the illegal use of signal jammers by creating new penalties for their manufacture, importation, marketing, sale, and operation.

Bay Area cities have seen an increasing amount of signal jammers used to disrupt emergency signals or to commit thievery and other crimes. The illegal use of signal jammers poses a significant threat by disrupting public safety communications, hindering emergency response efforts, and enabling criminal activity. These devices have been used to block law enforcement radios, interfere with emergency calls, and prevent victims from contacting first responders. Such actions put the safety of our residents and first responders at risk.

The City of Santa Clara supports legislation that enhances public safety professionals’ ability to respond to all types of emergencies and communicate within and across jurisdictions. SB 701 will enable California to take crucial measures to safeguard critical emergency response systems and prevent the misuse of these hazardous devices. Additionally, SB 701 provides much- needed enforcement tools by establishing clear penalties, including fines and potential imprisonment, for those who unlawfully use signal jammers, particularly when used in conjunction with criminal activities or to obstruct public safety communications.

For these reasons, the City of Santa Clara respectfully request your signature on SB 701 (Wahab).

Sincerely,

Lisa M. Gillmor
Mayor
City of Santa Clara
City of
Santa Clara
The Center of Wh~t's Possible
Legislative
Report
December 2025
Strengthening California Cities Through Advocacy and Education

LEAGUE OF

CALIFORNIA
CITIES
League of California Cities
2025 Legislative Report
Copies of the Legislative Report may be purchased for:

City Officials $15.00
Non-city Officials $25.00
Price includes sales tax and shipping
10% dis count on orders of five or more copies
Please mail payment to: Leag ue of California Cities
Pub lications Department
1400 K Street, Suite 400
Sac ramento, CA 95814
Publications: P hone: (916) 658-8200
Fax : (916) 658-8240
www.c alcities.org
This document will be available on the Cal Cities website in Dec. 2025. www.calcities.org/advocacy
About
the League of California Cities
Established in 1898, the League of California Cities is a member organization that represents California’s incorporated cities. Cal Cities strives to protect the local authority and autonomy of city government and help California’s cities effectively serve their residents.

In addition to advocating on cities’ behalf at the California St ate Capitol and U.S.

Congress, Cal Cities provides its members with professional development programs and information resources, conducts educational conferences and research, and publishes the Cal Cities Advocate weekly newsletter and Western City magazine.

Legislative Report

2025

Please note: Legislation marked with an asterisk (*) has been identified as significant by Cal Cities staff.

Copyright 2025. All rights reserved. This publication is the work product of the League of California Cities and is being provided to city officials in its member cities in electronic form to assist their efforts to track legislation. If information is taken from this document and is used by city officials in member cities for informational and other purposes, Cal Cities requests that the information be attributed to the League of California Cities.

This publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form by any person not employed by a member city without the express permission of the League of California Cities.

Table of Contents i

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Glossary of Terms………………………………………………………………………….…iii
2025 Legislative Year in Review…………………………………………………………….1 I. Budget Bills ............................................................................................................. 5 A. Extraordinary Session .......................................................................................... 5 B. 2025 Budget Act ................................................................................................... 5 C. Budget Bills........................................................................................................... 7 II. Community Services ............................................................................................ 13 A. Aging and Seniors .............................................................................................. 13 B. Animal Services .................................................................................................. 14 C. Arts ..................................................................................................................... 16 D. Behavioral Health and Community Wellness ...................................................... 16 E. Children, Childcare, and Youth Programs .......................................................... 21 F. Homelessness .................................................................................................... 23 G. Parks and Recreation ......................................................................................... 25 H. Tobacco .............................................................................................................. 27 Environmental Quality ................................................................................................ 28 A. Air Quality ........................................................................................................... 28 B. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) ..................................................... 28 C. Climate Change .................................................................................................. 30 D. Coastal ............................................................................................................... 33 E. Energy and Utilities ............................................................................................. 35 F. Solid Waste and Recycling ................................................................................. 38 G. Water .................................................................................................................. 40 III. Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations ............................................. 45 A. Elections and Redistricting ................................................................................. 45 B. Employee Relations ............................................................................................ 49 C. Government Operations ..................................................................................... 51 D. Political Reform Act of 1974 ............................................................................... 53 E. Public Employee Retirement System ................................................................. 55 F. Public Meetings and Public Records .................................................................. 56 G. Workers’ Compensation ..................................................................................... 57 IV. Housing, Community, and Economic Development .......................................... 59 A. Land Use/Planning ............................................................................................. 59 B. Accessory Dwelling Units ................................................................................... 68 C. Mobile Homes ..................................................................................................... 69 D. Housing and Housing Finance............................................................................ 70 E. Development Fees ............................................................................................. 70 F. Housing Regulations .......................................................................................... 71 G. Common Interest Developments ........................................................................ 72 H. Landlord-Tenant ................................................................................................. 72 I. Community and Economic Development ............................................................ 73 J. Regional ............................................................................................................. 75 K. Miscellaneous ..................................................................................................... 76 V. Public Safety ......................................................................................................... 78 Table of Contents ii

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
A. Alcoholic Beverages ........................................................................................... 78 B. Cannabis and Controlled Substances ................................................................ 79 C. Crime and Sentencing ........................................................................................ 80 D. Emergency Services ........................................................................................... 84 E. Firearms ............................................................................................................. 85 F. Fire Insurance ..................................................................................................... 86 G. Fire Service/Wildfire Preparedness .................................................................... 87 H. Law Enforcement ................................................................................................ 89 I. Miscellaneous ..................................................................................................... 91 VI. Revenue and Taxation .......................................................................................... 93 A. Property Tax ....................................................................................................... 93 B. Sales and Use Tax ............................................................................................. 95 C. Miscellaneous ..................................................................................................... 96 VII. Transportation, Communications, and Public Works ....................................... 99 A. Contracting and Public Works ............................................................................ 99 B. Infrastructure ...................................................................................................... 99 C. Transportation .................................................................................................. 100 D. Telecommunications ......................................................................................... 107 E. Utilities and Energy ........................................................................................... 107 Appendix A - Additional Resources
2025 Homelessness Budget Advocacy ................................................................ 109 2025 Recovery Housing ....................................................................................... 112 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Budget Bill ..................................... 115 Cap-and-Invest Program Reauthorization ............................................................ 118 SB 707 (Durazo) Ralph M. Brown Act Update……………………………………….119 AB 130 Housing Budget Bill……………………………………………………………125
SB 79: Housing Development: Transit-Oriented Development…………………….129 2025 Wildfires - Legislative and Administrative Actions…………………………….133 Appendix B - Additional Resources
Legislative Staff .................................................................................................... 138 Regional Public Affairs Managers ........................................................................ .139 10 Tips for Cities Lobbying the California Legislature ........................................... 140 Effective Letter-Writing Techniques ...................................................................... 141 Index of Chaptered Bills ....................................................................................... 143

Glossary of Terms iii

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Glossary of Terms

ABC Alcoholic Beverage Control
ADU Accessory Dwelling Units
AED Automated External Defibrillator
BCDC San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Cal Fire California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CalHFA California Housing Finance Agency
CalPERS California Public Employees Retirements System CalRecycle California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery CalSTRS California State Teachers Retirement System
CalTrans California Department of Transportation
CARB California Air Resources Board
CARE Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment
CCAP College and Career Access Pathways
CCC California Coastal Commission
CDCR California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation CDE California Department of Education
CDFW California Department of Fish and Wildlife
CDI California Department of Insurance
CDSS California Department of Social Services
CEC California Energy Commission
CEQA California Environmental Quality Act
CESA California Endangered Species Act
CHP California Highway Patrol
CNC Computer Numerical Control
CSM Commission on State Mandates
DCC Department of Cannabis Control
DHCS Department of Health Care Services
DMV Department of Motor Vehicles
DOJ Department of Justice
DOT Department of Transportation
DPH Department of Public Health
DPR Department of Pesticide Regulation
DTSC California Department of Toxic Substances Control DWR California Department of Water Resources
EMS Emergency Medical Services
EMSA Emergency Medical Services Authority
FAIR Fair Access to Insurance Requirements
GO-Biz Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development GSA Groundwater Sustainability Agency
HCD Department of Housing and Community Development
HHAP Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention
MAUCRSA Medicinal and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act MCO Managed Care Organization
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
Glossary of Terms iv

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
OPR Office of Planning and Research
PERB Public Employment Relations Board
POST Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training PRA Political Reform Act
PREP Political Reform Education Program
Privacy Agency California Privacy Protection Agency
PTSI Post-Traumatic Stress Injury
PUC Public Utilities Commission
SDWA California Safe Drinking Water Act
SOS Secretary of State
SUD Substance Use Disorder
SWRCB State Water Resources Control Board
VBM Vote by Mail

LEGISLATIVE YEAR IN REVIEW
2025 Legislative Year in Review 1

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
2025 Legislative Year in Review

Two events shaped the 2025 legislative session more than any others: the reelection of President Donald Trump and the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires that killed 31 people and destroyed 11,000 homes. In total, legislators introduced over 2,300 bills, with around 900 reaching the Governor’s desk.

But those issues weren’t the only things on city leaders’ minds this year — and Cal Cities made sure state leaders knew that. Cal Cities ran an ambitious, proactive legislative agenda, sponsoring 15 bills focused on short-term rentals, climate resiliency and adaptation, housing, sober living facilities, wildfire mitigation, the Brown Act, and clean drinking water. Eight reached Newsom's desk, six of which he signed.

Budget crunch impacts housing and homelessness funding

Crafting a balanced state budget was exceptionally challenging in 2025 due in no small part to a $11.8 billion deficit, changes in federal policy, a sluggish economy, and substantial growth in Medi-Cal costs and caseloads.

The final budget zeroed out the state’s biggest homeless prevention grant program for the fiscal year and slashed the Infill Infrastructure Grant program — over the objections
and warnings of Cal Cities and others. State leaders did, however, allocate $100 million in one-time funding to implement the Proposition 36 public safety initiative and revived a few of the state’s most successful affordable housing programs.

While technically balanced, lawmakers and the Governor relied on borrowing, delays, deferrals, shifts, reserve spending, and reductions to close the gap — kicking the can down the road to next year, where a $15-$20 billion deficit looms large.

Well-funded opposition campaign couldn’t stop common-sense reform

With cities struggling with fiscal uncertainty and a lack of housing, SB 346 (Durazo)

quickly became one of Cal Cities’ most important sponsored bills of the year. The measure cracks down on illegal short-term rentals and enables cities to capture the millions of tax dollars left uncollected each year. It passed without a single “no” vote before being signed into law — despite a disinformation campaign led by deep- pocketed corporations.

Prop. 4 funding protected

The state is largely barred from raiding local coffers to fill budget holes, but that doesn’t mean it won’t try. In the early months of budget negotiations, state leaders attempted to claw back funding from last November’s $10 billion climate bond to fill the budget deficit.

Thanks to consistent advocacy
from Cal Cities and a broader coalition, the Governor
and Legislature agreed to not just preserve the funding stream as is, but increase the first tranche of funding to $3.287 billion. Cities can use Prop. 4 monies for a range of 2025 Legislative Year in Review 2

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
initiatives, including safe drinking water, climate and wildfire resilience, extreme heat mitigation, and outdoor access.

Cal Cities ensures city priorities are in Cap-and-Invest deal

The climate crisis is affecting cities’ core functions: infrastructure, public safety, and housing. And Cal Cities made sure that was top of mind for lawmakers, as they negotiated a two-bill deal
that makes sweeping changes to the Cap-and-Trade Program (now Cap-and-Invest). In a win for cities, the new framework includes funding for affordable housing and sustainable community efforts, as well as wildfire resilience.

Explicitly excluded are funds for clean transportation, organic waste infrastructure, and climate adaptation. However, the deal allows the Legislature to allocate $1 billion at its discretion during the annual budget process: Cal Cities will fight for every last dollar.

It's Groundhog Day … again

The legislative session is not complete without dozens of new bills aimed at addressing the extreme underproduction of housing in California. In 2025, lawmakers introduced over 100 housing-related bills
, many seeking to limit local land use authority, cap or reduce development fees, and impose new ministerial approval processes.

SB 79 (Wiener)
may have received the most attention, as it disregards state-certified housing elements and grants land use authority to transit agencies without requiring them to align development standards with local rules. A groundswell of opposition from over 180 cities and other advocacy organizations compelled the author to amend the bill 13 times, narrowing the scope to cities in eight large counties.

Housing element clarity denied

Channeling long-simmering frustrations from city officials about the housing element process, Cal Cities teamed up with Asm. Diane Papan to sponsor AB 650 . This
common-sense measure would have made it easier for cities to plan for housing faster and more effectively. Even though AB 650 sailed through with bipartisan support and zero "no" votes, Newsom vetoed the bill, claiming it “inappropriately shifts responsibility for preparing housing elements from local jurisdictions to HCD.”

Another good year for recovery housing oversight

Newsom signed two recovery housing bills sponsored by Cal Cities: AB 492 (Valencia)

and AB 424 (Davies). AB 424 ensures the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) keeps communities informed on its investigations into complaints of treatment facilities.

AB 492 requires DHCS to inform a city if the department approves a new license in its jurisdiction. This marks the second consecutive year that Asm. Avelino Valencia, Asm.

Laurie Davies, and Cal Cities have sent recovery housing bills to the Governor's desk — the most movement on the issue in over a decade.
2025 Legislative Year in Review 3

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Cal Cities secure changes to flawed homeless measures

Cal Cities pushed back hard on two measures that posed serious threats to cities’ ability to address homelessness. The first, SB 634 (Pérez)
, sought to block cities from
adopting any rule that imposes civil or criminal penalties on homeless residents. After sustained opposition from nearly 100 cities, Sen. Sasha Pérez changed the bill to address Cal Cities’ concerns, which Newsom later signed into law.

Sen. Catherine Blakespear turned SB 16 (Blakespear) into a two-year bill after
receiving similar pushback, shelving it for the year. Cal Cities and over 50 organizations opposed the measure after it was amended to impose sweeping new requirements for the
HHAP program — including an ambitious regional interim housing plan.

Putting a dent in metal theft

Metal theft has become a widespread and costly issue that damages critical infrastructure — everything from manhole covers to electric vehicle charging stations — and endangers public safety. This year, Cal Cities sponsored AB 476 (Gonzalez) , which
enhances reporting requirements for recyclers and junk dealers and increases fines for metal theft. The bill sailed through the Legislature and was signed by the Governor.

Warehouse citing clean-up finally happens

Legislative fights often span multiple legislative sessions, even decades. This year, lawmakers delivered long-promised (and hard-fought) changes to last year’s problematic warehouse law. The clean-up legislation, SB 415 (Reyes) , addresses a
significant number of concerns raised by Cal Cities and others when the original bill emerged at the end of the session last year after months of closed-door negotiations.

Big Brown Act change comes with a big price tag

For years, Cal Cities has pursued much-needed reforms to the Brown Act. In 2025, lawmakers responded — albeit not in the way Cal Cities had hoped — by making the most extensive changes to the Brown Act in years. SB 707 (Durazo) includes several
provisions that give cities more meeting flexibility. But these changes come with sweeping and costly new mandates on cities without adequate resources, flexibility, or time to implement them.

Good wildfire and fire insurance bills were signed, but more work remains

Legislators introduced over 100 measures to address issues identified after the devastating fires in Los Angeles County. Cal Cities worked extensively to get many of these bills across the finish line. Some, like AB 1 (Connolly) and SB 616 (Rubio) , focus
on beefing up the state’s wildfire mitigation standards. Others, such as AB 888 (Calderon) and SB 326 (Becker), direct money to local home hardening and Zone Zero implementation efforts. But passing these bills was the easy part. Implementing them is 2025 Legislative Year in Review 4

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
going to be a significant challenge, as city officials must partner with state and other local agencies to reduce fire risk and make communities more resilient.

New resources and punishments to stop prostitution and human trafficking

The Governor signed a critical piece of legislation pushed by Cal Cities, AB 379
(Schultz), that will make it easier for law enforcement to address prostitution and human trafficking. The measure created new charges — including for people who solicit 16- and 17-year-olds for prostitution — and requires certain businesses to display information about human trafficking. AB 379 also increases fines for businesses that enable prostitution and human trafficking, establishes a fund for victim services, and tasks the Office of Emergency Services with directing funds to district attorney offices to fight human trafficking.

Looking ahead

While cities didn't win every fight in the Legislature, 2025 was a successful year filled with major victories: That’s because cities throughout the state stepped up and spoke up about the issues that mattered most to them. Cities submitted over 1,300 letters to the Legislature. With this strong engagement, Cal Cities is well-positioned to tackle the numerous challenges that lie ahead in 2026.

It is difficult to know for sure what to expect in the new year. However, state leaders are staring down a $15-$20 billion budget deficit, the nation's second-highest unemployment rate, uncertain federal actions, new leadership in the state Senate, and a gubernatorial election. And this year’s raft of new laws certainly did not solve the state’s seemingly perennial issues — the high cost of living, homelessness, a lack of affordable housing, and the impacts of climate change. Newsom’s lame duck status and higher political aspirations will also likely hang over next year’s proceedings.

BUDGET BILLS
Budget Bills 5

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I. Budget Bills

A. Extraordinary Session

ABX1 4
(Gabriel) Budget Act of 2024.

Chapter 1, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the 2024 Budget Act to appropriate up to $1.5 billion for use in accordance with allowable uses of the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account in areas of the state affected by wildfire states of emergency that were declared by the Governor in Jan. 2025.

SBX1 1
(Wiener) Budget Act of 2024.

Chapter 3, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the 2024 Budget Act to increase the funding of the Department of Justice by up to $25 million for the fiscal year 2024-25 for costs related to defending the state against enforcement and legal actions taken by the federal government.

SBX1 2 (Wiener) Budget Act of 2024.

Chapter 4, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the 2024 Budget Act to provide $25 million of additional General Fund revenues for immigration and legal aid services.

SBX1 3 (Wiener) Budget Act of 2024.

Chapter 2, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the 2024 Budget Act to authorize emergency expenditure authority related to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. More specifically, this measure appropriates up to $1 billion for use in accordance with allowable uses of the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account, $4 million for local government grants to provide additional planning review and building inspection resources for expediting approvals of homeowner rebuilding, and $1 million to assist school districts and charter schools.

B. 2025 Budget Act

AB 100
(Gabriel) Budget Acts of 2023 and 2024.

Chapter 2, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the Budget Act of 2023 and the Budget Act of 2024.

Major provisions include the following: $11.1 billion for the Department of Health Care Services to keep the Medi-Cal program solvent; authorizes the Department of Finance to utilize previously appropriated funds to backfill local governments for property tax losses as a result of the Eaton and Palisades fires; and funding for wildfire prevention and resilience totaling $181 million to the following entities, consistent with Proposition 4: The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Budget Bills 6

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Bond Act of 2024:
• Santa Monica Conservancy, $31,349,000
• San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, $30,904,000
• Sierra Nevada Conservancy, $30,904,000
• State Coastal Conservancy, $30,904,000
• San Diego River Conservancy, $23,524,000
• Tahoe Conservancy, $23,524,000
• Cal Fire (for a fire resiliency center for the Karuk Tribe), $10,000,000

AB 102
(Gabriel) Budget Act of 2025.

Chapter 5, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the Budget Act of 2025 and makes numerous changes to programs related to K-12 education; higher education; natural resources; energy, utilities, and air quality; health; human services; general government; housing and homelessness; transportation; labor and workforce development; and public safety.

AB 104
(Gabriel) Budget Act of 2025.

Chapter 77, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the Budget Act of 2025 by making technical and substantive changes to SB 101 and AB 102.

SB 101
(Wiener) Budget Act of 2025.

Chapter 4, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the Budget Act of 2025. It reflects a budget package that allows $231.9 billion of General Fund expenditures and assumes $251.9 billion in total General Fund resources. This measure, which is the legislative budget agreement, proposes $3.8 billion in programmatic reductions, $7.8 billion in borrowing/revenue, $1 billion in other solutions, and total reserves of $13.2 billion.

SB 103 (Wiener) Budget Acts of 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Chapter 6, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the Budget Act of 2022, the Budget Act of 2023, and the Budget Act of 2024 in order to implement the Budget Act of 2025. It represents the agreement between the Legislature and the Newsom administration.

SB 105 (Wiener) Budget Acts of 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Chapter 104, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the Budget Acts of 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Primary appropriations include funding totaling $3.316 billion consistent with Proposition 4: The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024:
• Water Resilience Chapter, $1,179,785,000
• Wildfire and Forest Health Resilience Chapter, $389,541,000 • Coastal Resilience Chapter, $264,050,000
• Extreme Heat Mitigation Chapter, $70,959,000
Budget Bills 7

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• Biodiversity and Nature-Based Climate Solutions Chapter, $419,464,000 • Climate Smart-Agriculture Chapter, $191,118,000
• Park Creation and Outdoor Access Chapter, $527,063,000 • Clean Air Chapter, $274,860,000

C. Budget Bills

AB 116
(Cmte. on Budget) Health Omnibus Trailer Bill.

Chapter 21, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Health Omnibus Trailer Bill, which makes technical and clarifying statutory revisions affecting health programs necessary to implement the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 118 (Cmte. on Budget) Human Services.

Chapter 7, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Human Services trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact human services–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 121 (Cmte. on Budget) Education Finance: Education Omnibus Budget Trailer Bill.

Chapter 8, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Education Finance Omnibus Budget Trailer Bill, which makes statutory changes necessary to enact the TK-12 provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 123 (Cmte. on Budget) Higher Education Budget Trailer Bill.

Chapter 9, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Higher Education trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact higher education related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 130 (Cmte. on Budget) Housing.

Chapter 22, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document.

AB 134 (Cmte. on Budget) Public Safety.

Chapter 10, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Public Safety trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact public safety–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 136 (Cmte. on Budget) Courts.

Chapter 11, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Courts trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact courts-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

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AB 137 (Cmte. on Budget) State Government.

Chapter 20, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 State Government trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact general government–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 138 (Cmte. on Budget) State Employment: State Bargaining Units.

Chapter 78, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is a budget trailer bill that makes necessary statutory changes to ratify and codify memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between the state and bargaining units (BU) 2, 13, 16, and 19 and addenda to MOUs between the state and BUs 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21.

AB 143 (Cmte. on Budget) Developmental Services.

Chapter 12, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Developmental Services trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact developmental services–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 144 (Cmte. on Budget) Health.

Chapter 105, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Health trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact health-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

AB 149 (Cmte. on Budget) Public Resources Trailer Bill.

Chapter 106, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Public Resources Trailer Bill, which makes changes necessary to enact public resources–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025. Major provisions of the measure include the following: authorizes state agencies to adopt emergency regulations for the purpose of developing and adopting program guidelines and selection criteria for programs under Proposition 4; exempts all temporary development undertaken for the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games from the requirements under the California Coastal Act to obtain a coastal development permit; and exempts from the California Environmental Quality Act activities or approvals necessary to the bidding for, hosting or staging of, and funding and carrying out of the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and exempts the construction of temporary facilities for the games.

AB 154
(Cmte. on Budget) Greenhouse Gases: Climate Corporate Accountability:

Climate-related Financial Risk: Regulations: California Environmental Quality Act Exemption.

Chapter 609, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure exempts the regulations required to be adopted under the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act from the California Environmental Quality Act.

Budget Bills 9

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SB 119 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Public Social Services Trailer Bill.

Chapter 79, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Public Social Services Trailer Bill, which makes changes necessary to enact public social services–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 120 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Early Childhood Education and Childcare.

Chapter 13, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Early Childhood Education and Childcare trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact childcare and preschool-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 124 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Public Resources Trailer Bill.

Chapter 14, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Public Resources trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact public resources-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 127 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Climate Change.

Chapter 15, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Climate Change trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact energy and the California Air Resources Board provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 128 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Transportation.

Chapter 16, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Transportation trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact transportation-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 129 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Labor.

Chapter 23, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Labor trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact labor-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 131 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Public Resources.

Chapter 24, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document.

SB 132 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Taxation.

Chapter 17, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Taxation trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact revenue-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025, including mandatory Single Sales Factor Apportionment for financial institutions.

Budget Bills 10

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
SB 139 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) State Bargaining Unit 9 and State Bargaining Unit 12.

Chapter 25, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure makes necessary changes to ratify and implement a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the state and bargaining unit (BU) 9 and an addendum to a MOU between the state and BU 12.

SB 140 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) State Bargaining Unit 6.

Chapter 26, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure makes necessary changes to ratify and implement a MOU between the state and BU 6.

SB 141 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) California Cannabis Tax Fund:

Department of Cannabis Control: Board of State and Community Corrections Grants.

Chapter 18, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure provides a shift in funding for costs to maintaining and operating the track and trace system for conducting civil and criminal enforcement from the Cannabis Control Fund to the Cannabis Tax Fund. The measure also changes the eligibility of local governments related to the Board of State and Community Corrections grants.

SB 142 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program.

Chapter 19, Statutes of 2025 Urgency)
This measure extends the surcharge for the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program to Dec. 31, 2034.

SB 146 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Human Services.

Chapter 107, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Human Services omnibus trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact human services–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 147 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Education Finance: Education Omnibus Trailer Bill.

Chapter 744, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Education Finance omnibus trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact transitional kindergarten and K-12–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025 in order to achieve legislative intent and correct allocations and cross references, including the local control funding formula, Student Teacher Stipend Program, and Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program.

SB 148 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Higher Education Budget Trailer Bill.

Chapter 745, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Higher Education trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact higher education–related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

Budget Bills 11

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
SB 151 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Early Childhood Education and Childcare.

Chapter 108, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Early Childhood Education and Childcare trailer bill, which makes changes to the Budget Act of 2025 to ratify the MOU dated Aug. 7, 2025, between the state and the Child Care Providers United – California, codify statutory changes pursuant to the agreement, and make appropriations and allocations pursuant to the agreement for all childcare and preschool programs.

SB 153 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Transportation Budget Trailer Bill.

Chapter 109, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Transportation Budget Trailer Bill, which makes changes necessary to enact transportation-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 155 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development: California Civic Media Program.

Chapter 649, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure establishes the California Civic Media Program, which is to be administered by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO- Biz). This measure requires the director of GO-Biz to appoint a nine-person advisory board to provide recommendations on allocations of private moneys in the fund, creates the Civic Media Program Fund, and appropriates $10 million.

SB 156 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Labor.

Chapter 110, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Labor trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact labor-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025, including a one-time $372 million payment toward the CalPERS state plans’ unfunded liabilities using available Proposition 2 debt repayment funding. This action is a result of numerous unions opting to suspend employer Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) contributions during bargaining this year.

SB 157 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Public Safety.

Chapter 111, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Public Safety trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact public safety-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 158 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Land Use.

Chapter 650, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document.

Budget Bills 12

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
SB 159 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Personal Income Tax Law:

Corporation Tax Law: Exemptions: Wildfire.

Chapter 112, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure is the 2025 Personal Income Tax Law trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact revenue-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 160 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Background Checks.

Chapter 113, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure, among other things, makes several statutory adjustments to continue allowing various state entities to conduct federal background checks and fingerprinting.

SB 161 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) State Employment: State Bargaining Units.

Chapter 114, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure makes necessary statutory changes to ratify and codify a new MOU, addenda to existing MOUs, side letter agreements, and closure letters between the state and various state BUs.

SB 162 (Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Elections.

Chapter 115, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure makes local elections held on Nov. 4, 2025, subject to the same deadlines as the statewide special election held on the same date. It also allows Santa Clara County to adopt timeframes for specific activities related to an election it holds after the Nov. 4, 2025, special election but before the end of the year.

COMMUNITY SERVICES
Community Services 13

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
II. Community Services

A. Aging and Seniors

AB 251
(Kalra) Elders and Dependent Adults: Abuse or Neglect.

Chapter 433, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a court to reduce the standard of proof required to prove abuse, abandonment, or neglect of an elder or dependent adult in a civil action from clear and convincing evidence to a preponderance of the evidence in cases where the defendant has engaged in spoliation of the evidence substantiating the abuse. This measure also makes this provision inoperative if there is a final judicial determination or a final determination by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the state is required to provide reimbursement under the Medi-Cal program to those facilities for costs associated with this bill, and the Legislature does not appropriate sufficient funds to pay for those costs.

AB 450
(Carrillo) Public Social Services: Support for Older and Aging Immigrants.

Chapter 364, Statutes of 2025
This measure, upon appropriation, requires the California Department of Aging (CDA) to oversee a stakeholder process to support the development of findings and recommendations on how to best support older and aging immigrants in California, regardless of their immigration status, through the establishment of a panel. The director of the CDA can establish a new panel or modify an existing panel for these purposes. This measure requires the panel to include representatives from the State Department of Social Services (DSS) and specified stakeholder and subject matter experts to discuss several issues, including affordability and access to social services and housing. The first meeting must occur no later than 120 days after funding for the panel becomes available, and the CDA is authorized to contract with academic research entities to supplement the stakeholder process. This measure requires the panel to issue findings and recommendations to the CDA and DSS by July 1, 2028.The CDA and DSS are required to jointly present the findings and recommendations to the Legislature by Dec. 31, 2028.

AB 1069
(Bains) Older Adults: Emergency Shelters.

Chapter 445, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, as part of disaster planning and response, a representative of the county welfare director, in coordination with the lead local agency designated with sheltering support duties under the State Emergency Plan Emergency Support Functions, to initiate a MOU with an area agency on aging, an independent living center, or an Aging and Disability Resource Connection program for access to an emergency shelter during an active event to ensure older adults and people with disabilities receive continuous services and support.

Community Services 14

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
*AB 1476 (Wallis) Meal Program: Senior Citizens.

Chapter 302, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the McCarthy Kennick Nutrition Program for the Elderly Act to include programs that provide meals for to-go pickup if consumed in a virtual congregate setting, and removes the requirement that any additional meals provided must ensure recommended dietary allowances.

AB 1495 (Valencia) Home Health Aides: Training and Certification.

Chapter 400, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes requirements and standards for online training, distance learning training, or in-service training for certified home health aides, including a requirement that a trainee sign an affidavit attesting, under penalty of perjury, to confirm their identity while completing the program. The training programs are required to allow the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to access and monitor online or distance learning sessions. This measure also requires a person who provides classroom and supervised practical training for a home health aide to be either a registered nurse who possesses at least two years of nursing experience (with at least one year in home health care) or a licensed vocational nurse under the general supervision of a registered nurse.

B. Animal Services

AB 478
(Zbur) Accessibility to Emergency Information and Services: Evacuations:

Pets.

Chapter 695, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a city or county, upon the next update to their emergency plan, to designate procedures for the rescue of a pet from an area subject to an evacuation order. This update must include the following:
• Designate a person or entity to call if information is needed regarding pets during an evacuation.
• Establish timelines or conditions in which rescues can occur as safely as possible.
• Specify that nothing in these provisions is to be construed to grant any person the absolute right to reenter an evacuation zone.
• Require all reentries to an evacuation zone to be subject to incident conditions and approval by the designated incident commander in coordination with the emergency management authority.
• Prohibit a pet rescued or originating from an area subject to an evacuation order from being made available for adoption, euthanized, or transferred out of the custody of the local animal control agency or its in-state partner animal shelters, animal rescues, or animal fosters for at least 30 days. • Authorize a local animal control agency to transfer a pet to its in-state partners during the 30-day period if the local animal control agency maintains records of the location of the pet to facilitate owner reunification.

Community Services 15

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• Prohibit the pet from being euthanized if an animal rescue organization has previously notified the local animal control agency of their willingness to take custody of the pet and completes that transfer upon the conclusion of the 30-day period.

AB 506
(Bennett) Pets: Sales of Dogs, Cats, and Rabbits.

Chapter 477, Statutes of 2025
This measure clarifies that a contract entered into, on, or after Jan. 1, 2026, to transfer ownership of a dog, cat, or rabbit that is offered, negotiated, brokered, or arranged by a person, pet dealer, or business while the purchaser is located in California is void if the contract includes or requires a nonrefundable deposit. If money has been exchanged pursuant to a contract that is void, the seller must refund the money to the purchaser within 30 days of receiving notice that the contract is void. A person, pet dealer, or business that sells a dog, cat, or rabbit to a purchaser located in California is also required to disclose the original source and medical information. This measure allows for a suit against a person, pet dealer, or business that violates these provisions and authorizes a purchaser affected by a violation to bring a civil action. The Attorney General, a county counsel, a district attorney, a city attorney, or a city prosecutor can enforce these provisions in an action brought in the name of the people of the State of California in any court of competent jurisdiction. This measure specifies that these provisions do not limit a contract for the transfer of ownership of an animal by or to a governmental agency, nor do they limit the transfer of ownership of a guide, signal, or service dog. These provisions do not apply to a public animal control agency or shelter.

AB 516 (Kalra) Registered Veterinary Technicians and Veterinary Assistants:

Scope of Practice.

Chapter 371, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes registered veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants to perform animal health-care services not otherwise prohibited by law or regulation, including on animals housed in public or private animal shelters, humane societies, or societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals. This measure also authorizes a registered veterinary technician to perform dental care procedures, including tooth extractions, under the supervision of a veterinarian.

AB 519
(Berman) Pet Broker Sales.

Chapter 478, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a broker from making available for adoption, selling, or offering for sale a dog under one year of age, a cat, or a rabbit. This measure defines a broker as a person or business that sells, arranges, negotiates, or processes, either in person or online, the sale of dogs, cats, or rabbits bred by another for profit, and would include facilitating the transfer of those animals for profit.

AB 867
(Lee) Veterinary Medicine: Cat Declawing.

Chapter 479, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a person from performing a declawing or similar procedures on any cat unless the person is licensed as a veterinarian in California and the veterinarian Community Services 16

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is performing the declawing for a therapeutic purpose. This measure also authorizes the California Veterinary Medical Board to deny, revoke, or suspend a license or registration or assess a fine for performing those procedures for any reason other than a therapeutic purpose. The provisions of this measure do not preempt a local ordinance adopted before Jan. 1, 2026, that limits the performance of feline declawing procedures identified in the bill.

SB 602
(Cortese) Veterinarians: Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship.

Chapter 589, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a registered veterinary technician to administer vaccines or medications in a registered veterinary premises at a public animal control agency or shelter, private animal shelter, humane society shelter, or society for the prevention of cruelty to animals when the veterinarian is in the general vicinity or available by telephone and is quickly and easily available.

C. Arts

*SB 456 (Ashby) Contractors: Exemptions: Muralists.

Chapter 758, Statutes of 2025
This measure exempts muralists from having to obtain a contractor’s license through the California State Licensing Board before being commissioned for public and private art projects.

D. Behavioral Health and Community Wellness

AB 309
(Zbur) Hypodermic Needles and Syringes.

Chapter 685, Statutes of 2025
This measure deletes the Jan. 1, 2026, sunset of existing law, which permits physicians and pharmacists to furnish hypodermic needles and syringes without a prescription or a permit to a person 18 years or older.

*AB 348
(Krell) Full-Service Partnerships.

Chapter 688, Statutes of 2025
This measure modernizes portions of California’s behavioral health treatment system to ensure that vulnerable individuals with the most acute needs can access Full-Service Partnership (FSP) programs. Specifically, this measure, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, establishes presumptive eligibility for FSP programs for individuals with serious mental health conditions who also meet specific criteria, such as experiencing unsheltered homelessness, transitioning to the community after exiting a secured treatment facility, having been repeatedly detained under Section 5150, or reentering the community following six or more months in state prison or county jail. Counties are not required to enroll an individual who meets this presumptive eligibility criteria if doing so conflicts Community Services 17

League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
with contractual Medi-Cal obligations or court orders or if it exceeds full-service partnership capacity or funding.

AB 416 (Krell) Involuntary Commitment.

Chapter 691, Statutes of 2025
This measure enables county behavioral health directors to include emergency physicians as one of the practice disciplines that can be designated by the county to cause a person to be taken into custody for assessment, evaluation, and treatment for 72 hours if the person is a danger to themself or others or is gravely disabled.

Emergency physicians are required to complete the county’s training, application, and approval process, which applies to all professionals eligible to be designated by the county. This measure also exempts an emergency physician who is responsible for the detainment of a person under those provisions from criminal and civil liability.

*
AB 424 (Davies) Alcohol and Other Drug Programs: Complaints.

Chapter 261, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to notify individuals when their complaint against a licensed alcohol or drug treatment facility has been received, when the investigation concludes, and the outcome of the investigation. (Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document.)

*AB 492
(Valencia) Alcohol and Drug Programs: Licensing.

Chapter 368, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires DHCS to notify cities anytime a new alcohol and drug treatment facility license is approved in their jurisdiction. (Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document.)

AB 553
(Caloza) CalFresh: Food Access.

Chapter 38, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires DSS to maximize all available food choices for CalFresh recipients, including but not limited to hot foods.

AB 593
(Wicks) CalFresh: Data Sharing.

Chapter 698, Statutes of 2025
This measure narrows the broad authorization made in existing privacy laws for the sharing of personal information held by public entities with DSS for the purposes of improving the administration of CalFresh, increasing CalFresh participation, and measuring the impact of CalFresh, among other purposes.

AB 1003
(Calderon) Public Health: Emergency Plans and Wildfire Research.

Chapter 537, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires CDPH to complete a plan with recommendations and guidelines for counties to use in case of a significant air-quality event on or before June 30, 2027.

The plan must be posted on CDPH’s website and shared with specified state and local entities, including the Legislature and Governor’s office. This measure also requires Community Services 18

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county-specific plans, currently required under existing law, to additionally incorporate a process to conduct outreach and communicate to the public and key stakeholders specified information about the plan. CDPH is required to post a copy of each county- specific plan on its website within 14 days of receiving each plan.

AB 1037
(Elhawary) Public Health: Substance Use Disorder.

Chapter 569, Statutes of 2025
This measure updates substance use disorder licensing and public health laws by expanding those authorized to receive opioid antagonists to include those who are at risk of or any person who may be in a position to assist a person experiencing an overdose, and would strike the requirement that those who receive and possess opioid antagonists receive training. This measure also does the following:
• Requires DHCS before Jan. 1, 2027, to offer a combined application for entities seeking licensure as an alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facility to apply simultaneously to provide incidental medical services. • Exempts a person who administers an opioid antagonist in good faith, whether or not they were trained, from liability for civil damages and exempts a health-care provider who acts with reasonable care from liability in a civil action for any injuries or damages relating to or resulting from administering the opioid antagonist in good faith.
• Prohibits DHCS from requiring a recovery or treatment facility admission agreement to require a person to have been abstinent, to not be intoxicated, or to otherwise not be under the influence to be admitted into care, be considered for treatment, or continue treatment.
• Repeals existing law that prohibits any state-funded program from allocating funds to programs that do not use abstinent-only messaging about illegal drugs.

AB 1076
(Addis) Qualified ABLE Program: CalABLE Accounts: Funding.

Chapter 722, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the board of California Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE) to accept grants, gifts, and other forms of financial support from philanthropic entities and appropriations from the Legislature. This measure also authorizes the board to use those monies received to encourage eligible individuals to create an ABLE account or maximize account participation by engaging public awareness about the program.

AB 1356
(Dixon) Alcohol and Other Drug Programs.

Chapter 189, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires an alcohol or drug facility to submit to the department, within 30 days of the initial incident, any relevant information that was not known at the time of the initial incident. If the department identifies any violations of specified licensing provisions during its investigation of a resident’s death, this measure requires the department to issue a written notice of deficiency to the facility.

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AB 1504 (Berman) California Massage Therapy Council.

Chapter 197, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the sunset date for the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC) until Jan. 1, 2030. This measure also makes numerous technical changes to CAMTC in response to issues raised during CAMTC’s sunset review oversight process.

These changes include the following:
• Updating the composition of the CAMTC Board of Directors by eliminating the California Community Colleges appointee, requiring the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools appointee to come from an approved massage school, and adding a certified massage therapist or practitioner as a member. • Requiring the council, beginning July 1, 2027, to make the records of the council available for public inspection in a manner consistent with the California Public Records Act.

SB 27
(Umberg) Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment Court Program.

Chapter 528, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes several changes to the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act regarding the delivery of behavioral health services and court oversight. Specifically, this measure:
• Requires courts to consider CARE referral as an option for misdemeanor incompetent to stand trial defendants.
• Combines specified hearings to create efficiency in court proceedings. • Allows data sharing between CARE partners and expands participation to additional licensed medical professionals.
• Clarifies eligibility criteria and definitions.
• Expands CARE eligibility to include mood disorders with psychotic features, in addition to schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders. • Clarifies that courts retain ongoing oversight and flexibility throughout the duration of CARE plans.

*SB 83
(Umberg) State Department of Health Care Services: Substance Abuse Treatment: Disclosures.

Chapter 402, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires DHCS to post on its website an identification and summary of each violation issued to licensed adult residential alcohol or drug treatment facilities.

SB 250
(Ochoa Bogh) Medi-Cal: Provider Directory: Skilled Nursing Facilities.

Chapter 309, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires DHCS to include skilled nursing facilities as a searchable provider type in its Medi-Cal Managed Care Health Care Options plan selection directory website. This measure also requires DHCS to update the directory annually to ensure that the information is accurate and readily accessible to the public.

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SB 338 (Becker) Virtual Health Hub for Rural Communities Pilot Program.

Chapter 311, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires CDPH to administer a Virtual Health Hub for Rural Communities Pilot Program to expand access to health services for farmworkers in rural communities.

Specifically, this measure requires CDPH to distribute grants to two separate community-based organizations to establish and deploy virtual health hubs and to provide technical assistance to the grant recipients for any licensing or reporting requirements necessary. The virtual health hubs must include, at a minimum, computers, Wi-Fi, cubicles for virtual visits, and exam rooms for telemedicine. This measure also creates the Virtual Health Hub Fund, prohibits the use of General Fund money for the pilot program, and requires a fund balance of at least $2 million to implement this bill. This measure is inoperative if the fund balance requirement has not been met by Dec. 31, 2030. Lastly, this measure requires CDPH to report the outcomes of the program to the Legislature and share them on its website two years after the program has sufficient funds to be implemented.

SB 582
(Stern) Health and Care Facilities: Licensing During Emergencies or Disasters.

Chapter 546, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires skilled nursing facilities to review their external disaster and mass casualty program plan at least once per year. Skilled nursing facilities are required to seek input on the plan from county or regional and local planning offices, including the medical health operational area coordinator. This measure also establishes licensing policies during federal- or state-declared emergencies or disasters for facilities licensed by DSS, CDPH, and DHCS.

SB 862
(Committee on Health) Health.

Chapter 243, Statutes of 2025
This measure is an omnibus measure that makes numerous changes to existing law contained in the Health and Safety Code, the Education Code, the Insurance Code, and the Welfare and Institutions Code. Specifically, this measure:
• Requires health facilities to submit a patient safety plan to CDPH biennially. • Permits hospitals to provide written notice containing information about the availability of its discount payment and charity care policies by electronic means. • Specifies the number of hours focused on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias for students in certified nurse assistant training. • Clarifies the type of insurers required to provide written or electronic notice regarding the benefits of behavioral health and wellness screening for children and adolescents.
• Makes technical changes to reflect the correct name of the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.

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E. Children, Childcare, and Youth Programs

AB 49 (Muratsuchi) School Sites: Immigration Enforcement.

Chapter 122, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
The measure prohibits a local educational agency and its personnel from:
• Disclosing or providing the education records of or any information about a pupil or a pupil’s family without the pupil’s parents’ or guardians’ written consent. • Allowing an officer or employee of an agency conducting immigration enforcement to enter a nonpublic area of a school site for any purpose without being presented with a valid judicial warrant, judicial subpoena, or court order.

This measure also requires the Attorney General, by Dec. 1, 2025, to update the model policies limiting assistance with immigration enforcement at public schools to ensure the policies align with the above-described prohibitions. Local educational agencies are also required to update their model policy by March 1, 2026, and to make the policy available to the State Department of Education upon request.

AB 56
(Bauer-Kahan) Social Media: Warning Labels.

Chapter 671, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires specified social media platforms to display a black box warning to certain users each day the user initially accesses the social media platform, again after three hours of cumulative active use, and then at least once per hour of cumulative active use. This measure also specifies that its provisions shall not be interpreted to serve as the basis for a private right of action, and the provisions are set to become operative on Jan. 1, 2027.

AB 349
(Dixon) Foster Care Supplement.

Chapter 143, Statutes of 2025
This measure adjusts the infant supplement formula by an equal amount to the California Necessities Index beginning July 1, 2026.

AB 503
(González, Mark) School Facilities: Civic Center Act: Direct Costs.

Chapter 156, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure permanently restores provisions of the Civic Center Act that expired on Jan. 1, 2025, allowing school districts to continue recovering direct costs, including proportional maintenance, repair, restoration, and refurbishment costs, for the use of non-classroom school facilities and grounds by eligible organizations.

AB 563 (Jackson) Childcare: Early Childhood Policy Council.

Chapter 268, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Early Childhood Policy Council to include, at a minimum, the successes, challenges, and gaps in the state’s early childhood education systems and recommendations to facilitate advancing the state’s vision for children, families, and communities in its existing annual report. This measure also requires the council to submit the report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature and Community Services 22

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develop policy proposals and budget requests for the Legislature to consider related to facility needs, workforce needs, and family access.

AB 753
(Garcia) Childcare: Facility Licensure: Teacher Requirements.

Chapter 165, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to issue a nonrenewable, two-year assistant teacher permit that allows the permit holder to assist in the care, development, and instruction of children, including temporary independent supervision for up to 120 minutes per day under teacher-level oversight. This measure requires the contracting agency that employs a person who holds an assistant teacher permit to:
• Maintain a copy of the permit holder’s education plan in their employee file. • Limit the number of assistant teacher permit holders from exceeding 50% of the number of classrooms at one site.
• Assign no more than one assistant teacher per classroom.

A contracting agency that employs a person who holds an assistant teacher permit is required to provide data on the number of employees who have been issued an assistant teacher permit to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the DSS. This measure requires the commission to implement these provisions by no later than Jan. 30, 2026, and makes these provisions inoperative one year after the implementation of the commission’s revised child development permit matrix, or Jan. 1, 2029, whichever is later.

AB 798
(Calderon) State Emergency Food Bank Reserve Program: Diapers and Wipes.

Chapter 596, Statutes of 2025
This measure includes children’s diapers and wipes in the list of supplies under the State Emergency Food Bank Reserve Program. This measure also authorizes the use of funds distributed under the program for purchasing and distributing children’s diapers and wipes in eligible communities and for reimbursing food banks.

SB 778
(Limón) Migrant Childcare and Development Programs.

Chapter 459, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands eligibility for migrant childcare and development programs to include a family with one individual who has earned at least 40% of their total gross income from employment in fishing, agriculture, or agriculturally related work during the 12-month period immediately preceding the date of application for childcare and development services.

SB 792
(Arreguín) Childcare.

Chapter 234, Statutes of 2025
This measure:
• Revises the income eligibility for the third stage of childcare services to be 85% of the state median income, adjusted for family size.

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• Extends the family-fee exemption to 24 months for families with children who are neglected or abused children who are recipients of child protective services, or children who are at risk of being neglected or abused, upon written referral from a legal, medical, or social services agency.
• Amends the definition of attendance for purposes of reimbursement to include medical and educational appointments.
• Authorizes a contractor to claim attendance for days that the contractor or provider is required to hold a space for a child during the period that a family is assumed to have abandoned care or is engaging in the appeal process based on disenrollment for abandoning care.

F. Homelessness

*AB 543
(M. González) Medi-Cal: Field Medicine.

Chapter 374, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows a Medi-Cal managed care plan to elect to offer Medi-Cal covered services through a contracted field medicine provider, and enables those providers to access benefits for Medi-Cal beneficiaries experiencing homelessness — including durable medical equipment, diagnostics, and other essential care — at the point of care.

This measure also requires standard application forms for insurance affordability programs to include, by Jan. 1, 2027, an optional question for an applicant to identify whether they are experiencing homelessness.

*AB 630
(M. González) Abandoned Recreational Vehicles.

Chapter 699, Statutes of 2025
This measure, until Jan. 1, 2030, authorizes the Counties of Alameda and Los Angeles to implement a program for the disposal of abandoned recreational vehicles valued at $4,000 or less. This measure also imposes specified conditions on this authority, including requiring a public agency, prior to disposing of a recreational vehicle, to provide authorization that the recreational vehicle is inoperable. The public agency that removed, or caused the removal of, the recreational vehicle and that directed any towing or storage is responsible for the towing and storage costs if it is determined that the vehicle was not inoperable or was not a hazard to public health, safety, and welfare.

AB 677 (Bryan) Pupil Records and Health: Pupils Experiencing Homelessness:

Directory Information and Reporting.

Chapter 163, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the disclosure of directory information of a pupil identified as homeless to facilitate an eye examination or an oral health assessment by a nonprofit eye examination provider or a free oral health assessment hosted by schools, unless the parent or student has provided written notice to the school that they do not consent to the physical examination. This information can only be disclosed for the purpose of facilitating an eye examination or an oral health assessment.

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AB 678 (Lee) Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Chapter 495, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to identify policies and best practices for providing inclusive and culturally competent services to LGBTQ+ individuals experiencing homelessness and develop recommendations to expand data collection to understand the needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals in state homelessness programs. This measure requires the council to submit a report to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2027, detailing these recommendations.

AB 790
(Ávila Farías) Homelessness: Single Women with Children.

Chapter 499, Statutes of 2025
This measure adds women with children to the Homeless Equity for Left Behind Populations Act (HELP). This measure also requires cities, counties, and continuums of care that receive state funding to address homelessness to provide all the analyses and goals currently required by the HELP Act to the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. The council is required to post the analyses and goals on its website.

*SB 634
(Pérez) Local Government: Homelessness.

Chapter 521, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a local jurisdiction from adopting a local ordinance or enforcing an existing ordinance that prohibits a person or organization from providing support services to a person who is homeless or assisting with acts related to basic survival.

SB 638
(Padilla) California Education Interagency Council: California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program.

Chapter 457, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant (CTEIG) Program and establishes a new statewide coordinating entity, the California Education Interagency Council, to strengthen alignment of career technical education and workforce development efforts. Specifically, this measure:
• Authorizes CTEIG grants to fund the establishment of new or expanded career pathways in green technology, health care, information technology, education, and artificial intelligence.
• Authorizes CTEIG grants to support collaboration with labor and business entities to place pupils in apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, dual enrollment, service learning, and work-based learning activities.
• Requires CTEIG grants to provide opportunities for pupils from historically underrepresented communities.
• Requires successful applicants to the CTEIG program to demonstrate a holistic approach to providing career technical education courses and pathways, including the involvement of employers, providing wraparound services for pupils, and aligning with current and projected labor market demand.

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*SB 748 (Richardson) Encampment Resolution Funding Program: Safe Parking Sites: Reporting.

Chapter 524, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the use of Encampment Resolution Funding for safe parking sites. This measure also requires local jurisdictions that plan to use the funding for safe parking to include in their application information about how they will acquire sites for safe parking, operate the site, provide services at the site, and increase hours at the site.

*SB 753 (Cortese) Special Business Regulations: Shopping Carts.

Chapter 785, Statutes of 2025
This measure enables local governments to enact ordinances permitting the direct return of abandoned carts to retailers. The measure also allows for immediate action when carts block emergency access or pose a safety hazard. To encourage compliance, this measure raises the fine for failing to retrieve a cart to $100 and allows local governments to recover retrieval costs up to $100 per cart, while ensuring clear notice and due process for retailers.

G. Parks and Recreation

*AB 310
(Alanis) Nevaeh Youth Sports Safety Act.

Chapter 254, Statutes of 2025
This measure delays the implementation of the existing law that requires youth sports organizations to ensure their athletes have access to an automated external defibrillator (AED) during any official practice or match from Jan. 1, 2027, to Jan. 1, 2028. The measure also requires youth sports organizations by Jan. 1, 2027, to:
• Ensure that their coaches are certified to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to operate an AED.
• Have a written cardiac emergency response plan that includes the location of the AED and procedures to be followed during a sudden cardiac event.

This measure removes the requirement that the AED be administered by a medical professional.

AB 749
(McKinnor) Youth Sports for All Act.

Chapter 705, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the State Public Health Officer to convene a Blue Ribbon Commission to study the development of a California Department of Youth Sports or an equivalent centralized entity charged with supporting and regulating youth sports on or before July 1, 2026, or six months after implementation commences, whichever is later.

This measure also requires the commission to submit the study to the Legislature and the Governor on or before Jan. 1, 2028, or two years after implementation commences, whichever is later. Implementation of these provisions is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature or upon the State Department of Public Health obtaining sufficient funds from federal, nonprofit, or private sources.

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AB 769 (Wilson) Regional Park and Open-Space Districts.

Chapter 166, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes numerous changes to the laws governing regional park and open- space districts. Specifically, this measure:
• Consolidates and modifies the roles and compensation of board-appointed officers.
• Authorizes a general manager of a district with a population of 200,000 or more to bind the district for the payment for equipment, supplies, and materials for any purpose, including new construction of a building, structure, or improvement, excluding labor and services, when the annual aggregate cost does not exceed $150,000.
• Authorizes the exchange of park or open-space land by a two-thirds vote of the board, and when a compatible and comparable exchange is not feasible, authorizes the East Bay Regional Park District to accept compensation in an exchange with a public agency, provided compensation is used to purchase park and open-space land.
• Prohibits a district from validly conveying land actually dedicated and used for park or open-space purposes without the consent of a majority of the district’s voters voting at a special election when the lease of the land exceeds 25 years.

AB 932
(Irwin) Community Youth Athletics Programs: Sex or Gender Discrimination.

Chapter 628, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a city, county, city and county, special district, school district, county office of education, or charter school from discriminating against a person on the basis of sex or gender in the operation, conduct, or administration of community youth athletics programs or in the allocation of facilities and resources that support or enable these programs.

SB 392
(Grayson) Regional Park Districts: East Bay Regional Park District: East Bay Hills Conservation Program.

Chapter 754, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the East Bay Regional Park District (Park District) to establish and administer the East Bay Hills Conservation Program to address resource and recreational goals. The Park District is authorized to collaborate with California Native American tribes and state, regional, and local partners to help achieve the goals of the program. This measure also requires the East Bay Hills to be acknowledged as an area of statewide significance in local land use policy documents developed or updated on or after Jan. 1, 2026.

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H. Tobacco

AB 573 (Rogers) Cigarette and Tobacco Products: Licensing and Enforcement.

Chapter 269, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases the licensing and renewal fees that tobacco retailers pay each year from $265 to a minimum of $450 starting July 1, 2026, and authorizes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to adjust that fee up to $600 after July 1, 2026, to maintain and enhance enforcement operations. This measure also requires the Legislative Analyst, on or before Dec. 1, 2027, and again on or before Dec. 1, 2029, to prepare and submit reports to the Legislature on the tobacco retailer enforcement landscape, including enforcement of California’s flavor, youth access, taxation, and licensing laws. The reporting requirements will be repealed on Jan. 1, 2034.

*SB 793
(Archuleta) Public Safety: Lighters: Standards: Prohibition.

Chapter 235, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a person from selling, offering for sale, or distributing a lighter that does not comply with specified ATSM International (formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials) standards.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
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Environmental Quality

A. Air Quality

AB 652
(Alvarez) San Diego County Air Pollution Control District: Governing Board: Alternate Members.

Chapter 160, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that the members selected by the City of San Diego selection committee may be either a mayor or city council member from the applicable supervisorial district for the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District. The measure authorizes each appointing authority to designate an alternate member to serve in place of the regular member when the regular member is absent or disqualified from participating and requires the alternate member to meet the same qualifications applicable to the regular member.

*SB 415 (Reyes) Planning and Zoning: Logistics Use Developments: Truck Routes.

This measure includes the cleanup legislation related to AB 98 (Chapter 931, Statutes of 2024), the warehouse design standards, truck route, and circulation element update bill. This measure allows local governments outside of the warehouse concentration region, as defined in AB 98, to develop a local ordinance rather than mandating a truck traffic update in the circulation element of the general plan by Jan. 1, 2028. For cities with 50,000 or fewer residents and counties with 100,000 or fewer residents, this measure allows those local governments to complete the ordinance adoption by Jan. 1, 2030. This measure offers an exemption from the circulation element or local ordinance requirement if a city or county does not have and is not approving any new or expanded logistics-use projects in its jurisdiction. If that changes, this measure requires the city or county to adopt an ordinance within two years. This measure also prevents the Attorney General from imposing penalties on local governments that are working in good faith to follow the law. This measure also revises the definition of local roads to include roads predominantly serving commercial, agricultural, and industrial uses to prevent warehouse development near sensitive receptors.

B. California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

AB 571 (Quirk-Silva) California Environmental Quality Act: Exemption: Gypsum Canyon Veterans Cemetery.

Chapter 158, Statutes of 2025(Urgency)
This measure exempts from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) any activity or approval necessary for the completion of the Gypsum Canyon Veterans Cemetery in Orange County. To the extent that a local agency would be required to determine whether an activity or approval qualifies for this exemption, the measure imposes a state-mandated local program. This measure repeals this provision on Jan. 1, 2030.

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AB 1139 (Rogers) California Environmental Quality Act: Exemption: Public Access: Nonmotorized Recreation.

Chapter 391, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends to a lead agency that is a county park agency, a park district, or the Great Railroad Trail Agency the current CEQA exemption for a change in use to allow public access to preexisting paved and natural surface roads, preexisting trails, preexisting pathways, preexisting disturbed areas for vehicle parking, and rail lines converted by the Great Redwood Trail Agency into trails known as the Great Redwood Trail in areas used exclusively for nonmotorized recreation. This measure removes the condition that the change in use is consistent with a plan adopted by the lead agency and instead requires the lead agency, before making the exemption determination, to adopt a natural resource management plan, or equivalent document, that includes appropriate identification of resources and management strategies for the affected area.

This measure requires, as a condition of this exemption, that the change in use involves only minimal physical alterations and minimal improvements to the affected area.

AB 1527 (Soria) Tribal Gaming: Compact Ratification.

Chapter 202, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure ratifies the amendment to the tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California. This measure provides that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions related to this amended compact are not projects for the purposes of CEQA. This measure declares that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

SB 71 (Wiener) California Environmental Quality Act: Exemptions: Transit Projects.

Chapter 742, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the CEQA exemption for certain transportation-related projects indefinitely and adds new exemptions for specific transit planning activities. Until Jan. 1, 2030, CEQA exempts from its requirements active transportation plans, pedestrian plans, and bicycle transportation plans involving activities such as restriping streets and highways, installing bicycle parking and storage, adjusting signal timing to improve intersection operations, and adding related signage for bicycles, pedestrians, and vehicles.

SB 611
(Richardson) Planning and Zoning: Community Plans: Review under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Chapter 228, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure prohibits a court from invalidating a development project that was approved under an updated community plan that is being litigated under CEQA if the development project is approved before the court issues a stay in connection with a challenge to the environmental impact report or community plan update and the application for the development project was deemed complete before the court issues a stay, order, or writ.

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*SB 676 (Limón) California Environmental Quality Act: Judicial Streamlining:

State of Emergency: Wildfire.

Chapter 550, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, on and after Jan. 1, 2027, a project whose intent is to maintain, repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities damaged or destroyed by wildfire, located in a geographic area for which the Governor declared a state of emergency on or after Jan. 1, 2023, and the project is not otherwise exempt from CEQA, that the project be consistent with any applicable zoning and land-use ordinances. This measure requires the lead agency to prepare the record of proceeding for such projects concurrently with the administrative record under CEQA and consistent with existing law, and the lead agency may charge and collect a reasonable fee from the applicant who is requesting the concurrent preparation of the record of proceeding, thereby recovering all of the costs associated with this requirement. This measure also requires an action or proceeding brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the certification of an environmental impact report, or the adoption of a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration, for the project to be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 calendar days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings. This measure requires an applicant to agree to pay the costs of the trial court and court of appeal in hearing and deciding any action or proceeding brought under these provisions. This measure requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court to implement these requirements.

SB 864 (Padilla) Tribal Gaming: Compact Ratification.

Chapter 244, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure provides that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions related to these specific tribal-state gaming compacts are not projects for the purposes of CEQA.

This measure declares that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. The specific tribal-state gaming compacts included in this measure are between the State of California and the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, the first amendment to the compact between the State of California and the Pinoleville Pomo Nation, California, and the first amendment to the compact between the State of California and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

C. Climate Change

AB 100 (Gabriel) Budget Acts of 2023 and 2024.

Chapter 2, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the Budget Act of 2023 and the Budget Act of 2024.

Major provisions include the following: $11.1 billion for the Department of Health Care Services to keep the Medi-Cal program solvent; authorizes the Department of Finance to utilize previously appropriated funds to backfill local governments for property tax losses as a result of the Eaton and Palisades fires; and, funding for wildfire prevention and resilience totaling $181 million to the following entities, consistent with Proposition 4: The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024:

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• Santa Monica Conservancy, $31,349,000
• San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, $30,904,000
• Sierra Nevada Conservancy, $30,904,000
• State Coastal Conservancy, $30,904,000
• San Diego River Conservancy, $23,524,000
• Tahoe Conservancy, $23,524,000
• Cal Fire (for a fire resiliency center for the Karuk Tribe), $10,000,000

AB 1207 (Irwin) Climate Change: Market-based Compliance Mechanism:

Extension.

Chapter 117, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to adopt regulations for greenhouse gas emissions limits and emissions reduction measures to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The measure requires CARB, in adopting regulations, to design the regulations in a manner that transitions support from gas corporations to electrical distribution utilities to minimize ratepayer impacts and meet the state’s emissions reduction goals. The measure requires CARB to consider the effects of the regulations on affordability, cost-effectiveness, minimization of leakage in California, and achieving the state’s emissions reduction goals.

*SB 105
(Wiener) Budget Acts of 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Chapter 104, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the Budget Acts of 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Primary appropriations include funding totaling $3.316 billion consistent with Proposition 4: The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024:
• Water Resilience Chapter, $1,179,785,000
• Wildfire and Forest Health Resilience Chapter, $389,541,000 • Coastal Resilience Chapter, $264,050,000
• Extreme Heat Mitigation Chapter, $70,959,000
• Biodiversity and Nature-Based Climate Solutions Chapter, $419,464,000 • Climate Smart-Agriculture Chapter, $191,118,000
• Park Creation and Outdoor Access Chapter, $527,063,000 • Clean Air Chapter, $274,860,000

SB 352 (Reyes) Environmental Justice: Department of Justice: Bureau of Environmental Justice: Community Air Monitoring.

Chapter 120, Statutes of 2025
This measure continues in existence within the Department of Justice a Bureau of Environmental Justice. This measure requires that air-quality monitoring at selected sites continue for at least five years, with the possibility of extension based on agreement between the regional air district and CARB. This measure requires a monitoring plan be updated every five years, starting July 1, 2026, subject to available

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funding. This measure requires CARB to report annually to the Legislature on progress and to present this progress to the relevant legislative committees.

SB 653 (Cortese) Wildfire Prevention: Environmentally Sensitive Vegetation Management.

Chapter 778, Statutes of 2025
This measure defines an environmentally sensitive vegetation management project to mean vegetation management that reduces catastrophic wildfire risk over the long term while supporting native wildlife and biodiversity.

SB 614 (Stern) Public Resources: Transportation of Carbon Dioxide.

Chapter 529, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the definition of “pipeline,” for purposes of the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981, to include intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide and further, among other changes:
• Requires the State Fire Marshal, by July 1, 2026, to adopt regulations governing the safe transportation of carbon dioxide in pipelines that, at a minimum, are as protective as certain draft regulations issued by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Jan. 10, 2025. • Requires an operator of a pipeline transporting carbon dioxide to submit to the State Fire Marshal and the public agency that is the lead agency for the project that includes the pipeline an emergency planning zone inventory and map and requires the State Fire Marshal and the lead agency to review, at least once every three years, the inventory and map for completeness and accuracy. • Requires the operator, at least once every three years, to provide to local governments providing emergency response services to sensitive receptors within an emergency planning zone the inventory and map determined by the State Fire Marshal and the lead agency to be complete and accurate and any updates to the inventory and map.
• Requires the State Fire Marshal and the lead agency to make publicly available on its website all inventories and maps determined to be current, complete, and accurate and requires the State Fire Marshal and the lead agency to redact any personally identifiable information from the publicly available inventories and map.
• Authorizes the State Fire Marshal, for a pipeline transporting carbon dioxide, to order a pipeline shutdown for violations of state or federal laws, or if continued pipeline operations present an immediate danger to health, welfare, or the environment.

SB 831
(Limón) Geologic Hazards: California Geological Survey.

Chapter 236, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the duties of the Department of Conservation to review and investigate geologic hazards to specifically include geologic hazards that may occur in relation to climate change. It also makes technical and administrative changes to modernize and clarify processes for mapping hazard zones.

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*SB 840 (Limón) Greenhouse Gases: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: Studies.

Chapter 121, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document.

D. Coastal

AB 14 (Hart) Coastal Resources: Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program.

Chapter 606, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Ocean Protection Council, subject to the availability of funding, to participate, as a stakeholder and in an advisory capacity, in the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program with air pollution control districts and air quality management districts along the coast to support coastal air districts in their efforts to implement a statewide voluntary vessel speed reduction and sustainable shipping program to reduce air pollution, the risk of fatal vessel strikes on whales, and harmful underwater acoustic impacts. The measure expands the existing Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program to include incentives to program participants based on a percentage of distance traveled by a participating vessel at a reduced speed.

AB 357 (Alvarez) Coastal Resources: Coastal Development Permit Application:

Higher Education Housing Project.

Chapter 256, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Coastal Commission (CCC) to defer to a state university or college or private university in determining the number of vehicle parking spaces necessary for residents of student, faculty, or staff housing facilities. This measure authorizes the executive director of the CCC to determine that a proposed amendment to a public works plan or long-range development plan is de minimis and provides the procedures for the determination and approval of amendments that are de minimis pertaining to the necessary parking space at a university or college.

AB 439 (Rogers) California Coastal Act of 1976: Local Planning and Reporting.

Chapter 556, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes any de minimis amendments to local coastal programs and port master plans effective upon adjournment of the meeting in which the CCC approves the amendments, if three or more members of the CCC do not object to the de minimis determination.

AB 900 (Papan) Environmental Protection: 30x30 Goals: Land Conservation:

Stewardship.

Chapter 385, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) to develop strategies to reduce barriers and increase support for stewardship of conserved lands under the state’s 30X30 goal to conserve at least 30% of the state’s lands and coastal waters by 2030. The measure requires CNRA to collaborate with stakeholders, California Native American tribes, and relevant state agencies to prepare a section of Environmental Quality 34
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the 2027 annual report on stewardship and the progress made toward achieving the 30x30 goal. The report shall include recommendations to increase and improve stewardship of 30x30 lands, including innovative ways to reduce barriers and increase federal, state, and local support for stewardship. The measure requires the update to be posted on CNRA’s website.

*AB 996
(Pellerin) Public Resources: Sea Level Rise Plans.

Chapter 286, Statutes of 2025
The measure clarifies that existing sea level rise information or plans may satisfy the requirements of creating sea level rise plans by 2034, consistent with SB 272 (Laird, 2024). The measure also establishes an early consultation process with the Coastal Commission for coastal cities to receive written recommendations of what would preclude approval of a sea level rise plan.

*SB 484 (Laird) Coastal Resources: Coastal Development Permits: Infill Area Categorical Exclusion.

Chapter 416, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CCC, before July 1, 2027, to identify infill areas in at least three local jurisdictions that do not have a certified local coastal plan that exempts from the coastal development permitting requirement. Specifically, if a development in one of these identified infill areas is a residential project made up solely of units that are deed restricted for very low-, low-, or moderate-income households, the development is categorically excluded from the requirement. This measure requires the CCC to consult with the Department of Housing and Community Development to identify areas that affirmatively further fair housing, consider the inventory of housing element sites, and avoid sites projected to be impacted by sea level rise. Additionally, all sites selected must obtain a land-use entitlement as required by the local jurisdiction. Finally, the CCC must post maps of the categorical exclusion areas on its website and submit a report to the Legislature, identifying the number of projects constructed or under construction in those areas.

SB 727
(McGuire) The Great Redwood Trail Agency.

Chapter 424, Statutes of 2025
This measure expressly states that the Great Redwood Trail Agency (Agency) is a subdivision of the state and requires a city representative to be selected by the cities through a process adopted by the Agency’s board of directors. It requires the Agency’s board of directors to adopt an annual budget and to provide for regular audits of the Agency’s accounts and records and to maintain accounting records and report accounting transactions in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

This measure also requires a contract and prescribes competitive bidding procedures for any work not performed by the personnel of the Agency if the Agency estimates the work to cost over a specified threshold.

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SB 839 (Laird) Oil Spills: Fishing: Water Closure: Grants: Liability.

Chapter 237, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, after a notification of a spill or discharge, to close certain waters to the take of all fish or shellfish or to otherwise restrict the take and possession of all fish or shellfish in those waters. This measure requires closure if the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) finds that a public health threat exists or is likely to exist, and requires the director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, in determining the need for a closure, to initiate consultation with the OEHHA no later than 24 hours after a notification of a spill or discharge regarding the likelihood of a public health threat.

SB 856 (Cmte. on Natural Resources and Water) California Coastal Act of 1976:

Filing Fee Waiver: Marine Invasive Species Act: Biennial Reports: Semiannual Updates.

Chapter 102, Statutes of 2025
This measure clarifies that the California Coastal Commission is authorized to waive the filing fee for an application for a coastal development permit amendment for specific types of projects. This measure authorizes the CCC to, when waiving the filing fee for an application for a coastal development permit or permit amendment for a project, specify whether the waiver also applies to future applications for an amendment to the permit. This measure also makes various non-substantive changes and updates erroneous cross references.

E. Energy and Utilities

AB 531 (Rogers) Geothermal Powerplants and Projects: Certification and Environmental Review.

Chapter 372, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the types of facilities eligible to be certified as environmental leadership development projects by the California Energy Commission to include geothermal power plants and projects that comprise multiple geothermal powerplants on a single site.

AB 737 (Quirk-Silva) Energy: Building Decarbonization: Notice and Recordation of a Decarbonization Charge.

Chapter 276, Statutes of 2025
This measure adds gas corporations to the definition of “energy supplier” for purposes of the administering a decarbonization upgrade program or initiative.

AB 825 (Petrie-Norris) Independent System Operator: Independent Regional Organization.

Chapter 116, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the Independent System Operator (ISO) and electrical corporations that are participating transmission owners whose transmission systems are operated by the ISO to use voluntary energy markets governed by an independent Environmental Quality 36
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regional organization. The measure authorizes the ISO, on or after Jan. 1, 2028, to implement tariff modifications accepted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the energy markets whose rules are governed by an independent regional organization if the governing board of the ISO has adopted a resolution finding that all requirements are adopted by the independent regional organization.

AB 1017
(Boerner) Energy: Electrical and Gas Corporations: General Rate Cases.

Chapter 177, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires an electrical corporation or gas corporation, as a part of its general rate case, to provide to the California Public Utilities Commission specific information, including, among other things, the authorized and actual rate of return and return on equity for the past 10 years and data on projects related to the corporation’s distribution capacity that include the forecast submitted in the prior general rate case of the corporation.

AB 1104 (Pellerin) Net Energy Metering: Construction of Renewable Electrical Generation Facilities: Public Works Project Requirements.

Chapter 632, Statutes of 2025
This measure specifies that an entity that engaged a contractor for construction of a renewable electrical generation facility or an associated battery storage is not an awarding body and that specific public works project requirements do not apply to that entity. This measure also clarifies that the contractor who enters into a contract with that entity for those construction services is the awarding body and to provide notice to the Department of Industrial Relations.

AB 1167 (Berman) Electrical Corporations and Gas Corporations: Rate Recovery:

Political Activities and Promotional Advertising.

Chapter 634, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits each electrical corporation or gas corporation from recording to accounts that contain expenses that the electrical or gas corporation recovers from ratepayers, or otherwise recovering from ratepayers, various expenses, including those associated with political influence activities or promotional advertising. This measure requires the electrical or gas corporation to clearly and conspicuously disclose in all its public messages whether the costs of the public messages are paid for by the corporation’s shareholders or ratepayers. This measure requires the electrical corporation and gas corporation, on or before May 31, 2026, and annually thereafter, to report, as part of a statement to the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission), on political activities and advertising. The Commission must make the reports publicly available.

AB 1280
(Garcia) Energy.

Chapter 395, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) to provide financial assistance in connection with the financing or refinancing of a new category of climate catalyst projects, those that enable the decarbonization of industrial facilities’ use of heat and power, including, but not limited to, industrial heat Environmental Quality 37
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pump and thermal energy storage projects, with the California Energy Commission and the California Air Resources Board as consulting agencies.

*AB 1285 (Cmte. on Emergency Management) State Fire Marshal: Lithium-ion Battery Facilities: Guidance.

Chapter 637, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to develop fire prevention, response, and recovery measures for utility-grade lithium-ion battery storage facilities.

AB 1417 (Stefani) Energy: Voluntary Offshore Wind and Coastal Resources Protection Program: Community Capacity Funding Activities and Grants.

Chapter 397, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the California Energy Commission to allocate funding from the Voluntary Offshore Wind and Coastal Resources Protection Program for capacity- building activities and grants to strengthen local community and tribal engagement in offshore wind development. It also requires the Commission, before March 1 of each year, to submit a report to the Legislature on the implementation and effectiveness of the capacity-funding activities and grants, including the amount of activity and grant money provided by offshore wind entities.

SB 57 (Padilla) Electrical Corporations: Data Centers: Report.

Chapter 647, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the CPUC to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs associated with new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers. This measure requires the CPUC to submit an assessment completed pursuant to that authorization to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature and to publicly post a copy of the assessment on the CPUC’s website on or before Jan. 1, 2027.

SB 500
(Stern) Energy: Usage Data.

Chapter 765, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a utility to provide aggregated energy usage data to the owner, owner’s agent, or building operator’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager account in any alternative system or tool approved by the California Energy Commission.

SB 567 (Limón) Gravity-Based Energy Storage Well Pilot Program.

Chapter 419, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes the Gravity-Based Energy Storage Well Pilot Program until Jan. 1, 2035, and authorizes the state to allow for the conversion of not more than 250 wells for use as gravity-based energy storage wells to evaluate their use, including the establishment of appropriate operating conditions and physical parameters to safely generate energy. This measure authorizes the state, before allowing the use of a well as a gravity-based energy storage well, to require the operator to provide certain information demonstrating the suitability of the well for use as a gravity-based energy storage well. This measure requires idle wells that are authorized for use as gravity- Environmental Quality 38
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based energy storage wells to be identified as gravity-based energy storage wells in a plan for the management and elimination of idle wells or updates to the plan required to be filed with the state. It also requires the Geologic Energy Management Division to require mechanical integrity testing of wells before conversion to gravity-based energy storage wells and not less than annually thereafter. This measure requires an operator of a gravity-based energy storage well, in the event of a loss of mechanical integrity of the well or a leak to the environment, to notify the state and schools and community members within 3,200 feet of the well and to cease operation until the mechanical integrity is restored or to plug and abandon the well. This measure requires gravity- based energy storage wells to be continuously monitored for leaks and requires operators of gravity-based energy storage wells to annually report to the state certain information regarding their operation of the gravity-based energy storage wells.

SB 593
(Hurtado) Electrical Corporations: Significant Voltage-related Incidents:

Studies.

Chapter 420, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CPUC, on or before Jan. 1, 2027, to require each large electrical corporation to commence a study to evaluate significant voltage-related incidents across its residential, commercial, and industrial customers that resulted in damage to customer-owned equipment, appliances, or property totaling $5,000 or more.

It also requires the CPUC, on or before July 1, 2027, to publish hyperlinks on its website to the studies and to report on the studies to the Legislature.

*SB 710
(Blakespear) Property Taxation: Active Solar Energy Systems.

Chapter 328, Statutes of 2025
This measure ensures that any newly constructed active solar energy system that qualifies under the existing property tax exclusion before Jan. 1, 2027, continues to do so after the exclusion sunsets on Jan. 1, 2027, until there is a subsequent change in ownership.

F. Solid Waste and Recycling

AB 70 (Aguiar-Curry) Solid Waste: Organic Waste: Diversion: Biomethane.

Chapter 678, Statutes of 2025
This measure defines pyrolysis as the thermal decomposition of material at elevated temperatures in the absence or near absence of oxygen, which can be considered biomass conversion under the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 (Act). Under existing law, cities, counties, and regional agencies are required to develop a source reduction and recycling element of an integrated waste management plan under the Act. The Act requires that the element include a 50% solid waste diversion requirement and provides that up to 10% may be achieved through biomass conversion.

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AB 411 (Papan) Livestock Carcasses: Disposal: Composting.

Chapter 613, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes any part of a livestock carcass resulting from a routine livestock mortality event or on-farm processing to be composted if certain requirements are met, including, among others, that the composting is conducted in accordance with best management practices for livestock composting adopted by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture.

AB 720
(Rogers) Beverages: Alcohol Permits: Container Labeling.

Chapter 562, Statutes of 2025
This measure delays the requirements for labeling beverage containers, including wine and distilled spirits, from July 1, 2025, to July 1 2026, as part of the Beverage Container Recycling Program (Bottle Bill), for beverage containers that were not subject to these requirements before Jan. 1, 2024. This measure also clarifies that the storage of wine or topping of wine barrels does not constitute off-site production or manufacturing by a licensed winegrower or brandy manufacturer. This measure also authorizes a licensed winegrower to apply for, and for the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control to issue, an estate tasting event permit that would allow the licensee to exercise its tasting-room privileges at properties adjacent to the licensed premises that are owned or controlled by the licensee.

AB 899
(Ransom) Beverage Containers: Recycled Glass: Market Development.

Chapter 627, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes CalRecycle to set the market development payment at different levels to incentivize a glass beverage container manufacturer who purchases recycled glass collected in California for use in manufacturing new beverage containers in this state. The measure expands the payment amount from not exceeding $50 per ton to $150 per ton under the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act.

AB 961
(Ávila Farías) Hazardous Materials: California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act Of 2004.

Chapter 173, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the repeal date of the California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act from Jan. 1, 2027, to Jan. 1, 2037, which provides property owners immunity from liability from certain state statutory and common law pollution conditions caused by a release or threatened release of hazardous materials.

AB 1046 (Bains) Short-lived Climate Pollutants: Recovered Organic Waste Product: Agricultural Crop Preparation Service.

Chapter 719, Statutes of 2025
This measure exempts from organic waste reduction goals an agricultural crop preparation service that demonstrates to CalRecycle that it has not disposed of organic waste in a landfill on or after Jan. 1, 2016.

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AB 1459 (Cmte. on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials) Hazardous Waste:

Underground Storage Tanks.

Chapter 89, Statutes of 2025
This measure clarifies that a hazardous waste facilities permit is not required for the treatment of laboratory hazardous waste generated on-site if the hazardous waste is treated in containers using specific procedures and in quantities, and such procedures shall be prioritized in the handling of laboratory hazardous waste. If those specified procedures do not exist, this measure authorizes the use of the manufacturer’s written procedures if they are not in conflict with current rules or regulations.

AB 1478 (Hoover) Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act: Mattress Recycling Charge: Consumer Education.

Chapter 70, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the distributor, retailer, or seller of mattresses to pay the applicable charge to the mattress recycling organization on behalf of the consumer or ultimate end user if the distributor, retailer, or seller enters into a written agreement with a mattress recycling organization to pay the charge directly. This measure makes a distributor, retailer, or seller responsible for educating the consumer or the ultimate end user of the mattress in the state on the recycling of used mattresses and options available to consumers for the free drop-off or collection of used mattresses.

SB 279 (McNerney) Solid Waste: Compostable Materials.

Chapter 651, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the current definition of excluded activities under CalRecycle regulations for handling compostable material to include composting activities by eliminating the maximum square-foot condition and authorizing a total amount of feedstock and compost on-site at any one time of up to 200 cubic yards, or 500 cubic yards for a composting activity owned by a public agency.

SB 731
(Archuleta) Trash Receptacles and Storage Containers: Reflective Markings.

Chapter 232, Statutes of 2025
This measure applies the existing exemption from the additional eight-strip requirement to a receptacle or container with reflectors applied prior to Jan. 1, 2025, and eliminates the requirement that a trash receptacle or storage container’s reflective tape be made of certain high-performance retroreflective sheeting.

G. Water

AB 43 (Schultz) Wild and Scenic Rivers.

Chapter 431, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends indefinitely the current date of Dec. 31, 2025, by which the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency is authorized to take action to add rivers or segments of rivers to the state’s wild and scenic river system if, among other things, the federal government enacts a statute that would require the removal or delisting of any Environmental Quality 41
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river or segment of a river in the state included in the national wild and scenic rivers system and not in the state wild and scenic rivers system.

AB 59 (Aguiar-Curry) Reclamation District No. 108: Hydroelectric Power.

Chapter 141, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the Reclamation District No. 108 ability to exercise its hydroelectric power authority beyond Jan. 1, 2026. It also requires Reclamation District No. 108 to submit a report to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Local Government on or before Jan. 1, 2031, and between Jan. 1, 2035, and Jan. 1, 2036, containing certain information, including, among other things, whether the district has obtained permission from the Colusa Local Agency Formation Commission to enact its hydroelectric authority.

AB 263
(Rogers) Scott River: Shasta River: Watersheds.

Chapter 130, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that emergency regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board for the Scott River and Shasta River watersheds shall remain in effect until Jan. 1, 2031, or until permanent rules establishing and implementing long- term instream flow requirements are adopted for those watersheds, whichever occurs first.

AB 293
(Bennett) Groundwater Sustainability Agency: Transparency.

Chapter 359, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires each groundwater sustainability agency to publish the membership of its board of directors on its Internet website or on the local agency’s Internet website. The measure also requires each groundwater sustainability agency to publish a link on its Internet website or its local agency’s Internet website to the location on the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Internet website where the statements of economic interests, filed by the members of the board and executives of the agency, can be viewed.

AB 367
(Bennett) Water: County of Ventura: Fire Suppression.

Chapter 690, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a water supplier, beginning July 1, 2030, to have access to sufficient backup energy sources to operate critical fire suppression infrastructure needed to supply water for at least 24 hours for the purpose of fire suppression in high or very high fire hazard severity zones in the County of Ventura, or to have access to alternative sources of water supplied by a different water supplier or agency that can serve this same purpose of supplying backup water to critical wells and water pumps for 24 hours. This measure requires the water supplier to take various actions, including annually inspecting critical fire suppression infrastructure and backup energy sources and notifying the Ventura County Office of Emergency Services within three business days of any reduction in its water delivery capacity that could substantially hinder firefighting operations or significantly delay the replenishment of reservoirs. This measure requires, if any fire damages and makes uninhabitable more than 10 residential dwellings within the service area of a water supplier, a report be made by the Environmental Quality 42
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Ventura County Fire Department in cooperation with the water supplier. By levying new requirements on the Ventura County Fire Department, this measure creates a state- mandated local program.

AB 523
(Irwin) Metropolitan Water Districts: Proxy Vote Authorizations.

Chapter 266, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a representative of a member public agency, until Jan. 1, 2030, that is entitled to designate or appoint only one representative to the board of directors to assign a proxy vote authorization to a representative of another member public agency to be exercised when the assigning representative is unable to attend a meeting or meetings of the board. The measure requires the proxy vote authorization to be memorialized by a written instrument. The measure prohibits a proxy vote authorization from authorizing the assumption of the assigning representative’s officer position at the designated meeting and limits a proxy vote authorization’s effectiveness to no more than six board meetings in a calendar year.

AB 639 (Soria) Dams: Exceptions.

Chapter 617, Statutes of 2025
This measure excludes from the definition of a dam a barrier that does not impound water above the top of a levee where maximum storage behind the barrier has a minimum of three feet of freeboard on the levee and is applied to specific weirs.

AB 709 (Gonzalez, Jeff) Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: Groundwater Sustainability Plans.

Chapter 439, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that when a groundwater sustainability agency makes a submission to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), nothing shall be construed to prohibit groundwater sustainability agencies who have developed multiple groundwater sustainability plans for a basin from amending their coordination agreement following the DWR’s issuance of an assessment of the plans.

AB 764 (Gonzalez, Jeff) Birds and Mammals: Nongame Birds: Mute Swans.

Chapter 441, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows, until Jan. 1, 2031, a mute swan to be taken or possessed under similar circumstances as other listed nongame birds. The measure encourages a person to report to the Department of Fish and Wildlife when they take or possess a mute swan.

AB 1096 (Connolly) Water: Schoolsites: Lead Testing.

Chapter 290, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a community water system, when making outreach attempts to elementary schools and childcare facilities for the purposes of offering lead sampling in drinking water, to compile specific information and to provide elementary schools and childcare facilities that decline lead testing with an opportunity to provide information about their reasons for declining by allowing them to select from a list of options, unless the school or childcare facility is exempted from lead testing by federal waiver. This Environmental Quality 43
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measure authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to add additional reasons for declining lead testing to the list. This measure requires a community water system to submit all of the above-described information that it compiles or that is provided to the SWRCB. This measure requires the SWRCB, on or before June 30, 2028, to make all information publicly available in a searchable format on its website.

AB 1319
(Schultz) Protected Species: California Endangered Species Act.

Chapter 638, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes it unlawful for a person in California to import, cause to be imported, export, cause to be exported, transport, sell, offer for sale, possess with the intent to sell, receive, acquire, or purchase any fish, wildlife, or plant that was taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law or statute of any state or any law, treaty, or statute of the United States with regard to fish, wildlife, or plants in effect on Jan. 19, 2025. The measure, upon conviction or other entry of judgment, requires any seized evidence be forfeited. The measure makes these provisions inoperative on Dec. 31, 2031, and repeals them on Jan. 1, 2032.

AB 1466 (Hart) Groundwater Adjudication.

Chapter 643, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a court to treat persons with claims of water right to extract or divert only minor quantities of water separately from other parties in a comprehensive groundwater adjudication.

*SB 31 (McNerney) Water Quality: Recycled Water.

Chapter 736, Statutes of 2025
This measure redefines “recycled water” by clarifying that water discharged from a decorative body of water during storm events is not to be considered an unauthorized discharge if recycled water was used to restore levels due to evaporation.

*SB 72 (Caballero) The California Water Plan: Long-term Supply Targets.

Chapter 210, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), as part of the 2033 California Water Plan Update (Plan), to provide interim planning targets for 2050. This measure requires the targets to consider the identified and future water needs for all beneficial uses, including, but not limited to, urban uses, agricultural uses, tribal uses, and the environment, and ensure safe drinking water for all Californians.

This measure requires the Plan to include specific components, including a discussion of the estimated costs, benefits, and impacts of any project type or action that is recommended by DWR within the Plan that could help achieve the water supply targets.

*SB 394 (Allen) Water Theft: Fire Hydrants.

Chapter 540, Statutes of 2025
This measure adds to the acts for which a utility may bring a civil cause of action against any person who commits, authorizes, solicits, aids, abets, or attempts certain acts, including diverting or causing to be diverted utility services. Additions include Environmental Quality 44
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tampering with a fire hydrant, fire hydrant meter, or fire detector check or connecting to, diverting water from, or causing water to be diverted from a fire hydrant without authorization from the utility that owns the fire hydrant.

*SB 466
(Caballero) Drinking Water: Primary Standard For Hexavalent Chromium:

Exemption.

This measure prohibits a public water system that meets the total chromium maximum contaminant level (MCL) enforceable standard for drinking water in California from being determined, held, considered, or otherwise deemed in violation of the primary drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium while implementing a State Water Resources Control Board–approved compliance plan or while state action is pending on the proposed and submitted compliance plan.

SB 650 (Cabaldon) The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009.

Chapter 324, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes the provisions of the state’s Delta Plan, under the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, severable.

SB 697 (Laird) Determination of Water Rights: Stream System.

Chapter 422, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the State Water Resources Control Board’s statutory adjudication of water rights during an investigation of a stream system to require representatives of the SWRCB to investigate in detail the use of water with the authority, but no requirement, to conduct a field investigation, and authorizes the SWRCB, if it determines that the information provided by the person is inadequate, to issue information orders that require claimants to submit reports of water use from the stream system through a form provided by the SWRCB. This measure requires claimants to respond to that order within 75 days of the date of issuance by the SWRCB.

GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY,

AND LABOR RELATIONS
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III. Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations

A. Elections and Redistricting

AB 5
(Berman) Elections: Official Canvass.

Chapter 250, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires elections officials, on or before the 13th day following an election, to finish counting all ballots, with certain exceptions, including provisional ballots and ballots for which the voter must either verify or provide a signature, and release a vote count for those ballots. If an elections official will not meet that deadline, they would be required to file a notice of extension, including the reason for the extension, with the Secretary of State.

AB 16 (Alanis) Vote by Mail Ballots: Processing.

Chapter 140, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes elections officials to begin processing vote by mail ballot return envelopes and vote by mail ballots on the date on which the ballots are mailed, thereby allowing elections officials to begin processing vote by mail (VBM) return envelopes and ballots earlier than 29 days before an election.

AB 17 (Alanis) Elections: Precinct Maps.

Chapter 80, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the registrar of voters in each county to make available, upon request by any member of the public, a map in digital form provided free of charge that shows the effective boundaries of each precinct within the county.

*AB 94 (Bennett) Recall Elections: Successors.

Chapter 251, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that when a local officer is recalled and removed, that officer may not be appointed to fill the vacancy.

*
AB 287 (Lackey) Elections: Polling Places and Vote Centers.

Chapter 253, Statutes of 2025
This measure specifies that when a public entity provides use of one of its buildings for a polling place or vote center, it must also provide accessible parking, curbside parking, and storage at the location.

AB 827 (Berman) Voting: Signature Verification.

Chapter 279, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires that voters be given until the 22nd day after each regularly scheduled statewide election to submit a VBM ballot signature verification statement or an unsigned identification statement (hereinafter referred to collectively as “signature cure forms”) in order to resolve specified issues with their VBM ballots.

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AB 930 (Ward) Elections and Voting Procedures.

Chapter 282, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes various changes to state law governing voter-requested recounts of election results, including extending the deadline for mailed ballots to be timely cast from no later than three days after election day to seven days after election day.

AB 1072 (Pellerin) Elections: Ballot Mistakes.

Chapter 289, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Secretary of State (SOS), in consultation with county elections officials, to develop uniform standards and guidelines for a voter to correct mistakes made on the voter’s ballot. This measure authorizes the SOS to adopt regulations to ensure uniform application of the standards and guidelines.

AB 1249
(Wilson) Early Voting: Satellite Locations.

Chapter 296, Statutes of 2025
This measure permits a voter using a VBM ballot, no later than 29 days before the day of an election, to vote the ballot at the office of the elections official or a satellite location for a statewide election if the county does not conduct an all-mailed ballot election. This measure also requires:
• The county to provide at least one early voting location on the Saturday before the day of the election that is open for at least six hours. • The early voting location to permit the voter to return their vote by mail ballot, register to vote, receive and vote a provisional ballot, and receive a replacement ballot, among other requirements.

This measure repeals the requirement that the voter use a voter identification envelope when voting their VBM ballot at the satellite location and the requirement that the elections official issue a news release regarding satellite locations. Instead, it requires the elections official to provide notice of a satellite location not later than two weeks before voting may occur at the satellite location.

AB 1392
(Sharp-Collins) Elections: Voter Registration Information: Elected Officials and Candidates.

Chapter 300, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes the voter registration records of elected officials and candidates for elective office confidential, thereby making information from those records unavailable for election, scholarly, or political purposes. This measure requires the SOS to provide each county elections official with a list identifying each federal and state elected official or candidate residing in the county, requires the county elections official to add each local elected official or candidate to that list, and requires the county elections official to make the elected official or candidate’s information confidential within five business days. This measure requires the county elections official to exclude the elected official or candidate’s confidential information when producing any list, roster, or index.

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AB 1411 (Sharp-Collins) Voter Education and Outreach Plans.

Chapter 301, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a county that does not conduct their elections in accordance with the Voter's Choice Act model to design and implement an updated voter education and outreach plan.

AB 1512
(Committee on Elections) Elections: Ballot Language.

Chapter 303, Statutes of 2025
This measure generally requires the words “Yes” and “No” to be printed on separate lines of the ballot, with voting targets to the right of or below the description of the proposal to be voted on.

AB 1513 (Committee on Elections) Election Procedures: Certified Mail and Superior Courts.

Chapter 304, Statutes of 2025
This measure replaces the term “trial court” with “superior court” in provisions of the Elections Code related to the recall process and replaces the use of registered mail with electronic or certified mail for elections-related communications.

*ACA 8 (Rivas)Congressional Redistricting.

Chapter 156, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the state to temporarily use the congressional districts reflected in AB 604 of the 2025–26 Regular Session for every congressional election until the new congressional boundary lines are drawn by the commission in 2031. As a constitutional amendment, this measure requires the approval of the voters to take effect.

SB 3
(Cervantes) Elections: Signature Verification and Results.

Chapter 307, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes changes to the signature curing process for VBM ballots. These changes include:
• Prohibiting an elections official, when comparing signatures, from considering a voter’s identifying information, including gender, name, and address, and the amount of time spent reviewing a signature.
• Providing that an elections official is required to notify the voter when the signatures do not compare after a specified determination is made that the signatures differ.
• Authorizing a voter to work with a nongovernmental entity to complete a signature verification statement and unsigned envelope statement. • Requiring a signature verification statement and unsigned envelope statement to contain a statement that the county elections official is required to compare the voter’s signature with the signatures appearing in the voter’s registration record.

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SB 280 (Cervantes) Elections.

Chapter 97, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure calls a special statewide election for Nov. 4, 2025, requires the SOS to submit ACA 8 (Rivas) of 2025 to the voters for their consideration, and provides for the conduct of the election.

SB 398 (Umberg) Election Crimes: Payment Based on Voting or Voter Registration.

Chapter 246, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a person from paying or offering to pay money or other valuable consideration to another person to register to vote or vote.

SB 621
(Grove) Voter Registration: Military and Overseas Voters.

Chapter 101, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows the VBM ballot of a military or overseas voter to arrive up to three days after the election and still be counted, provided that the ballot is postmarked by the United States Postal Service or the Military Postal Service Agency on or before election day.

SB 851
(Cervantes) Elections.

Chapter 238, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure makes changes to state law to protect California’s elections from interference. These changes include requiring:
• A state or local agency or political subdivision that files or is served with a court action relating to elections that contains a claim arising under federal law to provide written notice to the SOS and the Attorney General within three days. • A state or local agency or political subdivision, at least 14 days before entering into a settlement, consent decree, or other court-approved agreement with respect to such a claim arising under federal law, to provide notice of the settlement, consent decree, or other court-approved agreement to the SOS and the Attorney General.

This measure exempts records or information exchanged pursuant to this provision from the California Public Records Act.

SB 852
(Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments) Political Reform Act of 1974: Citizens Redistricting Commission.

Chapter 331, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes noncontroversial changes to the Political Reform Act on various matters and to the Voters FIRST Act on how a vacancy on the Citizens Redistricting Commission is filled.

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B. Employee Relations

*AB 339 (Ortega) Local Public Employee Organizations: Notice Requirements.

Chapter 687, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the governing body of a public agency, and boards and commissions designated by law or by the governing body of a public agency, to give the recognized employee organization no less than 45 days’ written notice before issuing a request for proposals, request for quotes, or renewing or extending an existing contract to perform services that are within the scope of work of the job classifications represented by the recognized employee organization, subject to certain exceptions.

This measure requires the notice to include specified information, including the anticipated duration of the contract.

*AB 692
(Kalra) Employment: Contracts in Restraint of Trade.

Chapter 703, Statutes of 2025
This measure, for contracts entered into, on, or after Jan. 1, 2026, makes it unlawful to include in any employment contract, or to require a worker to execute as a condition of employment or a work relationship, terms that require the worker to pay an employer, training provider, or debt collector for a debt if the worker’s employment or work relationship with a specific employer terminates. This measure declares these contracts as contracts that restrain a person from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business and as void and contrary to public policy. This measure adds section 16608 to the Business and Professions Code.

AB 992
(Irwin) Peace Officers.

Chapter 175, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a peace officer hired by a public safety agency to obtain either an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or modern policing degree within 36 months after receiving their basic certificate from Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). This requirement would begin on Jan. 1, 2031, and this measure also repeals previous requirements regarding the modern policing degree.

SB 294
(Reyes) The Workplace Know Your Rights Act.

Chapter 667, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes the Workplace Know Your Rights Act. This measure requires an employer, on or before Feb. 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to provide a stand- alone written notice to each current employee of specified workers’ rights, including the constitutional rights of an employee when interacting with law enforcement at the workplace. This measure also requires the employer to provide the written notice to each new employee upon hire and to provide the written notice annually to an employee’s authorized representative, if any. This measure requires the Labor Commissioner to develop a template notice that an employer may use to comply with the notice requirement described above. The Labor Commissioner must post the template notice on its Internet website on or before Jan. 1, 2026, and to post an updated template notice annually thereafter.

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SB 303 (Smallwood-Cuevas) Employment: Bias Mitigation Training: Unlawful Discrimination.

Chapter 216, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that an employee’s assessment, testing, admission, or acknowledgment of their own personal bias that was made in good faith and solicited or required as part of a bias mitigation training does not constitute unlawful discrimination.

SB 459
(Grayson) Peace Officers: Confidential Communications: Exceptions:

Group Peer Support Services.

Chapter 456, Statutes of 2025
This measure gives law enforcement personnel the right to refuse to disclose, and prevent another from disclosing, confidential communications between the law enforcement personnel and a peer support team member or another law enforcement personnel and authorizes the disclosure of a confidential communication in a juvenile delinquency proceeding.

*SB 521
(Gonzalez) Public Employment: Disqualification.

Chapter 92, Statutes of 2025
This measure permanently disqualifies a city manager or attorney, or any person acting under contract for such services, convicted of a felony from any future public employment in an equivalent role. This measure also adds a felony involving a conflict of interest arising directly out of a public employee’s official duties as grounds for a five- year disqualification from any public employment within the state.

SB 590 (Durazo) Paid Family Leave: Eligibility: Care for Designated Persons.

Chapter 772, Statutes of 2025
This measure, commencing July 1, 2028, expands eligibility for benefits under the paid family leave program to include individuals who take time off work to care for a seriously ill designated person. Designated person is defined to mean any care recipient related by blood or whose association with the individual is the equivalent of a family relationship.

SB 597
(Cortese) Labor-related Liabilities: Direct Contractor and Subcontractor.

Chapter 774, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the statutory remedy that allows a labor trust fund to collect from a direct contractor the unpaid contributions owed to workers by a subcontractor. This measure aligns the statutory remedy with the state’s mechanic’s lien law in an attempt to avoid preemption by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

SB 617
(Arreguín) California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act.

Chapter 229, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the information employers are required to include in a California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice and requires employers that choose to coordinate services through a local workforce development board (LWDB) or another entity to do so within 30 days of the notice.

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SB 642 (Limón) Employment: Payment of Wages.

Chapter 468, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes changes to the California’s Equal Pay Act by:
• Revising the definition of “pay scale” for purposes of existing job posting requirements.
• Increasing the statute of limitations on civil actions for employer violations. • Specifying what constitutes a cause of action for violations.

SB 693
(Cortese) Employees: Meal Periods.

Chapter 95, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends an existing exception from meal period requirements, applicable to certain employees covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement (CBA), to an employee of a water corporation.

SB 854 (Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement) Unemployment Insurance.

Chapter 240, Statutes of 2025
This measure defines “mail,” “mailing,” or “mailed” to include a writing transmitted by the United States Postal Service or other common mail carrier or by electronic transmission.

C. Government Operations

AB 64 (Pacheco) Vital Records.

Chapter 662, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, beginning no earlier than two years after an appropriation of funds by the Legislature, the State Registrar of Vital Statistics to require a diacritical mark on an English letter within a name field of a parent or registrant to be properly recorded on a certificate of live birth, fetal death, or death and on a marriage license and certificate or confidential marriage license and certificate.

*AB 91
(Harabedian) State and Local Agencies: Demographic Data.

Chapter 357, Statutes of 2025
This measure, commencing Jan. 1, 2028, requires state and local agencies that collect demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate collection categories and tabulations for major Middle Eastern or North African groups and, with certain exceptions, to include that data in every demographic report published on or after Jan. 1, 2029, and to make the aggregated data available to the public.

*AB 1079
(Ávila Farías) Civil Appeals: Stay of Enforcement.

Chapter 178, Statutes of 2025
This measure specifies that filing an appeal does not automatically pause the enforcement of a trial court’s judgment or order if the court has found that a party’s at- large election method violates, or is likely to violate, either the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 or the Fair and Inclusive Redistricting for Municipalities and Political Subdivisions of 2023. However, the Secretary of State may certify that a stay is Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations 52
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necessary to ensure the orderly administration of state elections, allowing the trial court’s order to be paused during the appeal. This measure applies only to actions filed on or after Jan. 1, 2026, and does not prevent appellate courts from issuing writs. It also requires local agencies with invalidated election maps, if the ruling is not stayed, to reimburse county election officials for actual costs incurred in conducting elections under the court’s order.

SB 400
(Cortese) Labor: Elective Compensation under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Chapter 220, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure, until Jan. 1, 2029, authorizes a taxpayer, employer, contractor, or subcontractor to make an elective retroactive wage payment to workers who performed work on a qualified renewable clean energy facility pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) if certain requirements are met, including, among others, that the facility is not a public works project and would not otherwise be subject to the Davis-Bacon Act. This measure would specify that those provisions do not apply to, among others, violations of any other provision of law unrelated to the payment of retroactive prevailing wage correction payments in connection with the application for federal tax benefits pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

SB 464
(Smallwood-Cuevas) Employer Pay Data.

Chapter 760, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires an employer to collect and store any demographic information gathered by an employer or labor contractor for the purpose of submitting the pay data report separately from employees’ personnel records, and, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, increases the number of job categories to 23.

*
SB 482 (Weber Pierson) Roster of Public Officials: Local Government.

Chapter 762, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, no more than 120 days after each general election, the governing body of each city, county, or city and county, or their delegated local entity, to submit to the SOS an updated list of local elected or appointed officials for publication.

*SB 513
(Durazo) Personnel Records.

Chapter 654, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the scope of personnel records that a current and former employee or their representative has a right to inspect and receive a copy of to include education or training records. This measure also requires an employer who maintains education or training records to ensure those records include all of the following:
• The name of the employee
• The name of the training provider
• The core competencies of a training, including skills in equipment or software • The resulting certification or qualification

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*SB 515 (Richardson) Local Government: Collection of Demographic Data.

Chapter 768, Statutes of 2025
This measure, commencing Jan. 1, 2027, requires a city, county, or city and county, including a charter city, when collecting demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of persons hired for employment by a city, county, or city and county, to include the additional collection categories and tabulations for specified Black or African American groups.

SB 524
(Arreguín) Law Enforcement Agencies: Artificial Intelligence.

Chapter 587, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires every law enforcement agency to maintain a policy that requires an artificial intelligence (AI)–generated official report to identify the type of AI program used to generate the report and include the signature of the officer who prepared the report.

*SB 827
(Gonzalez) Local Agency Officials: Training.

Chapter 661, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands which local agency officials are required to complete ethics training to include department heads, or other similar administrative officers, and requires officials who commence service on or after Jan. 1, 2026, to receive their initial training within six months of commencing service. Local agencies must post clear instructions and contact information for requesting the training records on its Internet website.

This measure additionally requires all local agency officials to receive at least two hours of fiscal and financial training. The training must be received at least once every two years. This measure exempts from these requirements specified local agency officials if they are in compliance with existing education requirements specific to their positions.

This measure requires the training courses and materials to be developed in consultation with experts in local government finance.

D. Political Reform Act of 1974

AB 359
(Ramos) Fair Political Practices Commission.

Chapter 257, Statutes of 2025
This measure removes the Jan. 1, 2026, sunset date from a provision of law that authorizes the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to contract with a local government agency, upon mutual agreement, to administer, implement, and enforce the agency's local campaign finance or government ethics laws.

*AB 789
(Bonta) Political Reform Act of 1974: Security Expenses.

Chapter 621, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows a candidate or elected official, until 2029, to use an unlimited amount of campaign funds for security expenses to protect a candidate, elected officer, or the immediate family or staff of a candidate or elected officer.

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AB 808 (Addis) Campaign Statements and Registrations: Filing Online or Electronically.

Chapter 278, Statutes of 2025
This measure eliminates the option to file various statements and reports by facsimile transmission and authorizes certain reports to be filed by email. This measure provides for a required independent expenditure verification statement to appear only on the semiannual or preelection campaign statement that discloses the independent expenditure. It also updates terms used in state law to reflect the electronic filing of required campaign-related reports.

AB 953 (Pacheco) Political Reform Act of 1974: Contributions and Expenditures by Foreign Nationals.

Chapter 170, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits foreign nationals, except for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, from making campaign contributions or expenditures in connection with state and local elections, and prohibits the solicitation of contributions from such foreign nationals.

AB 1029
(Valencia) Statements of Financial Interest: Digital Financial Assets.

Chapter 85, Statutes of 2025
This measure, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, expands the definition of “investment” for purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 to include a digital financial asset, and specifically requires public officials to disclose interests in their digital financial assets.

AB 1286
(Boerner) Political Reform Act of 1974: Prospective Employment.

Chapter 186, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires certain public officials to disclose an arrangement for prospective employment on an official's statement of economic interests, also referred to as a Form 700.

AB 1511
(Committee on Elections) Political Reform Act of 1974: Refunding and Transferring Contributions: Voter Information Guide.

Chapter 249, Statutes of 2025
This measure conforms provisions in the Political Reform Act of 1974 that currently refer to the ballot pamphlet or sample ballot to instead refer to the state voter information guide or county voter information guide, respectively.

*SB 42
(Umberg) Political Reform Act of 1974: Public Campaign Financing:

California Fair Elections Act of 2026.

Chapter 245, Statutes of 2025
This measure eliminates the prohibition on general law cities from enacting public campaign finance programs. It also allows the state and other currently prohibited entities to establish these programs. This measure also triples the maximum potential fine for criminal violations of the ban on campaign contributions and expenditures by foreign entities. This measure would only be operative upon voter approval in Nov. 2026.

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SB 760 (Allen) Behested Payments: Public Appeal for Payment.

Chapter 551, Statutes of 2025
This measure exempts from behested payment reporting requirements any payments made in response to a public appeal by an elected officer or member of the CPUC made through television, radio, billboards, online platforms, or public speeches, so long as the appeal is not a specific fundraising effort the officer agreed to support. However, the exemption does not apply if the recipient organization is not a government agency and the officer or their immediate family, campaign staff, or officeholder staff holds a position of influence with the organization—such as board member, executive officer, salaried employee, founder, or honorary/advisory board member—or if the officer learns within two years that a specific payment resulted from their appeal. In such cases, the officer or PUC member must report the payment within 30 days of becoming aware of it.

E. Public Employee Retirement System

*AB 1067
(Quirk-Silva) Public Employees’ Retirement: Felony Convictions.

Chapter 388, Statutes of 2025
This measure amends the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) of 2013 by adding a new provision relating to public employee misconduct and retirement benefits forfeiture due to a felony conviction. This measure requires a public employer that is investigating a public employee for misconduct arising out of or in the performance of the public employee’s official duties in pursuit of the office or appointment, or in connection with obtaining salary, disability retirement, service retirement, or other benefits, to continue the investigation even if the public employee retires while under investigation if the investigation indicates that the public employee may have committed a crime. A public employer is required to, if the investigation indicates that the public employee may have committed a crime, refer the matter to the appropriate law enforcement agency and would then authorize the public employer to close the investigation.

SB 301 (Grayson) County Employees Retirement Law of 1937: Employees.

Chapter 749, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a county or district whose officers and employees are enrolled as members of a retirement system under the County Employees Retirement Law from excluding from membership in the system any employee, group, or classification, other than those excludable officers and employees.

*SB 443
(Rubio) Retirement: Joint Powers Authorities.

Chapter 756, Statutes of 2025
This measure clarifies that a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) may offer the classic pension formula to the JPA employees associated with a non-founding public agency who become employees of the JPA within 180 days of the non-founding public agency joining the JPA. This measure also authorizes the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency to offer a classic pension formula to eligible employees.

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F. Public Meetings and Public Records

*AB 343 (Pacheco) California Public Records Act: Elected or Appointed Officials.

Chapter 142, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the definition of “elected or appointed official” so that protections in existing law against disclosure of personal identifying information about such officials apply to more officials.

*AB 370
(Carrillo) California Public Records Act: Cyberattacks.

Chapter 34, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the definition of unusual circumstances under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) to include the inability of the agency, because of a cyberattack, to access its electronic servers or systems in order to search for and obtain a record that the agency believes is responsive to a request and is maintained on the servers or systems in an electronic format.

AB 847
(Sharp-Collins) Peace Officers: Confidentiality of Records.

Chapter 383, Statutes of 2025
This measure grants access to the confidential personnel records of peace officers and custodial officers and records maintained by their employing agencies to civilian law enforcement oversight boards or commissions during investigations or related proceedings concerning the conduct of those officers. This measure requires those oversight boards to maintain the confidentiality of those records and authorizes them to conduct closed sessions to review confidential records.

AB 1004
(Wallis) Tribal Financial Information: Public Records: Exemption.

Chapter 132, Statutes of 2025
This measure exempts records containing financial information provided by an Indian tribe to a public agency as a condition of or requirement for receiving financial assistance from inspection and disclosure under the CPRA.

*AB 1178
(Pacheco) Peace Officers: Confidentiality of Records.

Chapter 635, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a court, in an action to compel disclosure of public records, to consider whether a particular peace officer is currently operating undercover and their duties demand anonymity when determining whether an agency appropriately redacted a disclosable personnel record under the CPRA on the basis that there is a specific, articulable, and particularized reason to believe that disclosure of the record would pose a significant danger to the physical safety of the peace officer, custodial officer, or another person.

AB 1388
(Bryan) Law Enforcement: Settlement Agreements.

Chapter 729, Statutes of 2025
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or otherwise halt or make findings in a misconduct investigation. This measure also specifies that such agreements are subject to disclosure under the CPRA.

*SB 707
(Durazo) Open Meetings: Meeting and Teleconference Requirements.

Chapter 327, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes various changes to the rules for local agencies to hold public meetings pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act. (Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document.)

G. Workers’ Compensation

*AB 1293
(Wallis) Workers’ Compensation: Qualified Medical Evaluators.

Chapter 298, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the administrative director of the Division of Workers’ Compensation to develop and make available a template qualified medical evaluator (QME) report form and a medical evaluation request form for parties to communicate with a panel QME.

AB 1398
(Valencia) Workers’ Compensation.

Chapter 640, Statutes of 2025
This measure clarifies the following provisions:
• Existing laws on referrals for workers’ compensation related-services do not preclude any other applicable laws.
• An interested party in a workers’ compensation claim must disclose a financial interest in an entity providing services, in writing, to a third-party payer or any other entity paid for services furnished pursuant to a referral.

*SB 447
(Umberg) Workers’ Compensation: Death Benefits.

Chapter 653, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases the age that minor dependents are able to continue to receive health benefits under the workers’ compensation death benefits coverage when specified firefighters, peace officers, or Orange County Sheriff’s Special Officers die in the line of duty, from 21 years to 26 years of age.

*SB 487
(Grayson) Workers’ Compensation.

Chapter 763, Statutes of 2025
This measure specifies that when the injured employee is a peace officer or a firefighter who is employed by a city, county, a city and county, or a fire protection district, the employer is entitled to receive no more than one-third of a third-party defendant’s applicable liability insurance policy limits, under specified circumstances. This measure limits an employer’s right to reimbursement, subrogation, or lien to the maximum recovery threshold. The measure prohibits an employer from asserting any recovery by one of these injured employees as a credit or offset against future workers’ compensation benefits and requires a settlement or release to limit an employer’s claim Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations 58
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for reimbursement to the portion of the settlement not allocated to the employee pursuant to these provisions.

SB 847 (Reyes) Workers’ Compensation: Uninsured Employer: Transfer of Real Property.

Chapter 790, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the director of the Department of Industrial Relations to make a prima facie finding that an uninsured employer transferred property to evade a lawful lien. If sufficient evidence shows the employer or a major shareholder transferred real property while retaining a beneficial interest, the director may deem it a resulting trust, allowing a previously recorded lien to remain valid as if the transfer had not occurred.

The director must notify the transferor in writing of the finding, their appeal rights, and potential lien attachment. This measure also permits affected parties to request a hearing or seek a writ of mandate in superior court to challenge the finding.

HOUSING, COMMUNITY, AND

ECONOMC DEVELOPMENT
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IV. Housing, Community, and Economic Development

A. Land Use/Planning

AB 36 (Soria) Housing Elements: Prohousing Designation.

Chapter 485, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), beginning in the 7th Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) Cycle, to evaluate materials during the housing element review process if a jurisdiction qualifies for the pro-housing designation upon request from the local government in a small rural jurisdiction. This measure defines a “small rural jurisdiction” as either a city with a population of fewer than 25,000 or a county with a population of fewer than 200,000. Finally, this measure allows these jurisdictions to be exempt from renewing their pro-housing designations for at least five years. However, HCD is still allowed to remove these designations later if necessary.

AB 39 (Zbur) General Plans: Local Electrification Planning Act.

Chapter 356, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies with a population of 75,000 or more to update their general plans between Jan. 1, 2027, and Jan. 1, 2030, and to include specific plans for electrification, decarbonization, community energy, or other similar initiatives in their general plans. This measure allows local agencies to use a similar plan they have previously adopted to comply with the law. The plans must specifically:
• Identify opportunities to expand electric vehicle charging and other zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) fueling infrastructure.
• Identify strategies for public electrification and decarbonization of new and existing buildings.
• Identify opportunities to expand zero-emission and renewable distributed energy resources to increase clean energy generation and local energy reliability. • Identify where infrastructure may be needed to meet existing and projected needs of medium- and heavy-duty ZEV fleets.
• Identify areas where grid infrastructure upgrades are needed to meet the needs of the demand.
• Provide policies that meet the needs of disadvantaged communities, low-income households, and small businesses for equitable investments in zero-emission technology that directly benefit them.

AB 87
(Boerner) Housing Development: Density Bonuses.

Chapter 486, Statutes of 2025
This measure specifies that a local government is not required to grant a concession or incentive under the Density Bonus Law for the portion of a housing development project that is a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, or other transient lodging.

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AB 301 (Schiavo) Planning and Zoning: Housing Development Projects:

Postentitlement Phase Permits: State Agencies.

Chapter 488, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires state agencies to comply with the timelines of the Permit Streamlining Act when reviewing permits for housing development projects.

*
AB 507 (Haney) Adaptive Reuse: Streamlining: Incentives.

Chapter 493, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies, after July 1, 2026, to approve adaptive reuse projects ministerially. Additionally, this measure exempts adaptive reuse projects from all impact fees that are not reasonably related to the impacts resulting from the change of use of the site from nonresidential to residential or mixed-use. Any fees charged must be roughly proportional to the difference in impacts caused by the change of use.

Finally, the measure requires specific affordability requirements depending on the type of adaptive reuse project. For rental housing, the project must provide either 8% of the units for very low-income households and 5% of the units for extremely low-income households or 15% of the units for lower-income households. For housing meant for home ownership, the project must provide 30% of the units for moderate-income households or 15% of the units for lower-income households. For a mixed-use project, at least half of the square footage must be dedicated to residential uses. The measure also requires projects to comply with specific labor standards.

*
AB 610 (Alvarez) Housing Element: Governmental Constraints: Disclosure Statement.

Chapter 494, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies, beginning in the 7th RHNA Cycle, to disclose any new or amended governmental constraints adopted after the due date of the previous housing element and before submitting the current draft housing element to HCD.

Additionally, thi measure requires local governments to disclose any new or amended government constraints the local government can anticipate adopting in the first three years of the planning period after the housing element is compliant with state law if the local government has published an agenda that will consider adopting, amending, or increasing government regulations on housing development.

*
AB 648 (Zbur) Community Colleges: Housing: Local Zoning Regulations:

Exemption.

Chapter 378, Statutes of 2025
This measure exempts community college districts (CCD) from complying with local zoning ordinances for university housing development projects constructed on property owned or leased by the CCD if the site is located within a half mile of a main campus or within a half mile of a satellite campus that existed before July 1, 2025.

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*AB 670 (Quirk-Silva) Planning and Zoning: Housing Element: Converted Affordable Housing Units.

Chapter 701, Statutes of 2025
Beginning in 2027, this measure requires local agencies in their Annual Progress Reports (APR) to report more information to HCD. It also authorizes local governments to include in its count up to 25% of its RHNA allocation for low-, very low-, extremely low-, or acutely low-income households as well as the number of units in an existing multifamily building that were converted to affordable housing by imposing long-term affordability covenants and restrictions. The APR is required to include the following information:
• Whether a housing development application received in the prior year is subject to replacement housing or relocation assistance obligations as required by local, state, and federal law.
• The total number of replacement units by income level that were entitled, received a building permit, or were given a certificate of occupancy. • A report on the demolition of housing units for any purpose, including the total number of housing units approved for demolition or demolished during the year.

The report must include the location of the demolition, the date, the total number of rental and ownership units demolished, the number by income level of protected units demolished, the description of the approved uses on the site, and a description of any relocation assistance provided as required by the Housing Crisis Act.
• A report on replacement housing units required by law for approved development projects that are not housing development projects. The report must include: the approved or proposed relocation of the replacement units, the entity developing the replacement units, and the anticipated completion date of the replacement units.

*AB 712
(Wicks) Housing Reform Laws: Enforcement Actions: Fines and Penalties.

Chapter 496, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows a court to fine a local jurisdiction $10,000 for violations of housing reform laws defined as “any law or regulation, or provision of any law or regulation, that establishes or facilitates rights, safeguards, streamlining benefits, time limitations, or other protections for the benefit of applicants for housing development projects, or restricts, proscribes, prohibits, or otherwise imposes any procedural or substantive limitation on a public agency for the benefit of a housing development project.” If the project consists of four or fewer units, however, the fine increases to $50,000 per violation. Additionally, if a court has previously found the local agency to have violated the same housing reform law during the same planning cycle, the fine can be increased to five times the original amount for both categories of fines. This measure requires the Attorney General or HCD to send written communication to the local agency 60 days before the fines commence explaining the court's finding and the reasoning behind the fine, allowing the local government to correct the violation before the fine begin.

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*AB 726 (Ávila Farías) Planning and Zoning: Annual Report: Rehabilitated Units.

Chapter 704, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes local agencies to include in its APR to HCD and receive RHNA credit for affordable housing units that have been substantially rehabilitated. To qualify, the affordable housing units must have an average affordability of no greater than 45% of area median income, the housing must be at least 15 years old, and local governments must have been awarded funds of at least $60,000 per unit, including forgiveness of principal or interest on existing debt. However, the measure does not allow these units to qualify for RHNA targets as required for HCD evaluation if SB 35 (2017) applies.

AB 752 (Ávila Farías) Child Daycare Facilities.

Chapter 164, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies to approve daycare center operations within or on the same grounds as multifamily housing by right. This measure designates the projects as residential uses for zoning purposes. Additionally, this measure prohibits a local jurisdiction from imposing a charge, tax, fee for a business license, equivalent instrument, or permit for the privilege of operating a daycare center that is within or on the same grounds as multifamily housing.

*
AB 818 (Ávila Farías) Permit Streamlining Act: Local Emergencies.

Chapter 534, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies to approve or deny completed applications for modular homes, prefabricated homes, and accessory dwelling units within 10 business days of receiving a completed application, provided that the resident will occupy the development until the rebuilding or repair of their housing is completed after a natural disaster. Additionally, this measure requires local agencies to provide specific information on their website by March 31, 2028, and update the information every four years. Specifically, local agencies must post the following on their website:
• Permitting requirements as required by this law
• A checklist of the conditions that would result in a residential property being deemed a substandard building
• A notice that a person may obtain a confidential third-party code inspection from a licensed contractor to determine the unit’s existing condition or potential scope of building improvements before applying for a permit to rebuild or repair an affected property
• A dashboard that tracks permitting timelines and agency performance if the local government has a population greater than 30,000 residents

*AB 893
(Fong) Housing Development Projects: Objective Standards: Campus Development Zone.

Chapter 500, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies to approve housing developments ministerially within a half mile of the main campus of a state public university, college, or community college. This measure requires that housing development in these campus development zones include a minimum density of 80 units per acre and a height limit of 65 feet if the Housing, Community, and Economic Development 63

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project is in a metropolitan jurisdiction, and a density of 70 units per acre and a height limit of 45 feet if the project is located in a non-metropolitan jurisdiction. Finally, this measure establishes objective standards in campus development zones, including that no setbacks can be required, aboveground parking must be set back at least 25 feet, and the ground floor of a building must have at least 80% of the street frontage within 10 feet of the street.

*AB 920
(Caloza) Permit Streamlining Act: Housing Development Projects:

Centralized Application Portal.

Chapter 501, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies with a population of 150,000 or more by Jan. 1, 2028, to develop a centralized application portal available on their website for applicants to housing development projects. The measure allows a local agency to extend the deadline to Jan. 1, 2030, if the local agency can make a written finding that it would need to increase permitting fees to make a centralized portal available substantially.

AB 1007 (B. Rubio) Land Use: Development Project Review.

Chapter 502, Statutes of 2025
This measure shortens the timeline for responsible agencies to approve housing development projects. Lead agencies that are not the California Coastal Commission, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, State Water Resources Control Board, or the California Regional Water Quality Board must approve the project within 45 days after approval from a lead agency or after receiving a completed application for a development project. The above state agencies must approve the projects within 90 days of a lead agency approving a project or receiving a completed application for a development project.

AB 1021 (Wicks) Housing: Local Educational Agencies.

Chapter 503, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the minimum affordability requirements for housing developed by local educational agencies, requiring that 30% of the units have affordable rent to lower-income households and at least 20% of the units have affordable rent to moderate-income households, or that at least 12% of the units have rent affordable to very-low income households, 15% have rent affordable to lower-income households, and at least 20% have rent affordable to moderate-income households. The measure additionally specifies that local educational agency housing qualifies for the density bonus law.

*
AB 1061 (Quirk-Silva) Housing Developments: Urban Lot Splits: Historical Resources.

Chapter 505, Statutes of 2025
This measure removes the absolute exemption for historic districts for SB 9 (2021) projects. Local agencies may only exempt duplex projects on contributing structures within a historic district included on the State Historic Resources Inventory or in a historic district adopted through a city or county ordinance, or if the parcel is individually listed as a historical resource in the State Historic Resources Inventory. For urban lot Housing, Community, and Economic Development 64

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splits, local agencies may only exempt them if the parcel is located on historical landmark property in the State Historic Resources Inventory or a site designated as a city or county landmark via local ordinance. Additionally, urban lot splits may be exempt if they require the demolition or alteration of a contributing structure within a historic district or if the existing exterior structural wall is located in a historic district.

AB 1275
(Elhawary) Regional Housing Needs: Regional Transportation Plan.

Chapter 593, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires HCD to determine each region’s existing and projected housing need three years before the next scheduled housing element revision, replacing the former two-year timeline. Additionally, this measure requires HCD to consult with each council of governments (COG) regarding the assumptions and methodology to determine the region’s housing needs 38 months before the housing element due date, replacing the former 25-month timeline. This measure also requires the COG to consider the development pattern outlined in the region’s sustainable community strategy (SCS) of its regional transportation plan when developing its RHNA allocation methodology. Finally, this measure requires the RHNA allocation plan to be informed by the development pattern included in the SCS.

SB 21 (Durazo) Single-room Occupancy Units: Demolition and Replacement:

Housing Assistance Programs: Eligibility for Homeless Individuals and Families.

Chapter 511, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes local agencies to reduce the number of required replacement units for the replacement of an existing single room occupancy (SRO) building if the conversion results in the following:
• A larger unit to accommodate the addition of facilities, increase accessibility for persons with disabilities, or address code compliance matters with regard to health, welfare, life, and safety.
• The conversion will be completed within four years from the date of rehabilitation or demotion of the SRO unit. The local agency may provide a one-year delay to this requirement if the delay is outside the project proponent’s control. • The converted SRO unit will be a rental unit with affordable rent at or lower than the applicable affordable rent level of the replaced SRO unit, unless the affordable rent level is precluded due to limitations or other requirements of one or more funding sources of the housing development.
• The converted SRO unit will only be available to households with a household income at or below the income levels for lower-income, very low-income, extremely low-income, or acutely low-income households. • A converted unit will remain available at the applicable affordable rent level of the replaced SRO unit for the longest feasible amount of time, but not less than 55 years.
• A covenant of affordability shall be recorded with the county recorder prior to the issuance of the certificate of occupancy or completion of work as approved by the local agency.
• A displaced SRO unit occupant shall have a right of first refusal for admission to a replacement unit, provided the SRO unit occupant would not be precluded due Housing, Community, and Economic Development 65

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to unit-size limitations or other requirements of one or more funding sources of the housing development.

*SB 79 (Wiener) Housing Development: Transit-oriented Development.

Chapter 512, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies in urban transit counties, defined as “a county with more than 15 passenger rail stations,” beginning July 1, 2026, to approve housing projects within a half mile of specific transit stops with limited or no environmental review and public engagement projects at a density of anywhere from 80 dwellings per acre to 120 dwellings per acre at a height of five stories to nine stories, depending on the type of transit the project is near. (Cal Cities has prepared a comprehensive summary of this measure in Appendix A of this document).

*
SB 92 (Blakespear) Housing Development: Density Bonuses.

Chapter 484, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows local agencies to prohibit the use of the Density Bonus Law on the portion of a mixed-use development project that applies to a hotel, motel, bed-and- breakfast, or other transient lodging other than a residential hotel.

SB 158
(Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Land use.

Chapter 650, Statutes of 2025.

This measure requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to prepare to administer Round 7 of the HHAP program with the goal that the initial Round 7 disbursement will be available to grantees meeting the statutory provisions beginning Sept.1, 2026. This measure also includes notable land-use changes.

Specifically, this measure clarifies that the Permit Streamlining Act applies to ministerial housing development projects defined in the Housing Crisis Act that local agencies review. Additionally, the measure modifies the deadline for a lead public agency to approve or disapprove infill housing development projects exempt from CEQA to 30 days after the agency concludes a tribal consultation process or the time period required under the Housing Accountability Act. This measure also specifies that builder’s remedy projects greater than four acres are not eligible for a CEQA exemption or the limited application of CEQA as required in the Public Resources Code section 21080.1. Finally, this measure specifies that a housing development project located in a city with a population of more than 85,000 but less than 95,000 or in a county with a population of 440,000 but less than 455,000 must be a discretionary project if it meets the following requirements:
• A portion of the parcel where the project is located is identified on a United States Fish and Wildlife Service map as a freshwater forested or shrub wetland. • A portion of the parcel is located within a regulatory floodway determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in any official maps the agency publishes.
• The project is located on a parcel adjacent to a California historical landmark on the California Register of Historic Places.

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SB 233 (Seyarto) Regional Housing Need: Determination: Consultation with Councils of Governments.

Chapter 577, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the deadline for HCD to meet and consult with each COG beginning in the seventh revision of the housing element during the regional housing needs determination process. The following timelines apply beginning in the seventh cycle:
• At least 26 months prior to the scheduled revision for the Humboldt County Association of Governments, the Lake Area Planning Council, the Mendocino Council of Governments, and the County of Nevada
• At least 34 months prior to the scheduled revision for the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments • For all other COGs, at least 38 months prior to the scheduled revision • For the eighth and subsequent revisions of the housing element, at least 38 months prior to the scheduled revision of the housing element for the region

SB 262
(Wahab) Housing Element: Prohousing Designations: Prohousing Local Policies.

Chapter 513, Statutes of 2025
This measure amends the definition of pro-housing local policies in the Prohousing Designation Program to include policies that keep people housed. The measure allows local agencies to qualify for points if they have the following programs:
• A safe parking program that provides parking locations and options for individuals and families living in their vehicles if the program provides a bathroom facility and on-site security, establishes an enrollment process that may include a background check requirement, and establishes rules and regulations for the program.
• A safe camping program that provides safe camping locations and options for individuals and families experiencing unsheltered homelessness. • Adoption of ordinances, processes, or other mechanisms that expedite or remove barriers to approving low-barrier navigation centers, emergency shelters, or supportive housing that go beyond state law.

SB 340
(Laird) General Plans: Housing Element: Emergency Shelter.

Chapter 514, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the definition of emergency shelters in housing element law to include all services provided on-site at a shelter, including the addition or expansion of services consistent with written objective standards, as well as all supportive services for homeless individuals who occupy an emergency shelter for six months or less.

*
SB 484 (Laird) Coastal Resources: Coastal Development Permits: Infill Area Categorical Exclusion.

Chapter 416, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CCC, before July 1, 2027, to identify infill areas in at least three local jurisdictions that do not have a certified local coastal plan that exempts from the coastal development permitting requirement. Specifically, if a development in one of Housing, Community, and Economic Development 67

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these identified infill areas is a residential project made up solely of units that are deed restricted for very low-, low-, or moderate-income households, the development is categorically excluded from the requirement. This measure requires the CCC to consult with HCD to identify areas that affirmatively further fair housing, consider the inventory of housing element sites, and avoid sites projected to be impacted by sea level rise.

Additionally, all sites selected must obtain a land-use entitlement as required by the local jurisdiction. Finally, the CCC must post maps of the categorical exclusion areas on its website and submit a report to the Legislature, identifying the number of projects constructed or under construction in those areas.

SB 486
(Cabaldon) Regional Housing: Public Postsecondary Education: Changes In Enrollment Levels: California Environmental Quality Act.

Chapter 517, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires Metropolitan Planning Organizations to consider postsecondary enrollment when preparing the housing portion of their SCS. Additionally, the measure requires the Department of Finance and COGs to consider changes in student enrollment levels at campuses of the University of California, California State University, and California Community College systems when determining a region’s RHNA.

SB 507 (Limón) Planning and Zoning: Regional Housing Needs Allocation.

Chapter 519, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes local governments to enter into voluntary agreements with tribes to allow new tribal housing developments to count toward the locality’s RHNA if they meet the following conditions:
• The local government has permitting authority over the site where the tribal housing development project is located.
• The tribal housing development project is located within the boundaries of the local government.
• The units in the project meet the definition of a housing unit as defined by the United States Census Bureau.

If a local government does not have permitting authority over the site where the tribal housing development project is located, the voluntary agreement must demonstrate that the housing units will be built and include one of the following:
• An agreement with the tribe regarding approvals, permits, certificates of occupancy, or reporting new units to the Department of Finance. • Documentation from the tribe demonstrating that planned housing has been approved to be built within the current RHNA cycle.
• Data regarding the timing of project construction and unit affordability by household income category.

SB 611
(Richardson) Planning and Zoning: Community Plans: Review Under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Chapter 228, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure prohibits a court from invalidating a development project that was approved under an updated community plan that is being litigated under CEQA if the Housing, Community, and Economic Development 68

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development project is approved before the court issues a stay in connection with a challenge to the environmental impact report or community plan update and the application for the development project was deemed complete before the court issues a stay, order, or writ.

SB 625
(Wahab) Housing Developments: Disasters: Reconstruction of Destroyed or Damaged Structures.

Chapter 548, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes a ministerial approval process for rebuilding residential structures destroyed in declared disasters. It allows up to 110% of the prior structure’s size. It deems void and unenforceable any covenant, condition, or restriction contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer of or interest in real property that effectively prohibits substantially similar reconstruction of a residential structure damaged or destroyed in a disaster.

*
SB 786 (Arreguín) Planning and Zoning: General Plan: Judicial Challenges.

Chapter 526, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the HCD to initiate a review of a local agency if the local agency has failed to amend a local ordinance, development standard, condition, or policy within its housing element by the specific deadline it has set for itself to comply with the law and receive approval for its housing element. Additionally, this measure extends the deadline to bring an action against a local agency to comply with its housing element or complete a rezoning from 60 days to 120 days. Finally, this measure allows a court to grant a reasonable extension to the local agency if the HCD has not completed its review in time.

SB 838 (Durazo) Housing Accountability Act: Housing Development Projects.

Chapter 789, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the definition of a housing development project under the Housing Accountability Act to exclude any portions of a housing development project that include a hotel, motel, bed-and-breakfast, or other transient lodging use from the builder’s remedy. This measure allows a local agency to separately approve the portion of a builder’s remedy project that contains a hotel or motel use but clarifies that the project would not be eligible for any benefits granted to a housing development project, including streamlining provisions.

B. Accessory Dwelling Units

AB 462
(Lowenthal) Land Use: Accessory Dwelling Units.

Chapter 491, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires a local agency to issue a certificate of occupancy for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) constructed in a county subject to a proclamation of a state of emergency made by the Governor after Feb. 1, 2025, if the primary dwelling was substantially damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster. Additionally, this measure requires the California Coastal Commission to approve or deny a coastal development Housing, Community, and Economic Development 69

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permit for an ADU within 60 days of receiving a completed application or the application is deemed approved. Finally, this measure requires local governments without a certified local coastal program to immediately notify the CCC that an ADU permit application has been completed.

AB 1154
(Carrillo) Junior Accessory Dwelling Units.

Chapter 507, Statutes of 2025
This measure eliminates owner-occupancy requirements for junior accessory dwelling units (JADUs) if the JADU has separate sanitation facilities from the existing structure and requires that a rental for a JADU be longer than 30 days.

SB 9 (Arreguín) Accessory Dwelling Units: Ordinances.

Chapter 510, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes null and void any ADU ordinance if a local agency fails to submit a copy of its ordinance to the HCD within 60 days after adoption by the local government or fails to respond to findings by the HCD that the ADU ordinance does not comply with the law within 30 days.

*
SB 543 (McNerney) Accessory Dwelling Units and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units.

Chapter 520, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies to determine application completeness for an ADU or JADU within 15 business days of receiving an application, or it is deemed complete. Additionally, this measure clarifies that floor area standards in ADU and JADU law mean interior livable space instead of the total footprint. The measure also clarifies that ADUs or JADUs with less than 500 square feet of interior livable space are exempt from school impact fees. Finally, the measure provides additional organizational and technical changes to ADU and JADU law.

C. Mobile Homes

AB 391
(M. Rodriguez) Mobilehome Parks: Notices to Homeowners and Residents.

Chapter 339, Statutes of 2025
This measure permits mobile home park management to provide notices as required by the Mobilehome Residency Law to both mobile home residents and owners by electronic mail with written consent from the residents.

AB 456 (Connolly) Mobilehome Parks: Sales or Transfers: Prospective Purchasers of Mobilehomes.

Chapter 59, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the timeline for mobile-home park management to provide the mobilehome owner notice about necessary repairs or improvements necessary to a mobilehome that is being sold from 10 business days to 15 business days. If notice is not provided, it is deemed that park management has waived its right to require repairs Housing, Community, and Economic Development 70

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or improvements to the mobilehome as a condition of the sale unless the repairs or improvements are required by local ordinance, statutes, or regulations related to health and safety. This measure deems approved an application for tenancy from a prospective buyer if park management fails or refuses to notify the seller and prospective buyer within the required 15 business days of the acceptance or denial of the prospective buyer. Finally, this measure ensures that a new mobilehome owner is not considered an unlawful occupant if park management fails or refuses to notify the new mobilehome owner in a timely manner of the acceptance or rejection of their tenancy application.

AB 806
(Connolly) Mobilehomes: Cooling Systems.

Chapter 343, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits mobilehome park management from banning or restricting portable air-conditioning units, window air-conditioning units, swamp coolers or evaporative coolers, cooling fan systems, heat pumps, or any other cooling systems in mobilehomes.

D. Housing and Housing Finance

*AB 238
(Harabedian) Mortgage Forbearance: State of Emergency: Wildfire.

Chapter 128, Statutes of 2025(Urgency)
This measure requires a mortgage service provider to offer a 12-month payment pause for borrowers experiencing financial hardship due to the Jan. 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

AB 480
(Quirk-Silva) Personal Income Tax Law: Corporation Tax Law: Insurance Tax Law: Low-income Housing Tax Credit.

Chapter 492, Statutes of 2025
This measure eliminates the requirement that a taxpayer must choose to sell a certification for a low-income housing tax credit in their application for tax credits.

Instead, it allows them to certify the credit at any time before the tax credits are awarded.

SB 686 (Reyes) Housing Programs: Financing.

Chapter 523, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes HCD to allow owners of developments with affordable housing to use a loan from the department to pay for predevelopment costs, unreimbursed capital improvements, and unreimbursed operating deficits.

E. Development Fees

*SB 358
(Becker) Mitigation Fee Act: Mitigating Vehicular Traffic Impacts.

Chapter 515, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies to reduce traffic impact fees for projects located Housing, Community, and Economic Development 71

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within a half mile from three or more of the following: supermarket or grocery store, public park, community center, pharmacy or drugstore, medical clinic or hospital, public library, an elementary school, licensed childcare facility, or restaurant. If an agency wants to charge a higher fee, it must provide written findings supported by substantial evidence that the housing development project will not generate fewer automobile trips.

*SB 499 (Stern) Residential Projects: Fees and Charges.

Chapter 543, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes local agencies to collect parkland or recreational impact fees before issuing the certificate of occupancy if the parks or recreational facilities are identified for emergency purposes and are included in the safety element or local hazard mitigation plan. This measure also authorizes utility services to collect connection service charges at the time a service application is received, provided that the charges do not exceed the costs incurred as a result of the connection activities.

F. Housing Regulations

AB 253
(Ward) California Residential Private Permitting Review Act: Residential Building Permits.

Chapter 487, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure allows an applicant developing a residential project under 10 units to hire a third-party plan checker to review their housing plans if the local agency cannot complete the plan checking within 30 business days of receiving a completed application. This measure requires local agencies to provide the applicant with an estimated timeframe for review of the application. This measure requires the local jurisdiction to review the third-party plan check within 10 business days after receiving it back from the third-party inspector, or the application is deemed approved. Finally, beginning on April 1, 2027, local agencies are required to provide in their APR the number of residential building permits reviewed by the city, county, private professional provider, and the number of full-time staff directly involved in the processing of residential building permits.

AB 368
(Ward) Energy: Building Standards: Passive House Standards.

Chapter 145, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Energy Commission to evaluate the cost- effectiveness of passive housing building energy efficiency standards by climate zone and submit a report to the legislature on its findings.

AB 628 (McKinnor) Hiring of Real Property: Dwellings: Untenantability.

Chapter 342, Statutes of 2025
This measure deems a housing unit untenantable if there is not a stove or refrigerator that is maintained in good working order for any lease that begins, is amended, or extended after Jan. 1, 2026.

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AB 1050 (Schultz) Unlawfully Restrictive Covenants: Housing Developments.

Chapter 504, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes owners of commercial properties who wish to redevelop the property to include residential units to utilize an existing legal process to remove restrictive covenants on the property that limit the number, size, or location of residences on the property or the number of persons or families who may reside there.

AB 1308 (Hoover) Residential Building Permits: Inspections: Housing Accountability Act.

Chapter 509, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a local building department to inspect a residential project with fewer than 10 units within 10 business days of receiving a notice of completion for permitted work authorized by a building permit issued for a housing project. Failure by a local agency to complete the inspection within the specified timeline will constitute a violation of the Housing Accountability Act.

SB 655 (Stern) Dwelling Units: Indoor Temperature.

Chapter 522, Statutes of 2025
This measure declares that it is an established policy of the state that dwelling units must attain and maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature. This measure requires all relevant state agencies, as of Jan. 1, 2027, to consider this policy when revising, adopting, or establishing regulations that achieve the goal of this state policy.

G. Common Interest Developments

SB 410
(Grayson) Common Interest Developments: Association Records: Exterior Elevated Elements Inspection.

Chapter 516, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the owner of a separate interest in a common interest development to provide a copy of the exterior elevated element inspection to a prospective buyer and adds that the inspection report must be available as an association record for a homeowners’ association.

H. Landlord-Tenant

AB 246
(Bryan) Social Security Tenant Protection Act of 2025.

Chapter 337, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows tenants to use the interruption of social security payments from the federal government as an affirmative defense in an unlawful detainer proceeding until Jan. 20, 2029.

AB 414
(Pellerin) Residential Tenancies: Return of Security.

Chapter 340, Statutes of 2025
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electronically to return the security deposit to the tenant electronically, unless the landlord and tenant agree to a different method of returning the security deposit.

AB 863
(Kalra) Residential Rental Properties: Language Requirements.

Chapter 344, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Judicial Council to create by Jan. 1, 2027, a single summons form for mandatory use in an action for unlawful detainer to remove a tenant from a residential property in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, and requires the Judicial Council to publish the form on its website.

AB 1414
(Ransom) Landlord-tenant: Internet Service Provider Subscriptions.

Chapter 506, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires landlords to allow tenants to opt out of paying for any subscription from a third-party Internet service provider in connection with the tenancy if the tenancy begins, renews, or continues on a month-to-month basis after Jan. 1, 2026.

SB 477 (Blakespear) California Fair Employment and Housing Act: Enforcement Procedures.

Chapter 321, Statutes of 2025
This measure modifies timelines for the Civil Rights Department to issue right-to-sue notices and tolls the statute of limitations to bring a civil action related to violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act. This measure allows the Civil Rights Department to treat complaints involving multiple people as a single group case; pauses legal deadlines while an investigation, appeal, or parties attempt to resolve the issue outside of court; and delays right-to-sue notices until all group-related complaints and legal actions are completed.

SB 610
(Pérez) Disaster Assistance: Tenants, Mobilehome Parks, and Mortgages.

Chapter 547, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires mobile home park owners and landlords to return advance rental payments to tenants within 21 days of the date of termination when a tenancy is terminated due to damage or destruction by a disaster. Additionally, this measure requires landlords to remove debris caused by a disaster and mitigate hazards arising from it. Finally, this measure requires landlords to forgo a tenant’s obligation to pay rent if they are required to evacuate. If the tenant has already paid rent for the period of evacuation, the landlord must either return the rent within 10 days or allow the tenant to deduct the amount from the next month’s rent.

I. Community and Economic Development

AB 338
(Solache) Workforce Development: The Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura: 2025 Wildfires.

Chapter 532, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires the California Workforce Development Board to provide funding to the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity for workforce Housing, Community, and Economic Development 74

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strategies to ensure that a skilled and sufficient workforce is available for the rebuilding and recovery of areas in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties impacted by 2025 wildfires.

AB 417
(Carrillo) Local Finance: Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts:

Community Revitalization and Investment Authorities.

Chapter 260, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the type of small business facilities that enhanced infrastructure financing districts (EIFDs) can acquire, purchase, or repair to foster economic recovery.

This measure also allows EIFDs to amend their infrastructure financing plan without going through a complete set of hearing and notice procedures when adding participating taxing entities and their members to the public finance authority or to increase the amount of property tax revenue the EIFD can receive to account for the additional participating tax entities. Additionally, for community revitalization and investment authorities (CRIAs), this measure no longer requires CRIAs to meet both income and blight requirements; instead, they can meet one or the other. Finally, this measure allows CRIAs to reduce the percentage of an area that must have an annual median household income of less than 80% of the statewide, countywide, or citywide annual median income from 70% to 60% of census tracts.

AB 542 (C. Rodriguez) Continuation Schools and Classes: Youth Workforce Development Programs.

Chapter 696, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes school districts that operate continuation high schools or continuation education classes to offer youth workforce development programs twice a week, provided students are enrolled in at least 15 hours of class attendance per week.

AB 940 (Wicks) Economic Development: Industry Strategies.

Chapter 333, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to develop industry strategies necessary to ensure the continued growth of technology sectors in California. This measure also requires GO-Biz to develop an industry strategy for quantum technology in California.

AB 1098
(Fong) California Education Interagency Council.

Chapter 446, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes the California Education Interagency Council within the Government Operations Agency to align education and workforce systems to support adult skill development and address the changing nature of work and the economy. This measure requires the council to meet regularly and adopt strategic work plans to promote more cross-sector initiatives for economic development and workforce opportunities.

AB 1445 (Haney) Downtown Revitalization and Economic Recovery Financing Districts.

Chapter 642, Statutes of 2025
This measure enables local agencies to establish a downtown revitalization and Housing, Community, and Economic Development 75

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economic recovery financing district for the purpose of financing commercial-to- residential conversion projects using incremental tax revenues generated by these conversions.

J. Regional

AB 457
(Soria) Farmworker Housing: Streamlined, Ministerial Approval: Counties of Fresno, Madera, and Merced.

Chapter 490, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the Farmworker Housing Act of 2019, which establishes a streamlined, ministerial approval process for agricultural employee housing projects, to Fresno, Madera, and Merced Counties. Specifically, this measure expands eligibility to housing developments of up to 150 units on all parcels within 15 miles of farmland or grazing land, provided that no more than one-third of the square footage is used for industrial purposes.

AB 851
(McKinnor) Real Property Transactions: Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura Wildfires: Unsolicited Offers.

Chapter 535, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure prohibits buyers from making unsolicited offers on residential properties in zip codes affected by the Los Angeles wildfires until Jan. 1, 2027.

SB 304 (Arreguín) Public Lands: City of Oakland: Port of Oakland: Uses of After- Acquired Lands.

Chapter 578, Statutes of 2025
This measure lifts the use restrictions and the restrictions imposed by the public trust doctrine in Jack London Square until Jan. 1, 2066. This measure allows the Port of Oakland to lease the after-acquired lands to promote more community economic development and economic revitalization for the area.

SB 390 (Becker) Community Facilities District: Inclusion or Annexation of Territory: County of San Mateo.

Chapter 652, Statutes of 2025
This measure removes the requirement for a landowner in the regional shoreline of the County of San Mateo to provide consent to qualify for the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Districts in the area if the land is dedicated to agricultural, open-space, or conservation uses and there are existing entitlements for the development of commercial, residential, or industrial uses.

SB 639 (Ashby) Zoning: Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley.

Chapter 777, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the deadline for areas in the Sacramento area to meet their urban level of flood protection from 2025 to 2030. Specifically, this measure includes the Natomas subarea of the City of Sacramento, the Beach Lake subarea of the City of Sacramento and the Beach Lake subarea of the unincorporated area of the County of Housing, Community, and Economic Development 76

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Sacramento, the portions of the Natomas subarea located in the unincorporated area of the County of Sacramento and the portions of the Natomas subarea located in the unincorporated area of the County of Sutter, and the City of Marysville protected by the Marysville Ring Levee located in the City of Marysville in the County of Yuba.

K. Miscellaneous

*AB 671
(Wicks) Accelerated Restaurant Building Plan Approval: California Retail Food Code: Tenant Improvements.

Chapter 470, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires local agencies to allow applicants for tenant improvements to a restaurant to use a licensed engineer or architect to certify that the plans comply with applicable building, health, and safety codes. It sets various timelines for local building departments to review permits provided by licensed engineers or architects. The measure requires local building departments to approve or deny applications within 20 days of receiving a completed application, or it is deemed approved. Additionally, it requires local building departments to approve or deny resubmissions within 10 business days of receiving them.

AB 1529
(Cmte. on Housing and Community Development) Housing Omnibus.

Chapter 203, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes noncontroversial amendments to state law regarding housing and community development. Specifically, the measure does the following:
• Makes technical changes to the Preservation Notice Law (PNL) by clarifying that the Notice of Opportunity to Submit an Offer of Purchase must be provided prior to or concurrently with the 12-month notice to tenants of a possible conversion. • Corrects a cross reference in AB 1893 (Wicks), Chapter 268, Statutes of 2024.

The allowable density under AB 1893 for builder's remedy projects includes a 35 du/acre bump for projects in a “very low vehicle travel area, as defined in subdivision (h).” This definition is no longer in subdivision (h). The proposed language corrects the cross reference to “subdivision (b) of section 65589.5.1.” • Clarifies language from AB 2240 (Arambula), Chapter 523, Statutes of 2024 to make clear that rather than re-reviewing all state property, HCD and the coordinating agencies will use the existing list of state sites previously identified as candidates for affordable housing development under Executive Order N-06- 19 and AB 2233 (Quirk-Silva), Chapter 438, Statutes of 2022. • Provides that the notice that a property is subject to AB 1482 (Chiu) Chapter 597, Statutes of 2019 may be provided in the lease or rental agreement instead of as an addendum to the agreement. AB 1482 limits rent-gouging in California by placing an upper limit of 5% plus inflation on annual rent increases. It also requires a landlord to have and state a just cause in order to evict tenants who have occupied the premises for a year.
• Makes changes to AB 1893 (Wicks) Chapter 268, Statutes of 2024 including expanding the definition of “disapproval” of a project to include a determination that a preliminary application expired for any reason other than those described Housing, Community, and Economic Development 77

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in specified subdivisions of Section 65941.1. Because subsequent legislation added to and reordered those subdivisions, this bill corrects the cross-reference. • Clarifies that when a housing project uses a land-use tool that triggers the rent limits and receives local, state, or federal loans or grants, the rent limits can be used if any of those funding sources use the TCAC rent limits. • Clarifies language from AB 2240 (Arambula) Chapter 523, Statutes of 2024 to specify that rather than re-reviewing all state property, HCD and the coordinating agencies shall use the existing list of state sites previously identified as candidates for affordable housing development under Executive Order N-06-19 and AB 2233 (Quirk-Silva, Chapter 438, Statutes of 2022). • Adds a requirement to PNL that within 10 days of recording a notice of default, notice must also be provided to the affected public entities. Properties with regulatory agreements with low-income housing tax credits still have to maintain the tax credit rents for three years after foreclosure, but it is difficult to track those properties without proper notice prior to foreclosure.

SB 489
(Arreguín) Local Agency Formation Commissions: Written Policies and Procedures: Permit Streamlining Act: Housing Development Projects.

Chapter 518, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCO) to post its written policies and procedures online and to include forms necessary to apply for a change or organization. This measure also requires LAFCOs involved in housing development projects to publish online the list of required information and criteria used to determine the completeness of an application.

SB 777 (Richardson) Abandoned Cemeteries: Report.

Chapter 658, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau to convene a working group by March 1, 2026, to discuss options for the continued care, maintenance, and embellishment of abandoned cemeteries, including requiring counties to assume responsibility for maintenance, irrigation, public works, and burial services for cemeteries located within their boundaries that become abandoned. The working group must include representatives from a variety of organizations, including the League of California Cities, and requires the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau to submit a report to the legislature by June 1, 2026, to summarize the discussions and its recommendations.

SB 808 (Caballero) Civil Actions: Writs: Housing Development Projects.

Chapter 527, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes an expedited review process for judicial review of a court’s writs of mandate filed in response to the denial of a permit or other entitlement for housing development projects at both the trial and appellate levels.

PUBLIC SAFETY
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V. Public Safety

A. Alcoholic Beverages

AB 233 (Gipson) Alcoholic Beverages: Licensees.

Chapter 30, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a licensed beer manufacturer or wholesaler to sell beer to licensees authorized to sell beer from trailers.

AB 344
(Valencia) Alcoholic Beverages: Beer Price Posting and Marketing Regulations: Definitions.

Chapter 360, Statutes of 2025
This measure modifies the definition of “successor beer manufacturer” to specify that a successor beer manufacturer may be a beer manufacturer or any person, whether licensed or unlicensed, who acquires the rights to manufacture, import, or distribute a product.

AB 509 (Flora) Alcoholic Beverages: Minors.

Chapter 264, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that the use of an active age verification software or an age verification device to establish the age of a purchaser of alcoholic beverages that fails to identify a false identification card is considered evidence in any prosecution or proceedings against the licensee.

AB 592 (Gabriel) Business: Retail Food.

Chapter 469, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the authority of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to permit licensees in an expanded license area authorized under a COVID-19 Temporary Catering Authorization until Jan. 1, 2029.

AB 720
(Rogers) Beverages: Alcohol Permits: Container Labeling.

Chapter 562, Statutes of 2025
This measure delays the requirements for labeling beverage containers, including wine and distilled spirits, from July 1, 2025, to July 1 2026, as part of the Beverage Container Recycling Program (Bottle Bill), for beverage containers that were not subject to these requirements before Jan. 1, 2024. This measure also clarifies that the storage of wine or topping of wine barrels does not constitute off-site production or manufacturing by a licensed winegrower or brandy manufacturer. Additionally, this measure authorizes a licensed winegrower to apply for, and for ABC to issue, an estate tasting event permit that would allow the licensee to exercise its tasting room privileges for wine manufactured by and for the winegrower at specified properties.

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AB 1246 (Hoover) Alcoholic Beverages: Distilled Spirits.

Chapter 295, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a winegrower to possess and transport brandy for the purpose of storing the brandy to age on the winegrower’s premises. This measure also authorizes a craft distiller to transport brandy to and from the premises of a licensed winegrower for the purpose of storing the brandy to age on the winegrower’s premises.

SB 395 (Wiener) Alcoholic Beverages: Additional Licenses: Hospitality Zone.

Chapter 412, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the local governing body, in an ordinance designating or modifying a hospitality zone, to further limit the maximum number of additional licenses to be issued within its hospitality zone.

B. Cannabis and Controlled Substances

*AB 8
(Aguiar-Curry) Cannabis: Cannabinoids: Industrial Hemp.

Chapter 248, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that beginning on Jan. 1, 2028, any product containing concentrated cannabinoids must comply with the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act. This measure also prohibits the sale of synthetic cannabis products containing cannabinoids derived from hemp and prohibits the retail sale of industrial hemp from outside the state unless the business has a license in California.

AB 1152
(Patterson) Controlled Substances: Human Chorionic Gonadotropin.

Chapter 183, Statutes of 2025
This measure removes human chorionic gonadotropin from the list of Schedule III controlled substances under the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act.

*SB 378
(Wiener) Online Marketplaces: Illicit Cannabis: Reporting and Liability.

Chapter 411, Statues of 2025
This measure requires an online cannabis marketplace to address in its terms of service whether it permits Californians to view the advertisements and business information of unlicensed sellers of cannabis on its marketplace. This measure also requires the marketplace to verify the licenses of sellers of cannabis or cannabis products whose advertisements and business information are viewable on its marketplace. Additionally, this measure requires an online cannabis marketplace that does not verify those licenses to display a clear and conspicuous graphic that warns the consumer that the marketplace may be displaying, storing, or hosting unlicensed sellers of cannabis or cannabis products.

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C. Crime and Sentencing

AB 223 (Pacheco) Jury Selection: Acknowledgment and Agreement.

Chapter 29, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises the acknowledgment and agreements obtained from the jury panel prior to the examination of prospective trial jurors assigned for voir dire and after the completion of selection of trial jurors.

AB 250
(Aguiar-Curry) Sexual Assault: Statute of Limitations.

Chapter 682, Statutes of 2025
This measure revives certain claims seeking damages for sexual assault in which the plaintiff also alleges that an entity engaged in a cover-up of the assault. This measure also clarifies that the expanded window for bringing claims applies to actions against both the perpetrator and the entity that engaged in the cover-up. This measure also allows for the revival of related claims, such as wrongful termination or sexual harassment, if they are tied to the sexual assault.

AB 321
(Schultz) Misdemeanors.

Chapter 611, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a court to reduce a felony to a misdemeanor prior to trial when the offense can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor.

AB 352 (Pacheco) Crimes: Criminal Threats.

Chapter 554, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the court to consider, as a factor in aggravation, that the defendant willfully threatened to commit a crime that would result in the death or great bodily injury of a person the defendant knew was a state constitutional officer, a member of the Legislature, or a judge or court commissioner.

AB 366
(Petrie-Norris) Ignition Interlock Devices.

Chapter 689, Statutes of 2025
This bill would extend the operation of the ignition interlock devise pilot program until Jan. 1, 2033.

*
AB 379 (Schultz) Crimes: Prostitution.

Chapter 82, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases punishment for commercial sex if the solicited minor was more than three years younger than the defendant at the time of the offense. This measure makes it a misdemeanor for any person to loiter in any public place with the intent to purchase commercial sex, as specified. Additionally, this measure makes any person who violates that crime or who commits prostitution in exchange for providing compensation, money, or anything of value to the other person subject to an additional fine of $1,000.

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AB 394 (Wilson) Public Transportation Providers.

Chapter 147, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases criminal penalties that apply to a person who commits battery against certain transit workers to include battery against a public transportation provider.

*AB 468 (Gabriel) Crimes: Looting.

Chapter 533, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases penalties for looting in an evacuation zone to between two and seven years, depending on the offense.

AB 486
(Lackey) Crimes: Burglary Tools.

Chapter 367, Statutes of 2025
This measure adds key programming devices, key duplicating devices, and signal extenders to the list of instruments that are punishable by a misdemeanor if used to break into or enter any building, car, or aircraft.

AB 535
(Schiavo) Threatening a Witness: Assisting a Prosecution.

Chapter 373, Statutes of 2025
This measure specifies that the offense of witness dissuasion during the prosecution phase can be based on either dissuasion during the charging stage or while the witness is assisting the prosecution.

AB 561
(Quirk-Silva) Restraining Orders.

Chapter 267, Statutes of 2025
This measure, commencing Jan. 1, 2027, authorizes a petition prohibiting harassment and any related filings to be submitted electronically. This measure also authorizes a party or witness to appear remotely at the hearing on the petition for a protective order, and prohibits the superior court from charging a fee for the remote appearance.

AB 621 (Bauer-Kahan) Deepfake Pornography.

Chapter 673, Statutes of 2025
This measure revises and recasts existing law regarding civil liability for nonconsensual deepfake pornography. This includes changing definitions, clarifying that a minor cannot consent to the creation and distribution of digitized sexually explicit material depicting the minor, and increases penalties for these violations.

AB 653
(Lackey) Child Abuse: Mandated Reporters: Talent Agents, Managers, and Coaches.

Chapter 379, Statutes of 2025
This measure adds an individual employed as a talent agent, talent manager, or talent coach who provides services to a minor to the list of individuals who are mandated reporters.

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AB 848 (Soria) Sexual Battery.

Chapter 625, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the fact that the defendant was employed at a hospital where the offense occurred and the victim was in the defendant’s care or seeking medical care at the hospital to be a factor in aggravation in sentencing.

AB 1036 (Schultz) Criminal Procedure: Postconviction Discovery.

Chapter 444, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes reasonable access to discovery materials for felonies resulting in a sentence of incarceration in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). This measure also makes several changes to definitions related to discovery materials and reasonable access.

AB 1071
(Kalra) Criminal Procedure: Discrimination.

Chapter 721, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that a person who brings a Racial Justice Act (RJA) claim may seek discovery of any relevant evidence and clarifies that if the court finds a violation of the RJA, the court must impose one of more of the applicable remedies outlined in the RJA.

AB 1087
(Patterson) Crimes: Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated.

Chapter 180, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases the period of probation for a person who is convicted of the unlawful killing of a human being, without malice aforethought, while driving under the influence to be not less than three years and not more than five years.

AB 1094 (Bains) Crimes: Torture of a Minor: Parole.

Chapter 631, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires any person who is convicted of torture, where the victim was 14 years or younger at the time of the crime, and the defendant is an adult who had care or custody of the victim, to serve a minimum term of 10 years before being eligible for release.

AB 1363
(Stefani) Protective Orders: Wyland’s Law.

Chapter 574, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop and implement a new system for the public to request a record demonstrating that information about a protective order was transmitted and received by the DOJ.

*SB 19
(Rubio) Crimes: Threats.

Chapter 594, Statutes of 2025
This measure creates a new crime of threatening to commit a crime that will result in death or great bodily injury at a daycare, school, university, workplace, house of worship, or medical facility and is punishable as a felony or misdemeanor.

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SB 221 (Ochoa Bogh) Crimes: Stalking.

Chapter 576, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the meaning of “credible threat” to include threats to a person’s pet, service animal, emotional support animal, or horse.

SB 245 (Reyes) Criminal Procedure.

Chapter 746, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CDCR to notify the DOJ of formerly incarcerated fire crew members who are potentially eligible for expungement. This measure would also require the DOJ to regularly identify convictions that are eligible for expungement on the basis of a person’s service as an incarcerated firefighter and creates a court process for ordering the expungements.

SB 258 (Wahab) Crimes: Rape.

Chapter 599, Statutes of 2025
This measure removes the spousal exception from the definition of rape.

*
SB 571 (Archuleta) Emergencies: Crimes.

Chapter 545, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the court to consider the fact, if pled and proven, that the defendant committed the crime of looting while impersonating emergency personnel as a factor in aggravation.

SB 680 (Rubio) Sex Offender Registration: Unlawful Sexual Intercourse with a Minor.

Chapter 780, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a defendant convicted of statutory rape subject to mandatory sex offender registration if there is more than a 10-year age gap with the minor.

*SB 701
(Wahab) Signal Jammers.

Chapter 458, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes it a crime to manufacture, import, market, purchase, sell, or operate a signal. This measure also makes it a crime to willfully or maliciously use a signal jammer to block state or local public safety communications if the person knows or should know that using the signal jammer is likely to result in death or great bodily injury.

SB 733 (Wahab) Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence: Testing.

Chapter 783, Statutes of 2025
This measures authorizes a sexual assault victim who is 18 years of age or older to request that all medical evidence collected from them not be tested, requires the investigating agency in possession of the kit to follow existing requirements regarding retention of the kit and notification to survivors, and allows the victim to request that their kit be tested at a later time regardless of whether they also decide to make a report to law enforcement.

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SB 734 (Caballero) Criminal Procedure: Discrimination.

Chapter 784, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes several changes to the RJA, including prohibiting a public agency from taking punitive action or denial of promotion on grounds other than merit against any public safety officer because of a court finding made under the RJA. This measure also provides that a revocation of a peace officer certification shall not be undertaken because of a challenge brought under the RJA.

D. Emergency Services

AB 369
(Rodriguez, Michelle) Emergency Services: Liability.

Chapter 33, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that a person who administers anti-seizure rescue medication under specified conditions at the scene of an emergency is not subject to civil liability, professional review, or criminal liability.

AB 438
(Hadwick) Authorized Emergency Vehicles.

Chapter 152, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the commissioner of the California Highway Patrol to issue an emergency vehicle permit to any vehicle owned by a county, city, or city and county office of emergency services only while that vehicle is being used by a public employee who is employed by the office in responding to any disaster.

AB 463 (Rodriguez, Michelle) Emergency Medical Services: Dogs and Cats.

Chapter 98, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes those license holders or a person who operates ambulances owned or operated by a fire department of a federally recognized Indian tribe to transport a police canine or a search and rescue dog that is injured in the line of duty to a veterinary clinic or similar facility. This measure requires an ambulance operator that provides transport to police canines or search and rescue dogs injured in the line of duty to develop policies regarding the transport of these dogs.

*AB 645
(Carrillo) Emergency Medical Services: Dispatcher Training.

Chapter 273, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, by Jan. 1, 2027, a public safety agency that provides 911 call processing services for emergency medical response to provide prearrival medical instructions to 911 callers requiring medical assistance, including, among other critical situations, airway and choking instructions for infants, children, and adults and administration of naloxone for narcotics overdoses. This measure also provides that this does not apply to a public safety agency that has already adopted prearrival medical instructions that have been approved by the local EMS agency medical director.

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SB 660 (Menjivar) California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework.

This measure requires the Department of Health Care Access and Information, on or before Jan. 1, 2026, to take over the establishment, implementation, and all the functions related to the California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework. This measure also expands the entities that are specifically required to execute a data sharing agreement with the California Health and Human Services Data Exchange Framework, including emergency medical services.

E. Firearms

AB 383
(Davies) Firearms: Prohibition: Minors.

Chapter 362, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes the procedures to relinquish firearms or ammunition applicable to a juvenile who is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm until they are 30 years of age.

AB 584
(Hadwick) Firearms Dealers and Manufacturers: Secure Facilities.

Chapter 40, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the definition of a “secure facility” for firearms dealers to store firearms to allow a doorway with a windowed or windowless steel door that is equipped with panic hardware that operates a multipoint lock that bolts into the interior frame of the door.

AB 1078 (Berman) Firearms.

Chapter 570, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes new criteria for a non-California resident application for a concealed carry weapon license or license renewal. This measure requires, among other requirements, that the applicant attest that the jurisdiction in which they have applied is the primary location in California where they plan to spend time and that they have completed live-fire shooting exercises.

AB 1127
(Gabriel) Firearms: Converter Pistols.

Chapter 572, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a licensed firearms dealer from selling, exchanging, giving, or transferring any semiautomatic “machinegun-convertible pistol,” except as specified.

This measure also provides for increase punishments for the violation of this law.

AB 1263
(Gipson) Firearms: Ghost Guns.

Chapter 636, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a person from knowingly or willfully causing another person to engage in the unlawful manufacture of firearms or knowingly or willfully aiding, abetting, prompting, or facilitating the unlawful manufacture of firearms. This measure would apply to the manufacture of assault weapons or .50 BMG rifles or the manufacture of any firearm using a three-dimensional printer or CNC milling machine.

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SB 704 (Arreguín) Firearms: Firearm Barrels.

Chapter 591, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits the sale or transfer of a firearm barrel unless the transaction is completed in person by a licensed firearms dealer. This measure also prohibits a person from possessing a firearm barrel with the intent to sell, or offering to sell, unless the person is a licensed firearms dealer.

F. Fire Insurance

*AB 1
(Connolly) Residential Property Insurance: Wildfire Risk.

Chapter 472, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Department of Insurance (CDI) to include wildfire mitigation in the next draft of its catastrophe modeling regulations.

*
AB 226 (Calderon) California Fair Plan Association.

Chapter 473, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure authorizes the California Fair Plan Association, if granted prior approval from the Insurance Commissioner, to request the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank to issue bonds and authorizes the bank to issue those bonds to finance the costs of claims.

AB 234
(Calderon) California Fair Plan Association Governing Cmte.

Chapter 474, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires the Speaker of the Assembly and the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Rules to serve as nonvoting, ex officio members of the governing committee of the California Fair Plan Association.

AB 290 (Bauer-Kahan) California Fair Plan Association: Automatic Payments.

Chapter 475, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California FAIR Plan Association to create an automatic payment system and accept automatic payments for premiums from policyholders by April 1, 2026. This measure prohibits cancellation or nonrenewal of a FAIR Plan policy solely because the policyholder is not enrolled in automatic payments.

AB 493
(Harabedian) Mortgages: Hazard Insurance Proceeds.

Chapter 103, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure authorizes a financial institution to deposit hazard insurance proceeds in an interest-bearing account in a federally insured depository institution, a federal home loan bank, a federal reserve bank, or another similar government-sponsored enterprise.

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*AB 1339 (González, Mark) Department of Insurance: Housing Insurance Study.

Chapter 728, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CDI, upon appropriation and in consultation with specified entities and affordable housing entities, to conduct a study of the property, liability, and builders’ risk insurance coverages available to affordable housing entities.

SB 525 (Jones) California Fair Plan: Manufactured Homes.

Chapter 476, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Fair Plan to include insurance for manufactured homes and mobilehomes under the same terms and conditions as basic property insurance sold for other residential dwellings.

SB 547 (Pérez) Commercial Property Insurance Cancellation and Nonrenewal.

Chapter 544, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits an insurer from canceling or refusing to renew a commercial property insurance policy for one year from the declaration of a state of emergency.

SB 429
(Cortese) Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program.

Chapter 541, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes the Wildfire Safety and Risk Mitigation Program to fund the development, demonstration, and deployment of a public wildfire catastrophe model administered by the CDI. This measure also requires the CDI to publish information on its website regarding the progress and plan to complete the model.

SB 495
(Allen) Insurance.

Chapter 542, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires an insurance company to offer 60% of the personal property policy coverage limit without an itemized claim from the policyholder in the event of a total loss of a dwelling resulting from a state of emergency. This measure also extends the deadline for a policyholder to provide the insurer with proof of loss from 60 to 100 days following the loss of the property.

G. Fire Service/Wildfire Preparedness

AB 799
(Rodriguez, Celeste) Prisons: Death Benefit for Incarcerated Firefighters.

Chapter 711, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CDCR to pay a death benefit for the death of any incarcerated individual hand crew members in the California Conservation Camp program.

AB 812 (Lowenthal) Recall and Resentencing: Incarcerated Firefighters.

Chapter 712, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CDCR, no later than July 1, 2027, to promulgate regulations, as specified, regarding the referral of participants in the California Conservation Camp program and incarcerated persons working at institutional firehouses for resentencing.

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*AB 888 (Calderon) California Safe Homes Grant Program.

Chapter 536, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes the California Safe Homes grant program to be developed by the CDI to reduce local and statewide wildfire losses through grants for home hardening. This measure requires the CDI to prioritize those in a very high fire severity hazard zone when awarding grant funds. Additionally, it requires eligible program applicants, which include individuals, cities, counties, and special districts, to meet specified criteria.

AB 1075
(Bryan) Fire Protection: Privately Contracted Fire Prevention Resources:

Public Water Sources.

Chapter 538, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) to develop regulations prohibiting privately contracted private fire prevention resources from hooking up their equipment to public water sources unless approved by incident command and unless the equipment includes a backflow prevention device.

AB 1181 (Haney) Firefighters: Personal Protective Equipment.

Chapter 392, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to consider modifying its existing safety order regarding firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE) to address how firefighters utilize their PPE related to the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, fluoropolymers, flame retardants, and other hazardous substances in firefighting personal protective garments.

*AB 1455
(Bryan) State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection: Defensible Space Requirements: Ember-resistant Zones: Emergency Regulations: California Environmental Quality Act.

Chapter 731, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires the Board of Forestry (BOF) to adopt regulations to implement Zone 0 defensible space regulations in the state responsibility area and very high fire hazard severity zones in the local responsibility areas. This measure also authorizes the BOF to adopt these regulations as emergency regulations.

SB 345
(Hurtado) California Fire Service Training and Education Program:

California Fire and Arson Training Act: Fees.

Chapter 312, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) to establish and collect the admission fees and other fees associated with the California Fire Service Training and Education Program to the extent that state appropriations and other funding sources are insufficient to cover the necessary costs of the program.

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SB 514 (Cabaldon) Wildfire Prevention: Qualified Entities: Assessments:

California Fire Service Training and Education Program Act.

Chapter 767, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes OSFM to allow certification of contractors who conduct defensible space, home hardening, fuel reduction, and other contracting activities for wildfire resiliency efforts who have completed the California Fire Service Training and Education Program. If certified, these contractors may support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protections defensible space programs.

H. Law Enforcement

AB 354
(Rodriguez, Michelle) Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

Chapter 32, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure authorizes the POST to access information contained and derived from the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System if the information is necessary to fulfill its duties. This measure also requires POST employees, appointees, volunteer, and subcontractors whose job duties require access to criminal offender record information to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check.

AB 451 (Petrie-Norris) Law Enforcement Policies: Restraining Orders.

Chapter 693, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires each municipal police department, county sheriff’s department, and various state agencies to, on or before Jan. 1, 2027, develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standards to promote safe, consistent, and effective service, implementation, and enforcement of court protection and restraining orders that include firearm-access restrictions. This measure requires these policies and standards to provide a standard agency process for law enforcement to serve an order against a restrained person in a timely manner.

AB 572
(Kalra) Criminal Procedure: Interrogations.

Chapter 697, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a peace officer or a prosecuting attorney to take specified action before any initial formal interview with family members if a person is killed or seriously injured by a peace officer. This measure requires that by Jan. 1, 2027, every law enforcement and prosecutorial agency must have a policy regarding interrogations of family members that includes the officer conducting the interview must both clearly identify themself and inform the person being interviewed that they are conducting a formal interview.

AB 847
(Sharp-Collins) Peace Officers: Confidentiality of Records.

Chapter 383, Statutes of 2025
This measure grants access to the confidential personnel records of peace officers and custodial officers and records maintained by their employing agencies to civilian law Public Safety 90

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enforcement oversight boards or commissions during investigations or related proceedings concerning the conduct of those officers. This measure requires those oversight boards to maintain the confidentiality of those records and authorizes them to conduct closed sessions to review confidential records.

*AB 992
(Irwin) Peace Officers.

Chapter 175, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a peace officer hired by a public safety agency to obtain either an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or modern policing degree within 36 months after receiving their basic certificate from POST. This requirement would begin on Jan. 1, 2031, and this measure also repeals previous requirements regarding the modern policing degree.

AB 1178
(Pacheco) Peace Officers: Confidentiality of Records.

Chapter 635, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a court, in an action to compel disclosure of public records, to consider whether a particular peace officer is currently operating undercover and their duties demand anonymity when determining whether an agency appropriately redacted a disclosable personnel record under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) on the basis that there is a specific, articulable, and particularized reason to believe that disclosure of the record would pose a significant danger to the physical safety of the peace officer, custodial officer, or another person.

AB 1388
(Bryan) Law Enforcement: Settlement Agreements.

Chapter 729, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a law enforcement agency from entering into an agreement with a peace officer that requires the agency to destroy a record of misconduct investigation or otherwise halt or make findings in a misconduct investigation. This measure also specifies that such agreements are subject to disclosure under the CPRA.

SB 385
(Seyarto) Peace Officers.

Chapter 218, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure repeals the requirement for POST to approve and adopt criteria for the modern policing degree.

SB 524
(Arreguín) Law Enforcement Agencies: Artificial Intelligence.

Chapter 587, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires every law enforcement agency to maintain a policy that requires an artificial intelligence (AI)–generated official report to identify the type of AI program used to generate the report and include the signature of the officer who prepared the report.

SB 580
(Durazo) Attorney General: Immigration Enforcement Policies.

Chapter 670, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the Attorney General, on or before July 1, 2026, and in consultation with appropriate stakeholders, to publish model policies relating to Public Safety 91

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interaction with immigration enforcement. This would also provide that the Attorney General publish guidance and recommendations for databases operated by state and local agencies to limit the availability of information in those databases for the purposes of immigration enforcement. The bill would require state and local agencies to implement the model policies on or before Jan. 1, 2027.

SB 627
(Wiener) Law Enforcement: Masks.

Chapter 125, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes it a crime for a law enforcement officer to wear a facial covering in the performance of their duties, with some exceptions for certain operations. This measure also requires any law enforcement agency operating in California to maintain and publicly post a written policy limiting the use of facial coverings.

SB 805
(Pérez) Crimes.

Chapter 126, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires law enforcement agencies to maintain and publicly post a written policy on the visible identification of sworn personnel by Jan. 1, 2026. This policy must include a requirement that all sworn personnel visibly display identification that includes their agency and either a name or badge number when performing enforcement duties.

I. Miscellaneous

AB 822
(Elhawary) Commission on the State of Hate.

Chapter 714, Statutes of 2025
This measure would extend the repeal date of the Commission on the State of Hate until Jan. 1, 2031.

AB 831 (Valencia) Gambling: Operation of a Contest or Sweepstakes.

Chapter 623, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits an online sweepstakes game that simulates or mimics casino- style gambling-themed games by utilizing a dual-currency system of payment for which the person playing may be eligible for a prize, award, or cash prize. This measure would also make it unlawful for any person or entity to operate, conduct, or offer an online sweepstakes game in California.

AB 1239 (Dixon) Human Trafficking: Data.

Chapter 393, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the DOJ to expand the information made available on the OpenJustice Web portal to include data on arrests for human trafficking and on the number of individuals who have been a victim of human trafficking as reported through the California Incident-Based Reporting System.

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AB 1269 (Bryan) County and City Jails: Incarcerated Person Contacts.

Chapter 726, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires county and city jails to notify all designated contacts on medical release of information and next of kin forms within 24 hours of the death of an incarcerated person.

SB 451 (Archuleta) Gambling.

Chapter 584, Statutes of 2025
This measure clarifies that the California Gambling Control Commission’s authority to investigate suspected criminal violations of the prohibited gambling activities enumerated in the Penal Code includes suspected violations that occur outside of a licensed gambling establishment, irrespective of whether the suspected violation involves licensees.

REVENUE AND TAXATION
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VI. Revenue and Taxation

A. Property Tax

AB 245
(Gipson) Property Taxation: Application of Base Year Value: Disaster Relief.

Chapter 530, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure extends the five-year time period by three years for rebuilding a property without an owner’s property taxes increasing if the property was substantially damaged or destroyed by the 2025 Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Sunset Fire, or Woodley Fire on or after Jan. 7, 2025, but before Feb. 1, 2025.

AB 418 (Wilson) Property Taxation: Tax-defaulted Property.

Chapter 149, Statutes of 2025
This measure enacts new requirements on counties before a property can be sold pursuant to a Chapter 8 tax sale. More specifically, this measure prohibits a board of supervisors from approving the sale of tax-defaulted property unless it conducts a hearing, with notice, and makes a specified finding that either the sale price is greater than or equal to the tax sale value of the property or the tax sale value of the property is less than the amount necessary to redeem the property, as specified. This measure also requires the notice of the hearing to be mailed at least 45 days prior to the hearing to the last assessee of each portion of the property and to parties of interest, and to contain a description of the property, the proposed sale price, and the date, time, and location of the hearing. This measure requires any costs incurred in conducting the hearing and making the findings to be paid by the taxing agency or nonprofit organization by which the property is to be or may be purchased. This measure authorizes the challenge of a board of supervisors’ determination by the filing of a petition for judicial review in the superior court of the county within 45 days following the issuance of the board’s decision. Additionally, this measure requires the board to provide a written notice of the right to judicial review and the applicable deadlines to all parties who appeared at the hearing or submitted written evidence. Finally, this measure authorizes the superior court to vacate the board’s decision and remand the matter to the board of supervisors if the court determines that the decision was not supported by substantial evidence or that the board otherwise failed to follow certain requirements.

AB 985
(Schiavo) Chiquita Canyon Landfill: Property Tax Reassessment and Penalties.

Chapter 174, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires each property located within a five-mile radius of the center of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in the County of Los Angeles to be reassessed so that the full cash value base of the property reflects any decline in value of the property arising from the Chiquita Canyon elevated temperature landfill event, as defined. This measure also requires reassessments to be retroactive to the Jan. 1, 2022, lien date. Finally, the

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measure requires, following reassessment, the assessor to send a specified notice of the assessment value change to the taxpayer.

AB 1416
(Ta) Property Taxation: Redemption: Permanent Installment Plan.

Chapter 69, Statutes of 2025
This measure provides that the one-year deferment for property tax payments made on installment plans applies when a disaster-affected taxpayer has submitted an application for the installment plan, not just when the plan was already in existence.

AB 1516
(Committee on Revenue and Taxation) Real Property Taxation.

Chapter 72, Statutes of 2025
This measure, in part, provides that property owners have three years from the date of purchase to file a claim for the active solar energy exclusion that applies retroactively to the date construction is completed. The measure also provides that claims filed after that date may be granted but would only apply prospectively, commencing on the lien date of the year in which the claim is filed.

*SB 293
(Pérez) Real Property Tax: Transfer of Base Year Value: Generational Transfers: Wildfire.

Chapter 539, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the deadline for taxpayers to retroactively apply a Proposition 58, 193, or 19 intergenerational transfer from six months to three years if that property was damaged or destroyed by the 2025 Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Sunset Fire, or Woodley Fire, for which the Governor proclaimed a state of emergency.

*SB 663
(Allen) Winter Fires of 2025: Real Property Tax: Exemptions and Reassessment.

Chapter 549, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure, in part, extends the five-year time period to transfer the base year value of a property to a comparable replacement property within the same county by three years if the property was substantially damaged or destroyed by the 2025 Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Sunset Fire, or Woodley Fire, or the 2024 Mountain Fire or Franklin Fire, on or after Nov. 1, 2024, but before Feb. 1, 2025.

*
SB 710 (Blakespear) Property Taxation: Active Solar Energy Systems.

Chapter 328, Statutes of 2025
This measure ensures that any newly constructed active solar energy system that qualifies under the existing property tax exclusion before Jan. 1, 2027, continues to do so after the exclusion sunsets on Jan. 1, 2027, until there is a subsequent change in ownership.

SB 863
(Committee on Revenue and Taxation) Taxation.

Chapter 462, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes numerous miscellaneous changes to the Revenue and Taxation Code, including deeming a property tax payment received as of the date of delivery if it does not contain an official US postmark or shipment date by an independent delivery Revenue and Taxation 95

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service, allows a tax collector to reduce the minimum bid at a tax-defaulted property sale when the defaulted taxes decrease due to the removal or reduction of a special assessment against the property, and modifies the period that precludes a local tax ordinance from becoming operative to provide that it is measured from the date voters approve the ordinance at an election, not from the adoption of the ordinance.

B. Sales and Use Tax

AB 258
(Connolly) Fairs: Allocation of Revenues: Gross Receipts for Sales and Use Tax.

Chapter 683, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases from 0.75% to 2% the amount of segregated gross receipts from fair sales required to be allocated to fairs in the Governor’s next annual budget to be distributed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

*AB 761
(Addis) Monterey-Salinas Transit District: Sales and Special Taxes.

Chapter 706, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the Monterey-Salinas Transit District, upon a vote of at least two-thirds of its board of directors, to submit to voters a measure proposing a transactions and use tax of no more than 0.25%. This would, in combination with all other taxes imposed, exceed the 2% cap established by law.

*SB 63
(Wiener) San Francisco Bay Area: Local Revenue Measure: Public Transit Funding.

Chapter 740, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes the Transportation Revenue Measure District (District) with jurisdiction extending throughout the boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara and the City and County of San Francisco. The measure authorizes the District to impose a transactions and use tax applicable to the entire district for a duration of 14 years, and in an amount of 0.5% in each of the above- described counties located within the district and 1% in the City and County of San Francisco, subject to voter approval at the Nov. 3, 2026, statewide general election. The measure also requires specified transit operators who receive funds from a transactions and use tax measure to comply with a financial efficiency review and oversight recommendations. This would, in combination with all other taxes imposed, exceed the 2% cap established by law.

*
SB 86 (McNerney) California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act: Sales and Use Tax Exclusion.

Chapter 211, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure extends the sunset date of the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Authority’s sales and use tax exemption from Jan. 1, 2026, to Jan. 1, 2028. The measure also adds fusion energy as an alternate source eligible for the sales and use tax exemption.

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SB 87 (Seyarto) Sales and Use Tax Law: Consumer Designation: All-volunteer Fire Departments.

Chapter 212, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure extends the sunset date for the designation of a qualifying volunteer fire department as a consumer, not a retailer, under the Sales and Use Tax Law, from Jan. 1, 2026, to Jan. 1, 2028.

*SB 333
(Laird) Transactions and Use Taxes: San Luis Obispo Council of Governments.

Chapter 750, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments to impose a transactions and use tax at a rate not to exceed 1%, subject to voter approval on or after Jan. 1, 2026, and before Jan. 1, 2032. This would, in combination with all other taxes imposed, exceed the 2% cap established by law.

C. Miscellaneous

AB 299
(Gabriel) Motels, Hotels, and Short-term Lodging: Disasters.

Chapter 531, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure permits hotels, motels, and short-term rentals to provide shelter for more than 30 days, but no more than 270 days, to individuals who have lost their prior housing in a disaster without establishing a landlord-tenant relationship, until Jan. 1, 2031.

*AB 330
(Rogers) Local Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services Collection Act.

Chapter 553, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the sunset date of the Local Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services Collection Act from Jan. 1, 2026, to Jan. 1, 2031. This Act authorizes local agencies to impose a utility user tax and 911 surcharges on prepaid mobile telephone services.

AB 518
(Ward) Low-impact Camping Areas.

Chapter 157, Statutes of 2025
This measure exempts “low-impact camping areas,” private property that provides for transient occupancy rental of a temporary sleeping accommodation that is not a commercial lodging facility that meets specific standards, from the Special Occupancy Parks Act if it is located in a county that has enacted an ordinance authorizing low- impact camping. The measure also requires counties that pass an ordinance authorizing low-impact camping to oversee registration and oversight duties.

AB 564
(Haney) Cannabis: Excise Tax: Rate Increase Suspension: Report.

Chapter 127, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure revises the cannabis excise tax rate on an ongoing basis. For the period from July 1, 2025, to Sept.30, 2025, inclusive, this measure retains the existing cannabis excise tax rate of 19%. For the period from October 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028, inclusive, this measure decreases the excise tax rate to 15%. Beginning in the 2028–29 Revenue and Taxation 97

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fiscal year and every two years thereafter, the measure requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to adjust the cannabis excise tax rate by a percentage that will generate an amount of revenue that would have been collected pursuant to the cultivation tax imposed prior to its discontinuation, not to exceed 19%. This measure also requires the Department of Cannabis Control, in consultation with CDTFA and the Legislative Analyst’s Office, on or before October 1, 2027, to submit a report to the Legislature that analyzes the current and future effect of the Cannabis Tax Law on the regulated cannabis market and recommends options for changes to the Cannabis Tax Law to accomplish the intent of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

AB 1138
(Zbur) Income and Corporate Taxes: Tax Credits: Motion Pictures.

Chapter 27, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure increases the annual authorization of the Film and Television Production Tax Credit 4.0 from $330 million to $750 million. This measure also makes numerous programmatic changes to the 4.0 credit and soundstage program to implement the increased authorization.

AB 1150 (Schultz) Local Agencies: Airports: Alternative Customer Facility Charges.

Chapter 185, Statutes of 2025
This measure makes multiple changes to the law governing customer facility charges (CFC) that airports can require rental vehicle companies to collect. Specifically, this measure allows for CFCs to be used for major maintenance on consolidated airport vehicle rental facilities, increases the maximum allowable alternative CFC to $12 per day, and clarifies that the use of revenues from alternative CFCs can be used for specific purposes.

*SB 346 (Durazo) Local Agencies: Transient Occupancy Taxes: Short-term Rental Facilitator.

Chapter 751, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, upon adoption of a local ordinance, short-term rental facilitators (e.g. Airbnb, VRBO), at the request of a city, to provide the addresses of all short-term rental listings within that city to the city; provides cities audit authority over transient occupancy taxes (TOT) collected and remitted by short-term rental facilitators; and requires the publishing of the local license numbers and TOT certifications on the short- term rental listing.

*
SB 595 (Choi) Local Government: Investments and Financial Reports.

Chapter 323, States of 2025
This measure revises local government annual financial reporting deadlines and extends the authority for certain types of local government investments. Specifically, this measure states that an officer of a local agency who fails or refuses to make and file their financial transaction report within 10 months after the end of the fiscal year, or within the time prescribed by the State Controller’s Office (SCO), whichever is later, rather than 20 days after receipt of a written notice of the failure from the SCO (existing Revenue and Taxation 98

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Law), must forfeit specified dollar amounts to the state. Additionally, this measure extends the sunset date from Jan. 1, 2026, to Jan. 1, 2031, of the following local agency investment provisions: (1) an increase in the commercial paper limit for local agencies, other than counties, that have more than $100 million in investment assets from 25% to 40% of their total surplus funds, and (2) authorization for a local agency to invest in securities issued or backed by the United States government that could result in zero or negative interest accrual if held to maturity, in the event of, and for the duration of, a period of negative market interest rates, and authorization for a local agency to hold these instruments until their maturity dates. Lastly, this measure changes the maximum maturity periods for the investments in eligible commercial paper to 397 days from 270 days.

SB 711
(McNerney) Taxation: Federal Conformity.

Chapter 231, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure changes the specified Internal Revenue Code sections to Jan. 1, 2025, for taxable years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2025, and makes numerous substantive changes to both the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law with respect to those areas of preexisting conformity that are subject to changes under federal laws enacted after Jan. 1, 2015, and that have not been, or are not being, excepted or modified.

SB 782 (Pérez) Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District: Climate Resilience Districts.

Chapter 552, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure authorizes a city or county to adopt a resolution providing for the division of taxes of any participating entity without following the procedures for the preparation and adoption of an infrastructure financing plan (IFP) required under existing Enhanced Infrastructure Finance District Law if certain conditions are met. This measure requires the city or county entity proposing formation of the district to hold a public meeting to consider the resolution of intention to establish the Climate Resilience District (CRD) and the governing board of the CRD to hold a public meeting to consider the adoption of the IFP. This measure would require the city and county entity and the governing board of the CRD to post specified notices prior to the respective meetings.

TRANSPORTATION,

COMMUNICATIONS, AND PUBLIC
WORKS
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VII. Transportation, Communications, and Public Works

A. Contracting and Public Works

*AB 538 (Berman) Public Works: Payroll Records.

Chapter 616, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the awarding body of a local public works project, if a request is made by the public through the awarding body and the body is not in possession of the certified records, to obtain records showing the name, address, Social Security number, work classification, straight time and overtime hours worked each day and week, and the actual per diem wages paid to each journeyman, apprentice, worker, or other employee employed by the relevant contractor or subcontractor in connection with the public work and make them available to the requesting entity. This measure authorizes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to enforce certain penalties if a contractor fails to comply with the awarding body’s request within 10 days of receipt of the notice.

AB 889 (Hadwick) Prevailing Wage: Per Diem Wages.

Chapter 626, Statutes of 2025
This measure changes the annualization rules of fringe benefits for work on both public and private construction projects by requiring annualization to apply to all employer payments not made directly to the worker and by eliminating the exemption that the director of the Department of Industrial Relations can determine that annualization will not further the purposes of the law. Specifically, this measure authorizes an employer to take full credit for the hourly amounts contributed to defined contribution pension plans that provide for both immediate participation and essentially immediate vesting even if the employer contributes at a lower rate or does not make contributions to private construction.

B. Infrastructure

*AB 476 (González, Mark) Metal Theft.

Chapter 694, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the list of prohibited items that junk dealers and recyclers can possess without authorization, including various types of scrap metal that originated from public infrastructure projects; creates the crime of “organized metal theft” to specifically target large theft rings; incorporates additional recordkeeping requirements for junk dealers and recyclers; and increases fines and potential penalties for various metal-theft related offenses.

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C. Transportation

AB 30 (Alvarez) State Air Resources Board: Gasoline Specifications: Ethanol Blends.

Chapter 247, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure authorizes blends of gasoline containing 10.5% to 15% ethanol by volume to be sold in the state for use as a transportation fuel until (1) the California Environmental Policy Council completes its review of those blends and (2) the state board either adopts a regulation establishing a specification for those blends or posts an assessment on its website demonstrating that it is not possible for a regulation establishing a specification for those blends to meet specified requirements.

AB 377 (Tangipa) High-speed Rail Authority: Business Plan: Merced To Bakersfield Segment.

Chapter 81, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the High-Speed Rail Authority, as part of the business plan that is due on or before May 1, 2026, to provide a detailed funding plan for the Merced to Bakersfield segment of the high-speed rail system to include certain information, including an updated estimate of the funding gap for completing the segment and a strategy for addressing the funding gap.

AB 382 (Berman) Pedestrian Safety: School Zones: Speed Limits.

Chapter 555, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a local authority, by ordinance or resolution, to determine and declare a prima facie speed limit of 20 miles per hour in a school zone. This measure, beginning on Jan. 1, 2031, establishes a prima facie speed limit of 20 miles per hour in a school zone subject to specified conditions, including, among others, when a school speed limit sign states “children are present” and children are present and when a school speed limit sign states specific hours.

AB 390 (Wilson) Vehicles: Highway Safety.

Chapter 58, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the existing legal requirement of a driver approaching, among others, a stationary marked Department of Transportation (Caltrans) vehicle that is displaying flashing lights to approach with due caution and either change lanes to a lane not immediately adjacent to the vehicle or, if unable to safely do so, to slow to a reasonable and prudent speed to apply to all marked highway maintenance vehicles.

This measure also makes that requirement applicable to any other stationary vehicle displaying flashing hazard lights or another warning device, including, but not limited to, cones, flares, or retroreflective devices.

AB 440 (Ramos) State Bridges and Overpasses: Suicide Prevention.

Chapter 262, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, on or before July 1, 2028, Caltrans to identify best practices for the implementation of suicide countermeasures designed to deter suicide attempts on bridges and overpasses.

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AB 544 (Davies) Electric Bicycles: Required Equipment.

Chapter 36, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires an electric bicycle during all hours of the day to be equipped with a red reflector or a solid or flashing red light with a built-in reflector on the rear that is visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear when directly in front of lawful upper beams of headlamps on a motor vehicle.

Current law defines an electric bicycle and classifies electric bicycles into three classes with different restrictions. Under existing law, a “class 1 electric bicycle” is a bicycle equipped with a motor that, among other things, provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour. Under current law, a “class 2 electric bicycle” is a bicycle equipped with a motor that may be used exclusively to propel the bicycle and is not capable of providing assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour. Under current law, a “class 3 electric bicycle” is a bicycle equipped with a speedometer and a motor that, in pertinent part, provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and that ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 28 miles per hour.

AB 545
(Davies) Vehicles: Electric Bicycles.

Chapter 37, Statutes of 2025.

This measure prohibits a person from selling an application that can modify the speed capability of an electric bicycle. A bicycle that is capable of going faster than 20 miles per hour using a throttle alone or faster than 28 miles per hour because of pedaling assistance is not an electric bicycle under California law.

AB 875 (Muratsuchi) Vehicle Removal.

Chapter 168, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes a peace officer to remove a vehicle that (1) has fewer than four wheels but does not meet the definition of an electric bicycle if that vehicle is powered by an electric motor capable of exclusively propelling the vehicle in excess of 20 miles per hour on a highway and is being operated by an operator without a current license to operate the vehicle, or (2) is a class 3 electric bicycle being operated by a person under 16 years of age. This measure authorizes a city, county, or city and county to adopt a regulation, ordinance, or resolution imposing charges equal to its administrative costs relating to the removal, seizure, and storage costs of the vehicle.

AB 965 (Dixon) Vehicles: Electric Bicycles.

Chapter 65, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a person from selling a class 3 electric bicycle to a person under 16 years of age and makes a violation of that prohibition an infraction punishable by a fine not to exceed $250.

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AB 978 (Hoover) Department of Transportation and Local Agencies: Streets and Highways: Recycled Materials.

Chapter 443, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires a local agency that has jurisdiction over a street or highway to apply standard specifications that allow for the use of recycled materials in streets and highways at a level no less than the level allowed in Caltrans’s specifications, based on standards developed by Caltrans for recycled paving materials and for recycled base, subbase, and pervious backfill materials. SB 1 (Beall), Chapter 5, Statutes of 2017 provides additional funding to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and local streets and roads. Caltrans and cities and counties are encouraged to use advanced technologies and material recycling techniques where possible and cost effective when maintaining and rehabilitating the streets and highways with monies from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account.

AB 987 (Sharp-Collins) Vehicles: Storage and Towing.

Chapter 345, Statutes of 2025
This measure expands the list of presumptively unreasonable fees for purposes of the provisions described under current law to include the following:
• S torage fees in excess of 50% of the daily storage rate when a vehicle is recovered within the first four hours.
• Storage fees charged for state holidays that exceed the posted standard daily storage rate.
• Towing fees charged when the owner or the operator of a tow truck is directed by a law enforcement officer to remove a vehicle at the scene of a state or local emergency.
• Following a request from the vehicle owner to release their vehicle, and upon payment of all fees then due, storage fees for any day that a storage facility fails to release the vehicle.

Under current law, when a vehicle has been towed and stored, the legal owner may only be charged a storage fee during the first 15 days of possession, and beyond the first 15 days, only for any time after three days have lapsed after written notification has been made to the legal owner. Current law makes an insurer that is responsible for reasonable storage and towing charges liable to the person providing those services when a vehicle is towed and stored as a result of an accident or stolen recovery.

Current law requires that these storage and towing fees be reasonable and enumerates a list of fees that are presumptively unreasonable.

AB 1014
(Rogers) Traffic Safety: Speed Limits.

Chapter 287, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes Caltrans to additionally lower or retain the speed limit on state- controlled roads in specified circumstances, such as corridors with safety concerns or high pedestrian traffic. Current law establishes various default speed limits for vehicles upon highways. Existing law requires Caltrans to require speed limits to be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 miles per hour of the 85th percentile of free-flowing traffic.

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Current law authorizes a local authority to additionally lower the speed limit in specified circumstances or retain the currently adopted speed limit in certain circumstances.

AB 1085
(Stefani) License Plates: Obstruction or Alteration.

Chapter 179, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits a person from installing or affixing a shade or tint that obstructs the reading or recognition of a license plate by an electronic device operated by state or local law enforcement; an electronic device operated in connection with a toll road, high- occupancy toll (HOT) lane, toll bridge, or other toll facility; or a remote emission sensing device. This measure further prohibits the manufacture of these products and devices in the state and imposes a $1,000 fine per item sold or manufactured for a violation of these provisions.

AB 1114
(Ávila Farías) Emergency Vehicles: Fee and Toll Exemptions.

Chapter 87, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the exemption of authorized emergency vehicles from the payment of a toll or charge on a vehicular crossing, toll highway, or HOT lane and any related fines to a vehicle owned by a public or private entity used as an authorized vehicle and displaying an exempt license plate and an emergency or public agency identification, such as “Ambulance” or “Police.”

AB 1250 (Papan) Transit Operators: Paratransit: Recertification of Eligibility.

Chapter 725, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, on or before Jan. 1, 2027, transit operators to establish a streamlined recertification process for eligible persons. This measure requires, on and after June 1, 2027, transit operators to only use the streamlined recertification process for eligible persons unless certain conditions apply. This measure defines “eligible persons” as persons who receive or who are eligible to receive paratransit services based on a disability and whose disability cannot reasonably be expected to improve over time, as determined by the person’s qualified licensed medical professional, and whose ability to access the fixed route system cannot reasonably be expected to improve over time, as determined by the transit operator.

AB 1272 (Dixon) Department of Motor Vehicles: Occupational Licensees.

Chapter 68, Statutes of 2025
This measure adds Internet domain names to the list of prohibited uses for the holder of an occupational license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to use the initials “DMV,” the Department of Motor Vehicles logogram, or the words “Department of Motor Vehicles” in any business name or telephone number.

AB 1299 (Bryan) Parking Violations.

Chapter 346, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the issuing agency that issues parking violations to reduce or waive the parking penalty if the contestant provides satisfactory evidence of either an inability to pay the parking penalty in full or any other extenuating circumstances

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relevant to payment of the parking penalty, including, but not limited to, documented homelessness status and financial hardship.

AB 1423
(Irwin) Transportation Electrification: Electric Vehicle Charging Stations:

Payment Methods.

Chapter 192, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Energy Commission (CEC), in consultation with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), to develop uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards for electric vehicle (EV) chargers installed between Jan. 1, 2021, and Jan. 1, 2024. This measure also allows the CEC to establish an enforcement process for violations of these uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards.

Additionally, it modifies the requirements applied to EV charging station payment methods.

SB 71
(Wiener) California Environmental Quality Act: Exemptions: Transit Projects.

Chapter 742, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the CEQA exemption for certain transportation-related projects indefinitely and adds new exemptions for specific transit planning activities.

Under current law, CEQA requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions to the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the revised project would still have a significant impact. Until Jan. 1, 2030, CEQA exempts from its requirements active transportation plans, pedestrian plans, and bicycle transportation plans involving activities such as restriping streets and highways, installing bicycle parking and storage, adjusting signal timing to improve intersection operations, and adding related signage for bicycles, pedestrians, and vehicles.

SB 78
(Seyarto) Department of Transportation: Report: State Highway System:

Safety Enhancements.

Chapter 743, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires Caltrans to prepare a report evaluating current efforts and potential opportunities to streamline the processes and procedures for the delivery of safety enhancement projects on the state highway system. This measure requires the department to submit the report to the Legislature on or before Jan. 1, 2027.

SB 128
(Cmte. Budget and Fiscal Review) Department of Transportation: Funding Chapter 16, Statutes of 2025
This measure is the 2025 Transportation trailer bill, which makes changes necessary to enact transportation-related provisions of the Budget Act of 2025.

SB 364 (Strickland) Outdoor Advertising Displays: Permits: New Alignments.

Chapter 313, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits Caltrans from denying or delaying the acceptance of a permit application for a new advertising display along a portion of a new alignment of an Transportation, Communications, and Public Works 105
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interstate or primary highway on the basis that the highway project has not been accepted as complete if the section of highway is open to the use of the public for vehicular travel within 1,000 feet of the location specified in the permit application.

SB 480
(Archuleta) Autonomous Vehicles.

Chapter 415, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes an autonomous vehicle to be equipped with automated driving system (ADS) marker lamps in accordance with specified standards. For purposes of this provision, the measure defines an “ADS marker lamp” as a device that emits a light to indicate when an ADS is engaged in the operation of the vehicle.

SB 533 (Richardson) Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: Arenas: Payments:

Internet-based Applications.

Chapter 770, Statutes of 2025
This measure allows an EV charging station to require customers pay for charging services using an Internet-based application if the charging station is located on the premises of an arena that has a seating capacity of at least 15,000 seats and can only be accessed through the use of that Internet-based application.

SB 544
(Laird) Railroad Crossings: Permit Applications: Review.

Chapter 224, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires an application for a railroad crossing to include, at a minimum, certain information concerning the proposed railroad crossing. This measure requires the CPUC to adopt an expedited review and approval process for rate setting proceedings for an exempt railroad crossing application. This measure also requires the Commission, upon initiating a rate setting proceeding, to determine whether the proceeding is for an exempt railroad crossing application and, if so, to issue a proposed resolution pursuant to the expedited review and approval process.

SB 671 (Cervantes) Pedestrian Crossing Signals.

Chapter 326, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires pedestrian signal heads to have a push button or touch-free accessible pedestrian signal (APS) that activates “WALK” or “DON’T WALK” intervals and other visual signals in nonvisual formats, such as audible tones or vibrations, at signalized intersections. This measure requires touch-free APS to be installed at new signalized pedestrian crossings on capital projects on the state highway system, encroachment projects, and highway maintenance–funded projects. This measure requires, as soon as practicable, all existing state-owned or state-operated traffic signals located in certain areas to be identified and recorded in the Caltrans management system inventory database to assist future annual operational review requirements and coordination with local agencies for delegated signals. This measure requires leading pedestrian intervals to be implemented at these existing state-owned or state-operated traffic signals locations at the next opportunity for regularly scheduled operational reviews.

Transportation, Communications, and Public Works 106
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SB 695 (Cortese) Transportation: Climate Resiliency: Projects of Statewide and Regional Significance.

Chapter 781, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires Caltrans, in consultation with, among others, the Transportation Agency and the California Transportation Commission, on or before July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to create a prioritized list of projects of statewide and regional significance to better prepare the state for extreme weather-related events, with priority based on specified criteria.

*
SB 720 (Ashby) Automated Traffic Enforcement System Programs.

Chapter 782, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes cities, counties, and cities and counties to establish automated traffic enforcement system programs to detect violations of traffic control signals, provided the systems meet specified requirements. Violations recorded by these systems are subject to escalating civil penalties, and the measure outlines procedures for issuing a notice of violation, conducting an initial review, holding an administrative hearing, and providing an appeals process.

Under existing law, intersections or other designated stop locations may already be equipped with automated traffic enforcement systems if the responsible governmental agency meets certain conditions, including posting warning signs and ensuring compliance with minimum yellow light change interval standards. Current law also authorizes, until Jan. 1, 2032, a speed safety system pilot program in the Cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, and Long Beach and in the City and County of San Francisco. This pilot allows speed enforcement using automated systems in specified areas under defined criteria, with violations subject only to a civil penalty. This measure expands that framework by creating a permanent authorization for the use of automated systems to enforce traffic signal compliance, with clear guidelines for penalties and due process.

SB 770
(Allen) Common Interest Developments: Ev Charging Stations.

Chapter 525, Statutes of 2025
This measure deletes the requirement that the insurance policy name a homeowners association as an additional insured party of an EV charging station placed in a common area or an exclusive-use common area of a common-interest development and corrects an erroneous cross-reference regarding the amount of that insurance.

SB 800 (Reyes) State Bridges and Overpasses: Suicide Prevention.

Chapter 427, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, beginning on or before July 1, 2028, Caltrans, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and in collaboration with impacted local governments, to incorporate suicide deterrent considerations for bridges and overpasses in the updates of applicable guidance documents.

Transportation, Communications, and Public Works 107
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D. Telecommunications

AB 1303 (Valencia) Communications: Lifeline Telephone Service Program.

Chapter 347, Statutes of 2025
This measure prohibits the Public Utilities Commission, its staff, the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service program’s third-party administrator, and lifeline service providers and their contractors, agents, successors, or assignees from sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making accessible any information provided by an applicant or subscriber to the lifeline program, or a subprogram or pilot program of the lifeline program, to any agency of a local government, a state government, or the federal government, or to an immigration authority without a court-ordered subpoena or valid judicial warrant.

E. Utilities and Energy

AB 841
(Patel) State Fire Marshal: Personal Protective Equipment: Battery Fires.

Chapter 382, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, until Jan. 1, 2031, the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, to develop a working group with specified membership to make recommendations regarding personal protective equipment used in responding to lithium-ion battery fires. This measure requires, at a minimum, the working group to review, and for the purpose of making the recommendations to consider, the latest personal protective equipment to limit exposure to lithium and other heavy metals, technology to clean personal protective equipment, whether different types of personal protective equipment should be used for different types of lithium-ion battery fires, and current decontamination practices at the fire scene.

AB 1410 (Garcia) Utilities: Service Outages and Updates: Alerts.

Chapter 396, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, or local publicly owned electric utility, on or before March 1, 2026, to automatically enroll its customers in alerts for service outages and updates. This measure requires customers to be provided with the opportunity to opt out of any alerts they do not wish to receive, except as provided. This measure requires each of those utilities to annually provide information on customers’ bills on how to update their preferred contact method on the utility’s website or, if feasible, by telephone.

SB 254
(Becker) Energy.

Chapter 119, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure makes various policy changes related to electrical corporations, among them, authorizing public financing and ownership of electric transmission infrastructure, addressing both wildfire mitigation spending and financing and liability of wildfire property claims; permitting of clean energy projects; providing transparency of electrical corporations’ return on equity; enforcement of timeliness of energization projects; and prohibiting large electrical corporations from including in their equity rate base an Transportation, Communications, and Public Works 108
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additional $6 billion of wildfire mitigation capital expenditures. This measure deems the financing of projects related to the clean energy projects funded by the bond act to be in the public interest and eligible for financing by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank or by a special purpose trust established pursuant to the bank act and requires that any such financing be treated as financing of an economic development facility for purposes of the bank act. Also, this measure eliminates local agency involvement in land-use decisions of larger energy project applications.

*SB 283
(Laird) Energy Storage Systems.

Chapter 407, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires that an application submitted to the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission after Jan. 1, 2026, and an application submitted to a local jurisdiction for an energy storage system include the applicant’s certification that, at least 30 days before submitting the application, the applicant met and conferred with the authority that has jurisdiction over fire suppression in the area where the energy storage system is proposed. This measure also prohibits the approval of those applications unless the local jurisdiction requires as a condition of approval that after installation is complete, but before commencing operations or use of the batteries, the energy storage system is inspected by the authority that has jurisdiction over fire suppression, and that the applicant bears the cost of the inspection. The measure requires, as part of the next update to the California Building Standards Code considered after July 1, 2026, the Office of the State Fire Marshal to review and consider proposing provisions that restrict the location of energy storage systems to dedicated-use noncombustible buildings or outdoor installations.

APPENDIX A – ADDITIONAL

RESOURCES
Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 109
2025 Homelessness Budget Advocacy
2025 Homelessness Budget Advocacy

Cal Cities Advocacy
This year, Cal Cities continued to urge the Legislature and the Governor's office to invest a minimum of $1 billion in ongoing funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) Grant Program. This request aligned with Cal Cities’ 2025 Advocacy Priorities
, which focus on securing funding to prevent and reduce homelessness.

HHAP investments have shown promising results. The number of homeless Californians increased by just over 3% in 2024 — a much lower rate than the nation overall and lower than 40 other states. The HHAP program alone provides services to 100,000–130,000 Californians experiencing homelessness every year.

The Legislature and the Governor’s office were also increasingly focused on the efforts to cities to address encampments this year. In May, the Governor’s office shared a new model ordinance
for local governments to address encampments on public property. To access funding provided by the HHAP program, cities must now have a local encampment policy that is consistent with this administration's guidance.

To inform Cal Cities’ budget request and respond to changes in encampment policy, Cal Cities conducted a survey
, which showed that while cities are accelerating their efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness in their communities, the demand for housing and services is outpacing their efforts, straining capacity, and draining resources.

Specifically, the survey showed that eight in 10 cities are using General Fund dollars to address encampments in their communities. However, only one in five cities has been able to access state funding to address encampments. Cities cite a lack of services, funding, and coordination with state agencies as the biggest barriers when addressing encampments. Cal Cities staff shared this survey with the media and meetings with lawmakers to make the case for ongoing funding for these critical issues.

Additionally, for the third consecutive year, Cal Cities joined a broad coalition of local governments, homeless service providers, housing advocates, and business leaders in calling on legislative leaders
to provide ongoing funding to address homelessness.

While this group of stakeholders does not always see eye to eye, all stakeholders in this space agree that ongoing funding, paired with reasonable accountability metrics, would significantly address homelessness in our state.

Final Budget Agreement
Budget negotiations were turbulent this year, with the Legislature and the Governor at odds over funding key programs — including HHAP. Ultimately, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 131
(Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), which
zeroes out HHAP grants for the current fiscal year and sets aside $500 million for fiscal year 2026–27 — half the level of previous years.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 110
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League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Below is a year-by-year breakdown of HHAP allocations:

Fiscal Year: Funding Allocated:
2019-20 $650 million
2020-21 $300 million
2021-22 $1 billion
2022-23 $1 billion
2023-24 $1 billion
2024-25 $1 billion
2025-26 $0
2026-27 $500 million

SB 131 also requires HHAP applicants to satisfy the following requirements in order to receive funding:
• Have a compliant housing element
• Have a local encampment policy consistent with administration guidance • Have a pro-housing designation
• Leverage local resources to scale state investments
• Demonstrate progress on key housing performance metrics • Demonstrate urgency and measurable results in housing and homelessness prevention

In response to the final budget, Cal Cities joined forces with the California State Association of Counties, the Bring California Home Coalition, and the Big City Mayors to urge lawmakers
to adopt trailer bill language that would require the quick distribution of HHAP dollars to prevent devastating service disruptions. Without swift action, California’s largest cities warned of losing 3,250 shelter beds, reducing outreach services for more than 12,500 individuals, and stalling construction of over 2,250 housing units.

The Legislature ultimately responded by amending and passing SB 158 (Committee on
Budget and Fiscal Review) during the last days of the legislative session. Among other changes, this measure includes the coalition’s request to begin dispersing HHAP funding by the end of next year. While this action provides some immediate relief, it is only a stopgap. Cal Cities will continue to press lawmakers and the Governor to provide reliable, ongoing funding for homelessness programs in next year’s budget.

SB 158
(Cmte. on Budget and Fiscal Review) Land use.

Chapter 650, Statutes of 2025.

This measure requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 111
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League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
prepare to administer Round 7 of the HHAP program with the goal that the initial Round 7 disbursement will be available to grantees meeting the statutory provisions beginning Sept.1, 2026. This measure also includes notable land-use changes.

Specifically, this measure clarifies that the Permit Streamlining Act applies to ministerial housing development projects defined in the Housing Crisis Act that local agencies review. Additionally, the measure modifies the deadline for a lead public agency to approve or disapprove infill housing development projects exempt from CEQA to 30 days after the agency concludes a tribal consultation process or the time period required under the Housing Accountability Act. This measure also specifies that builder’s remedy projects greater than four acres are not eligible for a CEQA exemption or the limited application of CEQA as required in the Public Resources Code section 21080.1. Finally, this measure specifies that a housing development project located in a city with a population of more than 85,000 but less than 95,000 or in a county with a population of 440,000 but less than 455,000 must be a discretionary project if it meets the following requirements:
• A portion of the parcel where the project is located is identified on a United States Fish and Wildlife Service map as a freshwater forested or shrub wetland. • A portion of the parcel is located within a regulatory floodway determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in any official maps the agency publishes.
• The project is located on a parcel adjacent to a California historical landmark on the California Register of Historic Places.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 112
2025 Recovery Housing
2025 Recovery Housing

Background
In Dec. 2023, the Cal Cities Board of Directors voted to support Proposition 1, which passed off the March 2024 ballot. Prop. 1 modernized the Mental Health Services Act for the first time in nearly two decades. The ballot measure also included a $6.38 billion bond for over 11,000 new treatment beds and housing units for people with the most acute behavioral health needs who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Cal Cities’ support of Prop. 1 aligned with existing policy. In 2022, the Cal Cities Board of Directors adopted a new policy enabling the organization to advocate for increased access to behavioral health services for unhoused Californians. Additionally, Cal Cities' 2025 Advocacy Priorities include securing increased funding and resources to prevent and reduce homelessness and expand access to wraparound services.

In addition to supporting Prop. 1 on the ballot, the Cal Cities Board of Directors directed staff to pursue legislation to address concerns about the lack of state oversight of recovery housing facilities in residential areas. This was in response to concerns that Prop. 1 funding could be used for residential recovery housing facilities, exacerbating existing overconcentration issues in certain parts of the state.

Cal Cities has over a decade of history advocating for reforms to address concerns about residential care facilities. This advocacy included Cal Cites sponsoring two bills in
2016 in response to an annual conference resolution brought forward by the City of Malibu in 2015. Unfortunately, until now, the Legislature and the Governor have taken little to no action to move legislation that protects residents and holds bad actors accountable.

Last year, in response to the board’s directive, Cal Cities sponsored four bills to ensure drug and alcohol recovery facilities follow state regulations and provide high-quality treatment. The following measures were signed by the Governor in 2024:
• AB 2081
(Davies) Substance Abuse: Recovery and Treatment Programs.

Chapter 376, Statutes of 2024
This measure requires the operator of a licensed recovery facility to disclose to those seeking care that they can check the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) website to confirm a facility’s compliance with state licensing laws. • AB 2574
(Valencia) Alcoholism or Drug Abuse Recovery or Treatment Programs and Facilities: Disclosures.

Chapter 410, Statutes of 2024.

This measure expands reporting requirements for licensed recovery facility operators to enhance DHCS’s oversight of sober living homes that are operating as an integral part of a licensed drug treatment facility located elsewhere in the community.

Following the passage of these two measures in October of last year, the state auditor released a long-anticipated report
on drug and alcohol treatment facilities in California.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 113
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League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
The report confirmed what cities across California have been saying for years: DHCS does not have the capacity to enforce compliance with state licensure law and protect patients when problems arise.

The audit found that DHCS does not always promptly or thoroughly investigate complaints. Twenty-two of the 60 investigations the audit reviewed took over a year to complete. In 10 of those investigations, it took the department more than 600 days.

When DHCS does not complete these investigations expeditiously, problems go undetected, threatening the health and safety of those receiving care.

There were also delays with compliance inspections, with the department conducting just half of the 26 reviewed inspections on time. Moreover, the department did not always follow up on unlicensed facilities that were unlawfully advertising or providing services that require licensure. The department only conducted seven site visits for 15 related complaints, despite having a policy to perform site visits for all unlicensed facility complaints.

2025 Recovery Housing Bill Package
In response to the audit, Cal Cities staff facilitated several group discussions with cities across the state to collect feedback and develop legislative solutions. As a result, Cal Cities sponsored another four bills this session to ensure drug and alcohol recovery facilities follow state regulations and provide high-quality treatment.

Two of these measures were signed by the Governor:

AB 424
(Davies) Alcohol and Other Drug Programs: Complaints.

Chapter 261, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires DHCS to notify individuals when their complaint has been received, when the investigation concludes, and the outcome of the investigation.

Currently, complainants do not receive updates and must file a public records request just to learn the outcome of their complaint — a process that can take over a year.

AB 492
(Valencia) Alcohol and Drug Programs: Licensing.

Chapter 368, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires DHCS to notify a city if the department approves a new license in its jurisdiction. Currently, municipalities often learn of facilities after a problem arises, making it difficult to integrate programs effectively into communities.

Unfortunately, two other measures in the bill package died earlier in the year. These included:

SB 35
(Umberg) Alcohol and Drug Programs.

This measure would have required DHCS to meet specific timelines for investigating allegations of unlicensed treatment services. If the department failed to meet these deadlines, counties could seek approval to conduct site visits and enforce licensure Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 114
2025 Recovery Housing
League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
laws themselves. SB 35 also required DHCS to conduct follow-up site visits to ensure unlawful activity has stopped.

SB 329 (Blakespear) Alcohol and Drug Recovery or Treatment Facilities:

Investigations.

This measure would have required DHCS to complete timely investigations into complaints regarding alcohol or drug treatment facilities. Complaints would have needed to be assigned to investigative analysts within 10 days of receiving them, and analysts would have needed to complete investigations within 60 days.

Media Engagement
As part of the advocacy to advance this bill package, Cal Cities actively engaged the media. This included coordinating a press conference
with a bipartisan group of
lawmakers, city officials, and a patient advocate at Santa Ana City Hall in May. The news conference centered on Cal Cities' four sponsored bills and called for greater oversight and transparency over alcohol and drug treatment facilities.

The Orange County Register’s long-running Rehab Riviera series has continued to
spotlight challenges and reforms in the recovery industry. This year, after chatting with Cal Cities, columnist
Teri Sforza noted that “the political heft of the League of California Cities has helped push the reform agenda forward this session,” adding that the organization “has thrown its weight behind four bills, two of which are progressing toward the finish line.”

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 115
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Budget Bill California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Budget Bill

Background
The Legislature enacted significant notable policy changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) through the budget process this year with the passage of SB 131. This budget trailer bill included CEQA policy changes, among other topics, that took effect immediately. SB 131 includes changes regarding the scope of the administrative record under CEQA, new project-related CEQA exemptions, and focused environmental analyses under CEQA for otherwise exempted housing projects.

Scope of the Administrative Record for CEQA Litigation
This measure reiterates a broad category of “written materials” that must be included in the administrative record prepared for CEQA litigation. However, electronic internal agency communications (including emails) do not need to be included in the administrative record if they were not presented to the project’s final decision-making body.

New CEQA Exemptions
SB 131 includes new CEQA exemptions for specific project types, including:
• Housing element implementation, including any rezoning action that implements a local jurisdiction’s approved housing element. The CEQA exemption does not apply to a rezoning that would allow for the construction of a distribution center, oil and gas infrastructure, or construction that occurs within the boundaries of any natural or protected lands.
• New agricultural employee housing projects.
• Disadvantaged community drinking water and on-site sewage treatment–related projects that include specific labor requirements, funding criteria, and various sunset provisions.
• Linear broadband deployment in a right-of-way, including local street or road, where projects can be undertaken by a public or private entity or nonprofit corporation.
• Any activity or approval necessary for or incidental to planning, design, site acquisition, construction, operation, or maintenance of a public park or nonmotorized recreational trail facilities with specific funding sources. • Wildfire risk reduction activities that are in compliance with all other applicable laws, ordinances, and zoning requirements, including:
o Prescribed fire or fuel reduction projects to reduce wildfire risk by reestablishing the fire return interval appropriate to the ecosystem for biodiversity or other benefits, excluding projects located on coastal sage scrub habitat or any other sensitive habitat. In order to qualify for the CEQA exemption, all of the following requirements must be met:
 The project cannot exceed 50 contiguous acres and must be located within a half mile of a subdivision of 30 or more dwelling units.
 The lead agency must consult with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to ensure that, to the extent feasible, the project is designed Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 116
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Budget Bill League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
to avoid or minimize impacts to candidate, rare, threatened, or endangered plants and wildlife and to wildlife nursery sites, including nesting rookeries, spawning areas, fawning areas, and maternal roosts.
 The lead agency must, to the extent feasible, design the project to avoid impacts to riparian areas and water quality through use of sediment and erosion control measures where there is ground disturbance for control lines.
 The lead agency must identify and, to the extent feasible, protect tribal cultural resources that may be impacted by the project. This requirement may be met by reviewing existing records, including the California Historical Resources Information System and Sacred Lands Inventory, or by engaging in consultation with relevant California Native American tribes on identification of tribal cultural resources and appropriate mitigation measures while maintaining confidentiality of sensitive records.
o Defensible space fire clearance projects up to 100 feet, as measured from the center line of the roadway, for a public roadway identified as an egress and evacuation route for a subdivision or community of 30 or more dwelling units, to remove flammable vegetation or trees of less than 12 inches in diameter as measured at chest height.
o Projects consisting of the establishment or enhancement of residential home hardening or defensible space for wildfire risk reduction within 200 feet of a legal structure in a high or very high wildfire hazard zone. o Projects consisting of a fuel break that extends up to 200 feet from structures, including the clearance of flammable vegetation and trees less than 12 inches in diameter as measured at chest height. • Specific project types that are not on natural and protected lands, including:
o Projects that consist exclusively of a daycare center that is not located in a residential area, a rural health clinic or federal qualified health clinic that is 50,000 square feet or less in size, and a nonprofit food bank or food pantry if the project is on a site zoned exclusively for industrial uses. o Projects that consist exclusively of a facility for advanced manufacturing, as defined, if the project is on a site zoned exclusively for industrial uses. o Development, construction, or operation of a maintenance facility for electrically powered high-speed rail under certain conditions. o Development, construction, or modification of a proposed passenger rail station, or design changes to a passenger rail station for the purpose of serving electrically powered high-speed rail under specific conditions.

Focused Environmental Effects for Exempted Housing Projects SB 131 specifies that if a proposed housing development project would otherwise be exempt from CEQA (pursuant to specific existing statutory or categorical exemptions) but for a single condition, an initial study or environmental impact report is only required to examine the effects caused by the single condition. With certain enumerated Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 117
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Budget Bill League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
exceptions, such environmental impact reports are not required to include a discussion of alternatives or growth-inducing impacts of the housing development project.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 118
Cap-and-Invest Program Reauthorization
Cap-and-Invest Program Reauthorization

Background
The Legislature took action to reauthorize the Cap-and-Invest Program by passing AB 1207 (Irwin), related to structural changes to the program, including extending it from 2030 to 2045, and SB 840 (Limón), related to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). As part of the reauthorization, the program is renamed from Cap-and-Trade to Cap-and-Invest Program.

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
SB 840 includes the Legislature’s intent to direct specific percentages of the revenues generated through the Cap-and-Invest Program into the GGRF. Cities, along with other interested parties, are eligible entities that can apply to various state programs where GGRF funding is dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the following areas: clean transportation, housing and community investment, clean air and water, wildfire prevention and resilience, agriculture, clean energy, and climate-focused innovation.o

SB 840 provides a framework for funding distribution that takes effect beginning in the 2026–27 fiscal year. The framework includes three tiers and any future appropriation is contingent upon how much money is available in the GGRF:
• Tier 1 reserves allot approximately $500 million to offset the homeowner fire prevention fees in the state responsibility areas, approximately $150 million for manufacturing product credits, and $3 million for the Legislative Counsel Climate Bureau.
• Tier 2 reserves allot funding for the following priorities:
o $1 billion high-speed rail
o $1 billion discretionary funding for the Legislature to allocate as part of the annual budget
• Tier 3 reserves, after Tiers 1 and 2 are fully allocated, direct the remaining money (for a total of $1.9 million) to be continuously appropriated as follows:
o $800 million for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program
o $400 million for the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program o $250 million for community air protection programs and for financial incentives to reduce mobile and stationary sources of criteria air pollutants or toxic air contaminants
o $200 million for the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program o $200 million for Cal Fire for healthy forest and fire prevention programs o $130 million to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 119
SB 707 (Durazo) Ralph M. Brown Act Update
SB 707 (Durazo) Ralph M. Brown Act Update

On Oct. 3, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 707 (Durazo), a dramatic overhaul of local government meeting requirements, into law. Although this measure incorporates language from Cal Cities–sponsored legislation and is aimed at improving transparency and public engagement, it also creates significant operational, fiscal, and legal challenges for cities. Among other provisions, SB 707 adds new remote public comment, translation, and outreach requirements; creates new exemptions from certain teleconferencing rules; and extends several sunsetting Brown Act laws.

Many of this measure’s mandates apply unevenly across cities and will generate substantial new costs for audiovisual equipment, translation services, and staff time — all without reimbursement. Notably, the state itself remains exempt from many of the same requirements it is imposing on local governments.

Below is a summary of this measure:

Note: SB 707 is nuanced and highly fact-specific. Moreover, many of the obligations imposed by the law will likely be difficult to implement. Ultimately, agencies should not assume that their current Brown Act protocols will satisfy all of SB 707’s requirements.

This document does not constitute legal advice. For specific analysis, guidance on compliance, and impacts on your specific agency, please consult with your city attorney.

“Eligible Legislative Bodies” Defined
While SB 707 generally applies to all cities, certain portions only apply to newly coined “eligible legislative bodies,” which include the following:
• A city council of a city with a population of 30,000 or more • A city council of a city located in a county with a population of 600,000 or more

Beginning July 1, 2026, eligible legislative bodies will need to meet additional requirements under the Brown Act, as described below.

Information on general Brown Act changes begins in the section titled Alternative Teleconferencing Rules.

Remote Public Comments
An eligible legislative body must provide the public with a way to attend meetings and comment via a “two-way telephonic” or “two-way audiovisual platform.”

This measure describes a two-way telephonic service as one “that does not require internet access and allows participants to dial a telephone number to listen and verbally participate.” A two-way audiovisual platform is defined as an “online platform that provides participants with the ability to participate in a meeting via both an interactive video conference and a two-way telephonic service.”
Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 120
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League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Internet Service Interruptions
An eligible legislative body must adopt, at a noticed public meeting in open session (not on consent), a policy on disruptions to telephonic or Internet service. The policy must include the following:
• If a disruption prevents public participation through two-way telephonic or audiovisual platforms, the body shall recess open session for at least one hour and attempt in “good faith” to restore service.
• The body may meet in closed session during the recess. • Open session may not reconvene until at least one hour has passed or service is restored, whichever comes first.
• If service is not restored, the body may resume only after adopting, by roll call vote, a finding that good faith efforts were made and that continuing the meeting outweighs the public’s interest in remote access.

Reasonable Translation Assistance
An eligible legislative body shall “reasonably assist” members of the public who wish to translate a public meeting into any language or wish to receive an interpretation provided by another member of the public, so long as it does not disrupt the meeting.

An eligible legislative body shall publicize how to request assistance. Assistance may include any of the following, as determined by the eligible legislative body:
• Arranging space for one or more interpreters at the meeting location • Allowing extra time during the meeting for interpretation to occur • Ensuring participants may utilize their personal equipment or reasonably access facilities for participants to access commercially available interpretation services

This section does not actually require an eligible legislative body to provide interpretation services itself. Nor is the eligible legislative body responsible for the content or accuracy of any interpretation facilitated, assisted with, or provided.

This measure does not define what “reasonable” means.

City-Provided Agenda Translations
The agenda for each meeting of an eligible legislative body shall be translated into all “applicable languages.” Each translation shall include instructions in the applicable language describing how to join the meeting by the telephonic or Internet-based service option, including any requirements for registering public comment.

The accessible Internet web page shall be translated into all applicable languages.

Each translation shall be accessible through a prominent direct link posted on the primary website home page of the eligible legislative body.

A translation made using a digital translation service shall satisfy the requirements. The bill expressly states that the agenda translation requirement does not apply to the entire agenda packet.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 121
SB 707 (Durazo) Ralph M. Brown Act Update
League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Applicable Languages Defined
For purposes of this bill, “applicable languages” means languages, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey, spoken jointly by 20% or more of the city’s population, provided that 20% or more of the population that speaks that language speaks English less than “very well.”

For cities, the applicable population shall be determined pursuant to data from the U.S.

Census Bureau’s most recent American Community Survey:
• For an eligible legislative body, the applicable population shall be the population of the city.
• If more than three languages meet the criteria, “applicable languages” shall mean the three languages that are spoken by the largest percentage of the population. • An eligible legislative body may determine the applicable languages based upon a source other than the most recent American Community Survey if it makes a finding, based upon substantial evidence, that the other source provides equally or more reliable data for the territory over which the eligible legislative body exercises jurisdiction.

Local Outreach
An eligible legislative body must take the following steps to encourage public participation in meetings:
• Provide a system to electronically accept and fulfill agenda requests (via email or an agenda management platform), with a prominent link on the body’s home page
• Maintain a dedicated, accessible web page for public meetings that includes or links to:
o A general explanation of the meeting process
o Instructions for submitting oral (in-person or remote) or written public comment
o A calendar with the date, time, and location of each meeting o Posted agendas
o A link to this web page from the body’s home page
• Make reasonable efforts to invite groups that do not traditionally participate in meetings

No legal action may be brought against the body for failing to provide information to a specific group.

Physical Public Posting Location
An eligible legislative body shall make available a physical location that is freely accessible to the public in reasonable proximity to the physical location where council agendas and translations are posted. Members of the public must be allowed to post additional translations of the council agenda in that location.

An eligible legislative body is not responsible for the content or accuracy of any translation provided pursuant to this subdivision.

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The measure also states that no action shall be commenced or maintained against an eligible legislative body arising from the content, accuracy, posting, or removal of any translation provided by the eligible legislative body or posted by any person pursuant to this subdivision.

The following section is on general amendments to the Brown Act that are applicable to all cities, not only “eligible legislative bodies.”

Alternative Teleconferencing Rules
SB 707 extends the existing AB 2449 alternative teleconferencing provisions until Jan. 1, 2030. AB 2449 authorizes limited remote participation from undisclosed locations due to “just cause” and “emergency circumstances.” As related to AB 2449, it also permits the following:
• Allows members with certain military service obligations that result in them being unable to attend in person to use this provision.
• Removes the requirement for the legislative body to approve each instance a member wants to participate remotely for “emergency circumstances,” and applies the same rules for participating remotely for “just cause” to “emergency circumstances.”
• R equires that the minutes for the meeting identify the specific provision that each member relied upon to participate remotely. This subdivision shall not be construed to require the member to disclose any medical diagnosis, disability, or any personal medical information that is otherwise exempt under existing law.

Additionally, the measure confirms that members of legislative bodies with physical or mental disabilities may participate remotely per the Americans with Disabilities Act, with their participation counting toward any applicable in-person quorum requirements.

Subsidiary (Advisory) Bodies
Alternative teleconferencing is authorized for an “eligible subsidiary body” defined as one that:
• Serves exclusively in an advisory role
• Cannot take final action on legislation, regulations, contracts, licenses, permits, entitlements, grants, or fund allocations
• Does not have primary subject matter jurisdiction over elections, budgets, police oversight, privacy, restricting access to library materials, taxes, or related spending proposals

These bodies may include elected officials, nonelected officials, or both.

An eligible subsidiary body may request to present recommendations to its legislative body, which must hold a discussion at a regular meeting within 60 days (or the next regular meeting). This discussion cannot be on consent but may be combined with the legislative body’s subsequent findings for the next 12 months.

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A legislative body may not act on recommendations until the meeting following the discussion.

To use teleconferencing pursuant to this section, the legislative body that established the eligible subsidiary body must make specific findings by majority vote. The legislative body that created the eligible subsidiary body may prohibit the eligible subsidiary body from using teleconferencing pursuant to this section at any time.

Multijurisdictional Bodies Teleconferencing
Alternative teleconferencing for an eligible multijurisdictional body is authorized if a member participates remotely only when their location is more than 20 miles each way from the meeting location and the member receives no compensation other than reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses.

Neighborhood Councils Teleconferencing
An eligible neighborhood council may conduct a teleconference meeting if it complies with specific requirements.

Emergency Teleconferencing
Teleconferencing flexibility is expanded during state-declared emergencies to include local emergencies.

Social Media Usage
Existing law allows members to engage in separate conversations or communications outside of a meeting using social media for specified purposes, provided, among other things, that a majority of the members do not use the platform to discuss business of a specific nature that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. This bill makes this exception indefinite.

Zoom Bombing
Existing law authorizes the presiding member of the legislative body conducting a meeting or their designee to remove an individual for disrupting the meeting. This measure specifies that these rules are also applicable to any teleconferenced meeting.

Open Meeting Compensation Discussions
Existing law requires legislative bodies to provide oral summaries of compensation recommendations for certain employees before taking final action. This measure adds department heads to that requirement.

Agendizing Items Previously Considered by Committee
Existing law specifies that an agenda is not required to provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative body on any item that has already been considered by a committee composed of members of the legislative body.

This measure specifies that, with limited exception, such an opportunity must be provided when the item has been substantially changed since the committee heard the Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 124
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League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
item; a quorum of the committee members did not originally participate; or the committee has primary subject matter jurisdiction on elections, budgets, police oversight, privacy, removing from, or restricting access to, materials available in public libraries, taxes, or related spending proposals.

Copy of the Brown Act
An agency must provide a copy of the Brown Act to any person elected or appointed to serve as a member of a legislative body of the local agency.

This explainer is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. Please contact your city attorney for guidance specific to your jurisdiction.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 125
AB 130 Housing Budget Bill
AB 130 Housing Budget Bill

Background
The Legislature enacted significant notable housing policy changes through the budget process this year, including exempting specific infill development projects from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and placing a six-year moratorium on new building codes not related to health and safety issues. The housing budget bill this year also included a variety of other notable changes to housing policy, which are discussed below.

Housing
This measure:
• Applies the Permit Streamlining Act to housing projects that qualify for ministerial review and requires approval or disapproval within 60 days of receiving a completed application
• Requires local jurisdictions to include in their annual progress reports to HCD data about the number of applications submitted, the location and number of developments approved, and the total number of building permits required by the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act • Makes permanent portions of the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) and Housing Crisis Act that would have expired on Jan. 1, 2030:
o What constitutes a complete “preliminary application” o The definition of objective standards under the HAA
o Prohibiting more than five public hearings for a housing development project that complies with all objective general plan and zoning standards o Requiring local governments to determine if a proposed project is located on a historic site at the time an application is deemed complete • Requires a COG’s methodology for allocating the regional housing need to be approved by HCD

CEQA
This measure made the following relevant changes:
• Provides a new CEQA exemption for a housing development project with two- thirds of the project designated to residential if it meets the following conditions:
o The size is not more than 20 acres or is a builder’s remedy project on a site of less than five acres.
o The project site is located in a U.S. Census Bureau–defined urban area. o The project site has been previously developed with an “urban use,” defined as “any current or previous residential or commercial development, public institution, or public park that is surrounded by other urban uses, parking lot or structure, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use, or any combination of those uses.” o At least 75% of the perimeter of the site adjoins parcels that are developed with urban uses.
o At least 75% of the area within a quarter-mile radius of the site is developed with urban uses.

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o For sites with four sides, at least three out of four sides are developed with urban uses, and at least two-thirds of the perimeter of the site adjoins parcels that are developed with urban uses.
o The project must be consistent with applicable general plan and zoning ordinances and local coastal programs.
o The project must be at least one-half of the density specified in a housing element to accommodate lower-income households.
o The project is not located in coastal protected areas, areas vulnerable to sea level rise, on prime agricultural land, on wetlands, within a very high fire hazard severity zone, on a hazardous waste site, in a delineated earthquake fault zone, in a special flood hazard area, or on lands identified for conservation.
o The project must not require the demolition of a historic structure that was placed on a national, state, or local historic register before the SB 330 preliminary application was filed for the project
o No portion of the project can be designated for use as a hotel, motel, bed- and-breakfast, or other transient lodging.

• The following apply to a housing project that qualifies for the new exemption:
o Local governments are required to engage in tribal consultation. o The project proponent must complete a Phase I Environmental Assessment. o Housing within 500 feet of a freeway must comply with requirements regarding centralized heating and air-conditioning, ventilation, and air filtration and may not have balconies facing the freeway.
o Specific labor requirements must be met for certain projects, including prevailing wage for 100% lower-income projects and skilled and trained workforce for buildings over 85 feet in height.

California Coastal Commission
Notable changes are as follows:
• Subjects the CCC, when acting as a responsible agency under CEQA, to Permit Streamlining Act deadlines
• Exempts multifamily housing projects of four or more units that are exclusively residential from being appealed to the CCC if the project is located in a “sensitive coastal resource area” and the project was approved by a “coastal county” where the principal permitted use in the underlying zoning is nonresidential • Requires the CCC to submit an annual report regarding the length of processing time for residential development projects

Building Code Moratorium
The measure:
• Prohibits the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) and local agencies from October 1, 2025, until June 1, 2031, from adopting any new building standards for residential projects except in specific circumstances:
o Necessary emergency standards to protect health and safety as determined by the CBSC
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o Building standards related to home hardening and proposed by the Office of the State Fire Marshal
o Building standards around single-exit, single-stairway apartment houses o Building standards around adaptive reuse projects, reducing potable water in new residential buildings, or risk-based water-quality standards for the on-site treatment and reuse of non-potable water for certain residential buildings
o Necessary standards to comply with the latest edition of the model codes for the California Building Standards Code
o Necessary standards to update accessibility requirements that align with federal accessibility laws, standards, and regulations

• Prohibits local agencies from October 1, 2025, until June 1, 2031, from adopting or modifying green building standards in residential projects or adopting standards based upon local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions unless the changes meet any of the following conditions:
o A local agency previously filed the changes or modifications, and they were in effect before Sept.20, 2025.
o The CBSC deems the changes as necessary to protect health and safety. o The changes or modifications relate to home hardening. o The building standards relate to home hardening and are proposed for adoption by a fire protection district.
o The changes are necessary to implement a local code amendment to align with a general plan approved on or before June 10, 2025, and permit mixed-fuel construction consistent with federal law while also incentivizing all-electric construction as part of an adopted greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy.
o The changes or modifications are related to specific administrative practices.

Homelessness
The following changes will impact local governments:
• This measure requires local agencies to perform annual inspections of every homeless shelter in their jurisdiction and ensure that the shelter complies with existing laws.
o Cities are required to conduct the inspection of shelters within the city’s jurisdiction.
o Counties are required to conduct the inspection of shelters within the county’s jurisdiction.
o Cities with populations under 100,000 can partner with the county to conduct the inspection.
• Existing law requires cities and counties to submit an annual report to HCD with specified information about complaints of substandard housing claims in homeless shelters. This measure requires cities and counties to include the total number of habitability complaints they received about homeless shelters in their Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 128
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comm, regardless if none were received, and to report on any pending uncorrected violations.
• Failure to report this information will result in HCD withholding state funding from the local agency.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 129
SB 79 Housing Development: Transit-Oriented Development SB 79: Housing Development: Transit-Oriented Development

Background
One of the top housing bill fights this year in Sacramento was SB 79 (Wiener), which requires high-density residential development near specific transit stops; imposes height, density, and floor area ratio standards on transit-oriented development (TOD); grants transit agencies authority to adopt development standards on land they own; and provides local governments limited opportunity to adopt an “alternative transit-oriented development plan” with approval from the Department of Housing and Community Development . This measure was amended 13 times as it progressed through the legislative process, and as a result, it can be confusing to keep track of what is expected from local governments beginning July 1, 2026.

SB 79 Applies to the Following
This measure only applies to cities in the Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Sacramento, and San Diego.

Additionally, in cities located in these counties with a population of 35,000 or less, the measure’s zoning standards will only apply within a quarter mile of the transit stop.

Cities not located in these counties are exempt from the bill’s requirements. For new transit stops or extensions, projects must be identified in a regional transportation plan on or before January 1, 2026 to qualify for SB 79 unless they would be eligible as a Tier 1 stop.

SB 79 Does the Following
This measure requires local governments located in urban transit counties, defined as “a county with more than 15 passenger rail stations,” to consider a residential development an allowed use if it is within a half-mile radius or a quarter-mile radius of a transit-oriented development stop; meets the density, height, floor area ratio, and inclusionary standards in SB 79; and is in on property zoned for residential, commercial, or mixed-use developments. Different standards apply depending on the distance from a stop (half mile or quarter mile) and the type of stop (Tier 1 or Tier 2).

SB 79 does not require ministerial approval unless the project qualifies for the streamlined ministerial approval process under SB 35 (2017) and SB 423 (2023).

By July 1, 2026, HCD must adopt standards on how to allow for the residential capacity required by SB 79 to be counted in a city’s housing element inventory of land.

What Transit Qualifies?
Tier 1 TOD Stop:
• Heavy-rail transit: A public electric railway line with the capacity for a heavy volume of traffic using high-speed and rapid-acceleration passenger rail cars operating singly or in multicar trains on fixed rails, separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded, high platform loading, and not including high-speed rail.
• Very high-frequency commuter rail: A commuter rail service with a total of at least 72 trains per day in both directions at any point in the last three years. ○ Examples: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), LA Metro Rail, Caltrain Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 130
SB 79 Housing Development: Transit-Oriented Development League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Tier 2 TOD Stop:
• Light-rail transit: Streetcar, trolley, and tramway services not including airport people movers.
o Examples: Sacramento Regional Transit, San Diego Trolley, LA Metro A and E lines, Orange County Streetcar
• High-frequency commuter rail: A commuter rail operating a total of at least 48 trains per day across both directions in the last three years that do not meet the very high-frequency commuter rail definition.
o Examples: Metrolink
• Bus service with a designated bus lane or operation in a separate right-of-way dedicated to public transportation with a frequency of service interval of 15 minutes or less during the morning and afternoon peak commute periods. o Examples: SF Muni, LA Metro G Line, Big Blue Bus System, Alameda Transit Buses.

Concessions:
• Developments for extremely low-income households equals three additional density bonus law (DBL) concessions.
• Developments for very low-income housing equals two additional DBL concessions
• Developments for low-income households equals one additional DBL concession.

TOD Stop Dist. from Standards for Project
Type Stop
(TOD
Zone)
Tier 1: ¼ mile • Max Height: 75 ft or 95 ft if adjacent to stop Major from stop • Max Density: 30 - 120 units per acre (u/a) plus any density transit stop, bonus or 160 u/a if adjacent to stop
heavy rail • FAR: 3.5 or 4.5 if adjacent to stop
transit, or • Concess ions pursuant to (8) below
ve1y high
frequency ¼ - ½mile • Max Height: 65 ft
commuter from stop • Max Density: 30 - 100 u/a plus any density bonus rail in city with • FAR:3
population • Concessi ons pursuant to (8) below
at least
35,000
Tier 2: Not ¼ mile • Max He ight: 65 ft or 85 ft if adjacent to stop Tier 1 from stop • Ma Density: 30 - 100 u/a plus any density bonus or 140 u/a major if adjacent to stop
transit stops • FAR: 3 or 4 if adjacent to stop
se1ved by ¼ - ½mile • Max Height: 55 ft
light rail from stop • Max Density: 30 - 80 u/a plus any density bonus transit, in a city • FAR: 2.5
high- with a • Concess ions pursuant to (8) below
frequency population
commuter at least
rail, or bus 35,000
rapid transit
Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 131
SB 79 Housing Development: Transit-Oriented Development League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
When Do Transit Agencies Have the Authority to Set Development Standards? This measure grants authority to transit agencies to establish development standards, including height limits, density requirements, and residential floor area ratios, on two types of agency-owned parcels: parcels adjacent to a transit-oriented development stop that the agency provides service to, and a parcel within a project area at least 75% of which is located within a half mile of a transit-oriented development stop that the transit agency provides service to or plans to provide service to and was owned by the agency before Jan. 1, 2026. All these projects must meet all the following requirements:
• At least 50% of the square footage is dedicated to residential purposes. • At least 20% of the total number of units are restricted for affordable lower- income households for at least 55 years if the units are rentals or 45 years if they are owner-occupied.
• The total floor area must be less than 1,750 square feet. • The parcel is in an infill site.
• The parcels were not acquired through eminent domain on or after July 1, 2025.

Cities and counties may adopt objective written development standards, conditions, and policies that apply to development on transit agency-owned property provided they are consistent with the agency-adopted standards.

Affordability Requirements and Displacement Regulations All SB 79 projects must meet specific affordability requirements for projects with 10 or more units. If a local agency has an inclusionary zoning policy with more affordable units than the required units in SB 79, those policies will take precedence. If a local agency does not have an inclusionary zoning policy, all SB 79 projects must provide one of the following requirements:
• At least 7% of the units for extremely low-income (ELI) households. • At least 10% of the units for very low-income (VLI) households. • At least 13% of the units for low-income households.
• All units dedicated to ELI, VLI, and low-income households must ensure continued affordability for 45 years if the units are provided for homeownership or 55 years if the units are provided as rentals.

This measure will prohibit developers from using SB 79 if the project requires the demolition of housing with two or more units that were rent-controlled or price controlled in the last seven years, or if a site was rent-controlled in the last seven years and previously demolished.

Understanding the Local Alternative Transit-oriented Development Plan This measure provides local agencies with the option to establish an alternative plan, subject to approval from HCD, that maintains the same capacity in terms of both total units and residential floor area as required by SB 79. Local governments have two options. Beginning in the 7th RHNA Cycle, a local government can either conduct an additional analysis in its housing element to demonstrate how its plan will meet the total zoned capacity in terms of units and floor area ratios required by SB 79 or adopt an Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 132
SB 79 Housing Development: Transit-Oriented Development League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
ordinance to comply with the requirements HCD is tasked with establishing for SB 79 projects by July 1, 2026. Both will require approval from HCD.

However, local agencies are limited in their ability to reduce density, as the measure does not allow a local government to reduce the density by more than 50% unless the sites are in a very high fire hazard severity zone, are vulnerable to a foot of sea level rise, or are situated in historic resource-designated areas on the local register. To qualify, the local government must implement the alternative plan and obtain approval from HCD that the plan meets the guidelines established by the department in July 2026.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 133
2025 Wildfires – Legislative and Administrative Actions 2025 Wildfires – Legislative and Administrative Actions

On Jan. 7, 2025, a series of fires broke out in Los Angeles County during a 100-miles- per-hour wind event. The biggest of those wildfires, Eaton and Palisades, lasted until Jan. 31, 2025, and resulted in 40,000 total acres burned, 16,253 structures destroyed, and 2,074 structures damaged. During this emergency, many cities responded by providing mutual aid and other resources. In fact, 130 cities provided a total of 986 fire engines to help combat the wildfires.

After the devastating wildfires in Jan. 2025, the Legislature and the Governor responded by providing emergency funding in Jan. and by introducing approximately 100 bills to try and address some of the issues, including disaster response, emergency preparedness, financial assistance, home insurance, wildfire prevention, and home hardening.

The Governor also responded with over 22 executive orders on a variety of subjects, including additional resources, banning evictions, fast-track housing permits, and various wildfire prevention issues. In March 2025, the Governor issued an executive order to fast-track the Zone 0 regulations pending at the Board of Forestry.

Budget Action
Early in Jan., the Legislature passed two budget trailer bills providing emergency funding to various state agencies to address the response and recovery conducted by the state.

ABX1 4
(Gabriel) Budget Act of 2024.

Chapter 1, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the 2024 Budget Act to appropriate up to $1.5 billion for use in accordance with allowable uses of the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account in areas of the state affected by wildfire states of emergency that were declared by the Governor in Jan. 2025.

SBX1 3
(Wiener) Budget Act of 2024.

Chapter 2, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This Budget Bill Junior amends the 2024 Budget Act to authorize emergency expenditure authority related to the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. More specifically, this measure appropriates up to $1 billion for use in accordance with allowable uses of the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account, $4 million for local government grants to provide additional planning review and building inspection resources for expediting approvals of homeowner rebuilding, and $1 million to assist school districts and charter schools.

In July, the Legislature also passed AB 130
, which made changes to building standards
requirements.

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2025 Wildfires – Legislative and Administrative Actions League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
Insurance Response
The California Department of Insurance finalized the catastrophe modeling regulations in early Jan. 2025, which made significant changes to the provision of insurance and reinsurance. These changes are intended to stabilize the market and lure more companies back to California.

Zone 0 Regulations
Since March, the Board of Forestry has been working on draft regulations for Zone 0, which is the critical five feet around a home or structure that, if cleared of combustible materials, could prevent houses from burning during an urban conflagration. These regulations are the result of legislation that passed in 2020, AB 3074, which required the Department of Forestry to draft regulations for Zone 0.

At the direction of Governor Newsom
, the Board of Forestry has published draft
regulations, and it has held eight public workshops with several hours of comments from the public discussing the proposed regulations. While the intention was to adopt these by June 2025, the number of public comments and concerns raised by many residents, including survivors of the Eaton and Palisades fires, have delayed this effort. The goal is still to adopt regulations by the beginning of 2026.

It is important to note that Zone 0 would only impact those communities in a very high fire severity zone and would apply immediately upon adoption to new construction and in three years for existing structures.

The draft regulations would prohibit the following in the surrounding five feet of a home:
• Outbuildings
• Wooden fences and gates
• Vegetation
• Tree branches, with exceptions for protected trees
• Combustible landscaping materials; potted plants directly next to the structure

Currently, the Board of Forestry is still conducting stakeholder meetings and finalizing the regulations.

Key Legislation
At the conclusion of the legislative session, 40 measures were enacted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. These include priority legislation that was supported by Cal Cities.

Crime
*AB 468 (Gabriel) Crimes: Looting.

Chapter 533, Statutes of 2025
This measure increases penalties for looting in an evacuation zone to between two and seven years, depending on the offense.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 135
2025 Wildfires – Legislative and Administrative Actions League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
*SB 571 (Archuleta) Emergencies: Crimes.

Chapter 545, Statutes of 2025
This measure authorizes the court to consider the fact, if pled and proven, that the defendant committed the crime of looting while impersonating emergency personnel as a factor in aggravation.

Financial Relief
*AB 245 (Gipson) Property Taxation: Application of Base Year Value: Disaster Relief.

Chapter 530, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure extends the five-year time period by three years for rebuilding a property without an owner’s property taxes increasing if the property was substantially damaged or destroyed by the 2025 Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Sunset Fire, or Woodley Fire on or after Jan. 7, 2025, but before Feb. 1, 2025.

*SB 293
(Pérez) Real Property Tax: Transfer of Base Year Value: Generational Transfers: Wildfire.

Chapter 539, Statutes of 2025
This measure extends the deadline for taxpayers to retroactively apply a Proposition 58, 193, or 19 intergenerational transfer from six months to three years if that property was damaged or destroyed by the 2025 Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Sunset Fire, or Woodley Fire, for which the Governor proclaimed a state of emergency.

*SB 663
(Allen) Winter Fires of 2025: Real Property Tax: Exemptions and Reassessment.

Chapter 549, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure, in part, extends the five-year time period to transfer the base year value of a property to a comparable replacement property within the same county by three years if the property was substantially damaged or destroyed by the 2025 Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Sunset Fire, or Woodley Fire, or the 2024 Mountain Fire or Franklin Fire, on or after Nov. 1, 2024, but before Feb. 1, 2025.

Fire Insurance
*AB 1 (Connolly) Residential Property Insurance: Wildfire Risk.

Chapter 472, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the California Department of Insurance to include wildfire mitigation in the next draft of its catastrophe modeling regulations.

*
AB 226 (Calderon) California Fair Plan Association.

Chapter 473, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure authorizes the California Fair Plan Association, if granted prior approval from the Insurance Commissioner, to request the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank to issue bonds and authorizes the bank to issue those bonds to finance the costs of claims.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 136
2025 Wildfires – Legislative and Administrative Actions League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
*AB 1339 (González, Mark) Department of Insurance: Housing Insurance Study.

Chapter 728, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires the CDI, upon appropriation and in consultation with specified entities and affordable housing entities, to conduct a study of the property, liability, and builders’ risk insurance coverages available to affordable housing entities.

Housing and Economic Development
*AB 238 (Harabedian) Mortgage Forbearance: State of Emergency: Wildfire.

Chapter 128, Statutes of 2025(Urgency)
This measure requires a mortgage service provider to offer a 12-month payment pause for borrowers experiencing financial hardship due to the Jan. 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

*AB 338
(Solache) Workforce Development: the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura: 2025 Wildfires.

Chapter 532, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires the California Workforce Development Board to provide funding to the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity for workforce strategies to ensure that a skilled and sufficient workforce is available for the rebuilding and recovery of areas in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties impacted by the 2025 wildfires.

*
AB 851 (McKinnor) Real Property Transactions: Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura Wildfires: Unsolicited Offers.

Chapter 535, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure prohibits buyers from making unsolicited offers on residential properties in zip codes affected by the Los Angeles wildfires until Jan. 1, 2027.

Wildfire Mitigation and Defensible Spa
ce
*AB 888 (Calderon) California Safe Homes Grant Program.

Chapter 536, Statutes of 2025
This measure establishes the California Safe Homes grant program to be developed by the CDI to reduce local and statewide wildfire losses through grants for home hardening. The measure requires the CDI to prioritize those in a very high fire severity hazard zone when awarding grant funds. Additionally, this measure requires eligible program applicants, which include individuals, cities, counties, and special districts, to meet specified criteria.

*AB 1455
(Bryan) State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection: Defensible Space Requirements: Ember-resistant Zones: Emergency Regulations: California Environmental Quality Act.

Chapter 731, Statutes of 2025 (Urgency)
This measure requires the Board of Forestry (BOF) to adopt regulations to implement Zone 0 defensible space regulations in the state responsibility area and very high fire hazard severity zones in the local responsibility areas. This measure also authorizes the BOF to adopt these regulations as emergency regulations.

Appendix A – Cal Cities Resources 137
2025 Wildfires – Legislative and Administrative Actions League of California Cities 2025 Legislative Report
*SB 653 (Cortese) Wildfire Prevention: Environmentally Sensitive Vegetation Management.

Chapter 778, Statutes of 2025
This measure defines an environmentally sensitive vegetation management project to mean vegetation management that reduces catastrophic wildfire risk over the long term while supporting native wildlife and biodiversity.

*SB 676
(Limón) California Environmental Quality Act: Judicial Streamlining:

State of Emergency: Wildfire.

Chapter 550, Statutes of 2025
This measure requires, on and after Jan. 1, 2027, a project whose intent is to maintain, repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities damaged or destroyed by wildfire, located in a geographic area for which the Governor declared a state of emergency on or after Jan. 1, 2023, and the project is not otherwise exempt from CEQA, that the project be consistent with any applicable zoning and land-use ordinances. This measure requires the lead agency to prepare the record of proceeding for such projects concurrently with the administrative record under CEQA and consistent with existing law, and the lead agency may charge and collect a reasonable fee from the applicant who is requesting the concurrent preparation of the record of proceeding, thereby recovering all of the costs associated with this requirement. This measure also requires an action or proceeding brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the certification of an environmental impact report, or the adoption of a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration, for the project to be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 calendar days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings. This measure requires an applicant to agree to pay the costs of the trial court and court of appeal in hearing and deciding any action or proceeding brought under these provisions. This measure requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court to implement these requirements.

APPENDIX B – CAL CITIES

RESOURCES
Appendix B – Cal Cities Resources 138
Legislative Staff

League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
Legislative Staff

Jason Rhine, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs
[email protected]

Meg Desmond, Associate Manager, Legislative Administration [email protected]

Caroline Grinder, Legislative Affairs, Lobbyist
Community Services
[email protected]

Melissa Sparks-Kranz, Legislative Affairs, Lobbyist
Environmental Quality
[email protected]

Johnnie Pina, Legislative Affairs, Lobbyist
Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations
[email protected]

Brady Guertin, Legislative Affairs, Lobbyist,
Housing, Community, and Economic Development
[email protected]

Jolena Voorhis, Legislative Affairs, Lobbyist
Public Safety
[email protected]

Ben Triffo, Legislative Affairs, Lobbyist
Revenue and Taxation
[email protected]

Damon Conklin, Legislative Affairs, Lobbyist
Transportation, Communications, and Public Works
[email protected]

Waleed Hojeij, Policy and Legislative Affairs Analyst
[email protected]

Leila Romero, Policy and Legislative Affairs Analyst
[email protected]

Serena Scott, Policy and Legislative Affairs Analyst
[email protected]
Appendix B – Cal Cities Resources 139
Regional Public Affairs Managers

League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
Regional Public Affairs Managers

Sr. Dir. of Public Affairs
Kristine Guerrero
Cell: (626) 716-0076
[email protected]

Central Valley
Marla Livengood
Cell: (209) 747-3734
[email protected]

Channel Counties
David Mullinax
Cell: (805) 797-3530
[email protected]

Desert Mountain; Inland
Empire
Laura Varela
Cell: (909) 275-4110
[email protected]

East Bay
Samantha Caygill
Cell: (916) 402-7258
[email protected]

Peninsula
Montana Cruz
Cell: (415) 298-4940
[email protected]

Los Angeles County
Jennifer Quan
Cell: (626) 786-5142
[email protected]

Nicolas Cabeza
Cell:(562) 322-1861
[email protected]

Jeff Kiernan
Cell: (310) 630-7505
[email protected]

Monterey Bay
Deanna Sessums
Cell: (831) 915-8293
[email protected]

North Bay
Nancy Hall Bennett
Cell: (415) 302-2032
[email protected]

Orange County
Connor Medina
Cell: (949) 421-9898
[email protected]

Redwood Empire
Sara Sanders
Office: (916) 658-8243
Cell: (916) 548-9030
[email protected]

Riverside County
Jesse Ramirez
Cell: (951) 808-2448
[email protected]

Sacramento Valley
Charles Anderson
Cell: (916) 798-2231
[email protected]

San Diego County;
Imperial County
Catherine Hill
Office: (619) 295-8282
Cell: (619) 733-1751
[email protected]

South San Joaquin
Valley
Rajveer Rakkar
Cell: (559) 214-1849
[email protected]

Appendix B – Cal Cities Resources 140
10 Tips for Cities Lobbying the California Legislature
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
10 Tips for Cities Lobbying the California Legislature

1. Become engaged in the state level political process by appointing a legislative liaison within your city to track key legislation and work with your regional public affairs manager. Visit the Cal Cities regional division web page to locate contact
information for your regional public affairs manager.

2. Use Cal Cities as a resource. Visit the Cal Cities advocacy page to access Cal Cities priority bills, sample city support and opposition letters, legislative contacts, and our online bill search feature for tracking a bill’s progress.

3. Read and subscribe to the Cal Cities Advocate, Cal Cities’ weekly newsletter, to stay current on important legislation and stories.

4. Develop relationships with your Senate and Assembly representatives as well as their Capitol and district office staff. Make sure to look up who your local state
elected official a re .

5. Get to know members of your local press and educate them on legislative issues affecting your city.

6. Understand how state decisions impact your city’s budget by attending Cal Cities educational conferences, policy committee meetings, and regional division events.

7. Build networks and collaborate with other stakeholders in your community, including nonprofits, businesses, and your county counterparts on key legislative issues.

8. Organize an internal process within your city for developing and proposing changes to both state and federal laws that will help your city.

9. Adopt local policies on legislation that enable your city to react quickly to the legislative process and respond to Cal Cities action alerts.

10. Write letters on legislation featured in the Cal Cities Advocate. Sample city support and opposition letters can be found using the Cal Cities bill search feature and entering the bill number or bill author.

Appendix B – Cal Cities Resources 141
Effective Letter Writing Techniques
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
Effective Letter-Writing Techniques

1. Include the bill number, title, and your position in the subject line. Never bury the bill number and the action you want the legislator to take in the body of the letter.

2. One bill per letter. Legislators file letters according to the bill number.

3. State the facts. Describe the impact the bill would have on your city. Use “real world” facts. Legislators like to know how a bill would specifically affect cities in their districts. Cal Cities often provides a sample letter that includes space to describe local impacts. Take the time to provide such examples. This part of the letter is the most valuable to the legislator.

4. Think about the message. Letters may be targeted to specific legislators or entire committees. Think about who you want to act on the bill and message accordingly. If you are writing in support of transportation funding, emphasizing how the project will reduce greenhouse gases might be important to one legislator, while highlighting how the project could encourage additional development and jobs might be important to another. Both messages are correct, but your effectiveness will be in selecting the right message.

5. Check for amendments. Always check the Cal Cities bill search page to make sure you are addressing issues in the latest draft. Bills are often significantly amended, and the issue you are writing about may have changed or have been deleted altogether by the time you send your letter.

6. Send follow-up letters to the appropriate legislative committees as a bill moves along. You can often use your original letter with some modifications. Visit the Cal Cities bill search web page to track the bill’s location. In addition, the Cal Cities Advocate features stories on key legislation.

7. Provide a contact. At the close of the letter, provide a contact person in case there are questions about the city’s position.

8. Know the committees on which your legislator serves. A legislator is likely to pay more attention to the bill positions of their constituents especially when it comes before his or her committee. At the committee level, this is even more important because your legislator has greater ability at this point in the legislative process to have the bill amended.

9. Copy the right people. Email a copy of the letter to your local state senator, assembly member, your Cal Cities regional public affairs manager, and Cal Cities.

10. Submit your letter to the California Legislature position letter portal. The portal automatically sends letters to the author’s office and the committee(s) of jurisdiction.

Please visit the legislative portal
to create an account and upload the letter.

[letter on following page]
Appendix B – Cal Cities Resources 142
Effective Letter Writing Techniques
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
Assembly Member Susan Jones
California State Assembly
State Capitol, Room 2344
Sacramento, CA 95814
City of Anywhere
P.O. Box 123
Anywhere, CA 90000
April 2, 2008
RE: AB 1357 (Jones). Landfill Landscaping.

NOTICE OF CITY OPPOSITION ◄
Dear Assembly Member Jones:

1. Bill Number,
Title and Position
I am writing on behalf of the City Council of the City of Anywhere to respectfully oppose AB 1357 (Jones).

AB 1357 would require that landfills and solid waste transfer stations be landscaped so that they cannot be seen from the air at an altitude of 2,000 feet and that the landscaping be completed and the facility be in compliance within 120 days of the bill's enactment.

2. One Bill
◄ IC Per Letter
The City of Anywhere opposes AB 1357 for several reasons. First, the landscaping requirement will be extremely costly, both to the city as the landfill operator and to the citizens served by the landfill. We estimate that the cost to landscape our existing landfill and the two transfer stations operated by Acme Disposal will be about $300,000. This does not include the annual operating and maintenance costs associated with the requirement.

Second, even if we were able to afford the cost, it would not be possible for the facilities to be in compliance within 120 days. Our Parks and Recreation Department personnel have been unable to identify any permanent vegetation that grows quickly enough to meet this deadline.

Third, we believe that the landscaping requirement is unrealistic as amended. The closest commercial ◄ airport to Anywhere is 150 miles away, and the closest general aviation airport is 70 miles away. We estimate that no more than three flights per day cross our air space and, because much of the year we are covered by clouds, we question the advisability of the legislation.

We believe that the decision of whether or not to landscape a landfill should be left to the local authorities and should be based upon local conditions. For example, in many instances it would be a wiser use of limited resources to landscape the facility with automobile, not air, traffic in mind. 3-4. How Will
This Impact
Your City
5-6. Check for
Amendments
& Send Follow-Up
Letters
For these reasons, the City of Anywhere opposes AB 1357. For more details about the City of Anywhere ' s◄ position, please contact Joe Barnes at (000)123-4567.

7. Provide a
Contact Person
Sincerely,
Janet Gotvotes
Mayor, City of Anywhere
cc: Members and Consultant, Assembly Natural Resources Committee ◄ Your Assembly Member
Your Senator
League of California Cities
[
~ ~

9. Send Copies of the Letter to the Correct People

8. Know the Committees
Which Your Legislator
Serves On
)
Index 143
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
Index of Chaptered Bills

AB 1 ................................................... 86 AB 5 ................................................... 45 AB 8 ................................................... 79 AB 14 ................................................. 33 AB 16 ................................................. 45 AB 17 ................................................. 45 AB 30 ............................................... 100 AB 36 ................................................. 59 AB 39 ................................................. 59 AB 43 ................................................. 40 AB 49 ................................................. 21 AB 56 ................................................. 21 AB 59 ................................................. 41 AB 64 ................................................. 51 AB 70 ................................................. 38 AB 87 ................................................. 59 AB 91 ................................................. 51 AB 94 ................................................. 45 AB 100 ........................................... 5, 30 AB 102 ................................................. 6 AB 104 ................................................. 6 AB 116 ................................................. 7 AB 118 ................................................. 7 AB 121 ................................................. 7 AB 123 ................................................. 7 AB 130 ................................................. 7 AB 134 ................................................. 7 AB 136 ................................................. 7 AB 137 ................................................. 8 AB 138 ................................................. 8 AB 143 ................................................. 8 AB 144 ................................................. 8 AB 149 ................................................. 8 AB 154 ................................................. 8 AB 223 ............................................... 80 AB 226 ............................................... 86 AB 233 ............................................... 78 AB 234 ............................................... 86 AB 238 ............................................... 70 AB 245 ............................................... 93 AB 246 ............................................... 72 AB 250 ............................................... 80 AB 251 ............................................... 13 AB 253 ............................................... 71 AB 258 ............................................... 95 AB 263 ............................................... 41 AB 287 ............................................... 45 AB 290 ............................................... 86 AB 293 ............................................... 41 AB 299 ............................................... 96 AB 301 ............................................... 60 AB 309 ............................................... 16 AB 310 ............................................... 25 AB 321 ............................................... 80 AB 330 ............................................... 96 AB 338 ............................................... 73 AB 339 ............................................... 49 AB 343 ............................................... 56 AB 344 ............................................... 78 AB 348 ............................................... 16 AB 349 ............................................... 21 AB 352 ............................................... 80 AB 354 ............................................... 89 AB 357 ............................................... 33 AB 359 ............................................... 53 AB 366 ............................................... 80 AB 367 ............................................... 41 AB 368 ............................................... 71 AB 369 ............................................... 84 AB 370 ............................................... 56 AB 377 ............................................. 100 AB 379 ............................................... 80 AB 382 ............................................. 100 AB 383 ............................................... 85 AB 390 ............................................. 100 AB 391 ............................................... 69 AB 394 ............................................... 81 AB 411 ............................................... 39 AB 414 ............................................... 72 AB 416 ............................................... 17 AB 417 ............................................... 74 AB 418 ............................................... 93 AB 424 ............................................... 17 AB 438 ............................................... 84 AB 439 ............................................... 33 AB 440 ............................................. 100 Index 144
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
AB 450 ............................................... 13 AB 451 ............................................... 89 AB 456 ............................................... 69 AB 457 ............................................... 75 AB 462 ............................................... 68 AB 463 ............................................... 84 AB 468 ............................................... 81 AB 476 ............................................... 99 AB 478 ............................................... 14 AB 480 ............................................... 70 AB 486 ............................................... 81 AB 492 ............................................... 17 AB 493 ............................................... 86 AB 503 ............................................... 21 AB 506 ............................................... 15 AB 507 ............................................... 60 AB 509 ............................................... 78 AB 516 ............................................... 15 AB 518 ............................................... 96 AB 519 ............................................... 15 AB 523 ............................................... 42 AB 531 ............................................... 35 AB 535 ............................................... 81 AB 538 ............................................... 99 AB 542 ............................................... 74 AB 543 ............................................... 23 AB 544 ............................................. 101 AB 545 ............................................. 101 AB 553 ............................................... 17 AB 561 ............................................... 81 AB 563 ............................................... 21 AB 564 ............................................... 96 AB 571 ............................................... 28 AB 572 ............................................... 89 AB 573 ............................................... 27 AB 584 ............................................... 85 AB 592 ............................................... 78 AB 593 ............................................... 17 AB 610 ............................................... 60 AB 621 ............................................... 81 AB 628 ............................................... 71 AB 630 ............................................... 23 AB 639 ............................................... 42 AB 645 ............................................... 84 AB 648 ............................................... 60 AB 652 ............................................... 28 AB 653 ............................................... 81 AB 670 ............................................... 61 AB 671 ............................................... 76 AB 677 ............................................... 23 AB 678 ............................................... 24 AB 692 ............................................... 49 AB 709 ............................................... 42 AB 712 ............................................... 61 AB 720 ......................................... 39, 78 AB 726 ............................................... 62 AB 737 ............................................... 35 AB 749 ............................................... 25 AB 752 ............................................... 62 AB 753 ............................................... 22 AB 761 ............................................... 95 AB 764 ............................................... 42 AB 769 ............................................... 26 AB 789 ............................................... 53 AB 790 ............................................... 24 AB 798 ............................................... 22 AB 799 ............................................... 87 AB 806 ............................................... 70 AB 808 ............................................... 54 AB 812 ............................................... 87 AB 818 ............................................... 62 AB 822 ............................................... 91 AB 825 ............................................... 35 AB 827 ............................................... 45 AB 831 ............................................... 91 AB 841 ............................................. 107 AB 847 ......................................... 56, 89 AB 848 ............................................... 82 AB 851 ............................................... 75 AB 863 ............................................... 73 AB 867 ............................................... 15 AB 875 ............................................. 101 AB 888 ............................................... 88 AB 889 ............................................... 99 AB 893 ............................................... 62 AB 899 ............................................... 39 AB 900 ............................................... 33 AB 920 ............................................... 63 AB 930 ............................................... 46 AB 932 ............................................... 26 AB 940 ............................................... 74 AB 953 ............................................... 54 Index 145
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
AB 961 ............................................... 39 AB 965 ............................................. 101 AB 978 ............................................. 102 AB 985 ............................................... 93 AB 987 ............................................. 102 AB 992 ......................................... 49, 90 AB 996 ............................................... 34 AB 1003 ............................................. 17 AB 1004 ............................................. 56 AB 1007 ............................................. 63 AB 1014 ........................................... 102 AB 1017 ............................................. 36 AB 1021 ............................................. 63 AB 1029 ............................................. 54 AB 1036 ............................................. 82 AB 1037 ............................................. 18 AB 1046 ............................................. 39 AB 1050 ............................................. 72 AB 1061 ............................................. 63 AB 1067 ............................................. 55 AB 1069 ............................................. 13 AB 1071 ............................................. 82 AB 1072 ............................................. 46 AB 1075 ............................................. 88 AB 1076 ............................................. 18 AB 1078 ............................................. 85 AB 1079 ............................................. 51 AB 1085 ........................................... 103 AB 1087 ............................................. 82 AB 1094 ............................................. 82 AB 1096 ............................................. 42 AB 1098 ............................................. 74 AB 1104 ............................................. 36 AB 1114 ........................................... 103 AB 1127 ............................................. 85 AB 1138 ............................................. 97 AB 1139 ............................................. 29 AB 1150 ............................................. 97 AB 1152 ............................................. 79 AB 1154 ............................................. 69 AB 1167 ............................................. 36 AB 1178 ....................................... 56, 90
AB 1181 ............................................. 88 AB 1207 ............................................. 31 AB 1239 ............................................. 91 AB 1246 ............................................. 79 AB 1249 ............................................. 46 AB 1250 ........................................... 103 AB 1263 ............................................. 85 AB 1269 ............................................. 92 AB 1272 ........................................... 103 AB 1275 ............................................. 64 AB 1280 ............................................. 36 AB 1285 ............................................. 37 AB 1286 ............................................. 54 AB 1293 ............................................. 57 AB 1299 ........................................... 103 AB 1303 ........................................... 107 AB 1308 ............................................. 72 AB 1319 ............................................. 43 AB 1339 ............................................. 87 AB 1356 ............................................. 18 AB 1363 ............................................. 82 AB 1388 ....................................... 56, 90
AB 1392 ............................................. 46 AB 1398 ............................................. 57 AB 1410 ........................................... 107 AB 1411 ............................................. 47 AB 1414 ............................................. 73 AB 1416 ............................................. 94 AB 1417 ............................................. 37 AB 1423 ........................................... 104 AB 1445 ............................................. 74 AB 1455 ............................................. 88 AB 1459 ............................................. 40 AB 1466 ............................................. 43 AB 1476 ............................................. 14 AB 1478 ............................................. 40 AB 1495 ............................................. 14 AB 1504 ............................................. 19 AB 1511 ............................................. 54 AB 1512 ............................................. 47 AB 1513 ............................................. 47 AB 1516 ............................................. 94 AB 1527 ............................................. 29 AB 1529 ............................................. 76 ABX1 4 ................................................. 5 ACA 8 ................................................ 47 SB 3 ................................................... 47 SB 9 ................................................... 69 SB 19 ................................................. 82 SB 21 ................................................. 64 Index 146
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
SB 27 ................................................. 19 SB 31 ................................................. 43 SB 42 ................................................. 54 SB 57 ................................................. 37 SB 63 ................................................. 95 SB 71 ......................................... 29, 104 SB 72 ................................................. 43 SB 78 ............................................... 104 SB 79 ................................................. 65 SB 83 ................................................. 19 SB 86 ................................................. 95 SB 87 ................................................. 96 SB 92 ................................................. 65 SB 101 ................................................. 6 SB 103 ................................................. 6 SB 105 ........................................... 6, 31 SB 119 ................................................. 9 SB 120 ................................................. 9 SB 124 ................................................. 9 SB 127 ................................................. 9 SB 128 ......................................... 9, 104 SB 129 ................................................. 9 SB 131 ................................................. 9 SB 132 ................................................. 9 SB 139 ............................................... 10 SB 140 ............................................... 10 SB 141 ............................................... 10 SB 142 ............................................... 10 SB 146 ............................................... 10 SB 147 ............................................... 10 SB 148 ............................................... 10 SB 151 ............................................... 11 SB 153 ............................................... 11 SB 155 ............................................... 11 SB 156 ............................................... 11 SB 157 ............................................... 11 SB 158 ......................................... 11, 65 SB 159 ............................................... 12 SB 160 ............................................... 12 SB 161 ............................................... 12 SB 162 ............................................... 12 SB 221 ............................................... 83 SB 233 ............................................... 66 SB 245 ............................................... 83 SB 250 ............................................... 19 SB 254 ............................................. 107 SB 258 ............................................... 83 SB 262 ............................................... 66 SB 279 ............................................... 40 SB 280 ............................................... 48 SB 283 ............................................. 108 SB 293 ............................................... 94 SB 294 ............................................... 49 SB 301 ............................................... 55 SB 303 ............................................... 50 SB 304 ............................................... 75 SB 333 ............................................... 96 SB 338 ............................................... 20 SB 340 ............................................... 66 SB 345 ............................................... 88 SB 346 ............................................... 97 SB 352 ............................................... 31 SB 358 ............................................... 70 SB 364 ............................................. 104 SB 378 ............................................... 79 SB 385 ............................................... 90 SB 390 ............................................... 75 SB 392 ............................................... 26 SB 394 ............................................... 43 SB 395 ............................................... 79 SB 398 ............................................... 48 SB 400 ............................................... 52 SB 410 ............................................... 72 SB 415 ............................................... 28 SB 429 ............................................... 87 SB 443 ............................................... 55 SB 447 ............................................... 57 SB 451 ............................................... 92 SB 456 ............................................... 16 SB 459 ............................................... 50 SB 464 ............................................... 52 SB 466 ............................................... 44 SB 477 ............................................... 73 SB 480 ............................................. 105 SB 482 ............................................... 52 SB 484 ......................................... 34, 66 SB 486 ............................................... 67 SB 487 ............................................... 57 SB 489 ............................................... 77 SB 495 ............................................... 87 SB 499 ............................................... 71 SB 500 ............................................... 37 Index 147
League of California Cities 2024 Legislative Report
SB 507 ............................................... 67 SB 513 ............................................... 52 SB 514 ............................................... 89 SB 515 ............................................... 53 SB 521 ............................................... 50 SB 524 ......................................... 53, 90 SB 525 ............................................... 87 SB 533 ............................................. 105 SB 543 ............................................... 69 SB 544 ............................................. 105 SB 547 ............................................... 87 SB 567 ............................................... 37 SB 571 ............................................... 83 SB 580 ............................................... 90 SB 582 ............................................... 20 SB 590 ............................................... 50 SB 593 ............................................... 38 SB 595 ............................................... 97 SB 597 ............................................... 50 SB 602 ............................................... 16 SB 610 ............................................... 73 SB 611 ......................................... 29, 67 SB 614 ............................................... 32 SB 617 ............................................... 50 SB 621 ............................................... 48 SB 625 ............................................... 68 SB 627 ............................................... 91 SB 634 ............................................... 24 SB 638 ............................................... 24 SB 639 ............................................... 75 SB 642 ............................................... 51 SB 650 ............................................... 44 SB 653 ............................................... 32 SB 655 ............................................... 72 SB 660 ............................................... 85 SB 663 ............................................... 94 SB 671 ............................................. 105 SB 676 ............................................... 30 SB 680 ............................................... 83 SB 686 ............................................... 70 SB 693 ............................................... 51 SB 695 ............................................. 106 SB 697 ............................................... 44 SB 701 ............................................... 83 SB 704 ............................................... 86 SB 707 ............................................... 57 SB 710 ......................................... 38, 94 SB 711 ............................................... 98 SB 720 ............................................. 106 SB 727 ............................................... 34 SB 731 ............................................... 40 SB 733 ............................................... 83 SB 734 ............................................... 84 SB 748 ............................................... 25 SB 753 ............................................... 25 SB 760 ............................................... 55 SB 770 ............................................. 106 SB 777 ............................................... 77 SB 778 ............................................... 22 SB 782 ............................................... 98 SB 786 ............................................... 68 SB 792 ............................................... 22 SB 793 ............................................... 27 SB 800 ............................................. 106 SB 805 ............................................... 91 SB 808 ............................................... 77 SB 827 ............................................... 53 SB 831 ............................................... 32 SB 838 ............................................... 68 SB 839 ............................................... 35 SB 840 ............................................... 33 SB 847 ............................................... 58 SB 851 ............................................... 48 SB 852 ............................................... 48 SB 854 ............................................... 51 SB 856 ............................................... 35 SB 862 ............................................... 20 SB 863 ............................................... 94 SB 864 ............................................... 30 SBX1 1 ................................................. 5 SBX1 2 ................................................. 5 SBX1 3 ................................................. 5

City of Santa Clara
Agenda Report
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050
santaclaraca.gov
@SantaClaraCity
26-69 Agenda Date: 1/27/2026

REPORT TO COUNCIL

SUBJECT
Action to Waive Second Reading and Adopt Ordinance No. 2084 Amending Section 2.80.080 (“Military Equipment Policy”) of the City Code to provide for updated references to applicable Government Code Sections and a formalized process for annual review and renewal by Council resolution.

BACKGROUND
At the January 13, 2026 Council meeting, proposed Ordinance No. 2084 was passed for the purpose of publication. (Attachment 1) Pursuant to City Charter Sections 808 and 812, a summary of proposed Ordinance No. 2084 was published to the Santa Clara Weekly on January 21, 2026, and copies were posted in three public places.

DISCUSSION
The proposed ordinance includes language to amend City Code Section 2.80.080 (“Military Equipment Policy”) to clarify the following:
· That the City Code will align with future amendments or renumbering of the California Government Code sections created by AB 481 (Government Code Section 7070, et seq.). · Annual approval of the equipment report and renewal of the ordinance shall be accomplished by written Resolution.

The staff report for the Council’s January 13, 2026 action to place the proposed ordinance on first reading is attached to this report (Attachment 2)

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(5) in that it is a governmental organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.

FISCAL IMPACT
There are no additional costs to the City beyond administrative staff time and related expenses, which are already included in the current budget.

COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office.

PUBLIC CONTACT
A summary of proposed Ordinance No. 2084 was published to the Santa Clara Weekly on January 21, 2026, and copies were posted in three public places and made available for public inspection at the City Clerk’s Office.

City of Santa Clara Printed on 1/23/2026Page 1 of 2
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26-69 Agenda Date: 1/27/2026
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email [email protected] or at the public information desk at any City of Santa Clara public library.

RECOMMENDATION
Waive Second Reading and Adopt Ordinance No. 2084 Amending Section 2.80.080 (“Military Equipment Policy”) of the City Code to provide for updated references to applicable Government Code Sections and a formalized process for annual review and renewal by Council resolution.

Reviewed by: Cory Morgan, Chief of Police
Approved by: Jovan Grogan, City Manager

ATTACHMENTS

1. Ordinance No. 2084 (First Reading Version)

2. RTC 26-1710 Staff Report from First Reading
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Ordinance/Military Equipment Policy Page 1 of 4
ORDINANCE NO. 2084

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA,
CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 2.80.080 (“MILITARY
EQUIPMENT POLICY”) OF CHAPTER 2.80 (“POLICE
DEPARTMENT”) OF TITLE 2 (“ADMINISTRATION AND
PERSONNEL”) OF “THE CODE OF THE CITY OF SANTA
CLARA, CALIFORNIA”

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA AS FOLLOWS:

WHEREAS, In March 2022, the City Council approved Ordinance No. 2042 adding Section

2.80.080 (“Military Equipment Policy”) to Chapter 2.80 (“Police Department”) of Title 2 (“Administration and Personnel”) of the Santa Clara City Code, to implement the requirements of California Assembly Bill 481 (AB 481), codified in California Government Code Sections 7070, et seq.;
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Santa Clara desires to ensure that the Santa Clara City Code remains accurate, consistent, and aligned with the requirements of AB 481 and the corresponding provisions of the State of California Government Code; WHEREAS, California Government Code Sections 7070, 7071, and 7072 may be amended or renumbered by the State from time to time, and that updates to Santa Clara City Code Section 2.80.080 are therefore necessary to reference these statutory provisions as that section may be amended or renumbered in order to preserve clarity and legal consistency; WHEREAS, transparency and accountability are integral to the implementation of the Military Equipment Use Policy and that such accountability is required through regular review and renewal of the ordinance;
WHEREAS, the City Council desires ongoing oversight by requiring an annual review of the Military Equipment Use Policy by the City Council, and by requiring the annual renewal of the Ordinance to be by formal written Resolution; and
Ordinance/Military Equipment Policy Page 2 of 4
WHEREAS, to balance the interests of transparency, accountability, and operational efficiency, the City Council deems it to be in the best interests of the City to amend Section

2.80.080 of the City Code to reference numbered State law sections and to allow annual review and approval by Resolution.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1: That Section 2.80.080 (entitled “Military Equipment Policy”) of Chapter 2.80 (entitled “Police Department) of Title 2 (entitled “Administration and Personnel”) of “The Code of the City of Santa Clara, California” (“SCCC”) is amended to read as follows:
“2.80.080 Military equipment policy.
(a) The City Council has made the following determinations:
(1) The military equipment inventoried and presented to the City Council is necessary because there is no reasonable alternative that can achieve the same objective of officer and civilian safety;
(2) The proposed military equipment use policy (“policy”) will safeguard the public’s welfare, safety, civil rights, and civil liberties;
(3) The equipment is reasonably cost effective compared to available alternatives that can achieve the same objective of officer and civilian safety (if any); (4) Prior military equipment use complied with the applicable equipment use policy (which included equipment now defined as military equipment) that was in effect at the time, or if prior uses did not comply with the accompanying military equipment use policy, corrective action has been taken to remedy nonconforming uses and ensure future compliance.

Ordinance/Military Equipment Policy Page 3 of 4
(b) The Police Department has submitted a proposed policy to the City Council and has made those documents available on the Police Department’s website for at least thirty (30) days prior to the public hearing concerning the military equipment at issue. (c) The policy was considered by the City Council as an agenda item in an open session of a regular meeting, noticed in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act, at which public comment was permitted.
(d) The policy shall be made publicly available on the Police Department’s website for as long as the military equipment is available for use.
(e) The Police Department shall submit an annual military equipment report to the City Council, containing the information required in Government Code Section 7072 (as that section may be amended or renumbered), and the City Council shall determine whether each type of military equipment identified in that report has complied with the standards for approval set forth in subsections (a)(1) through (a)(4) of this section. (f) The City Council shall review the ordinance codified in this section along with the annual military equipment report, and vote on whether to renew it on an annual basis at a regular meeting, by adoption of a written Resolution, in accordance with Government Code Section 7071(e)(2) (as that section may be amended or renumbered). (g) The City Council approves the use of the policy, and finds that it satisfies the requirements of Government Code Section 7070(d) (as that section may be amended or renumbered).”
SECTION 2: Ordinances Repealed. With exception of the provisions protected by the savings clause, all ordinances (or parts of ordinances) in conflict with or inconsistent with this ordinance are hereby repealed.

SECTION 3: Savings clause. The changes provided for in this ordinance shall not affect any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture incurred or any right established or accruing before the effective date of this ordinance; nor shall it affect any prosecution, suit or proceeding pending or any judgment rendered prior to the effective date of this ordinance. All fee schedules shall remain in force until superseded by the fee schedules adopted by the City Council.

SECTION 4: Effective date. This ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after its final adoption; however, prior to its final adoption it shall be published in accordance with the requirements of Section 808 and 812 of "The Charter of the City of Santa Clara, California." PASSED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PUBLICATION this 13th day of January, 2026, by the following vote:

AYES:

NOES:

ABSENT:

ABSTAINED:

COUNCILORS :

COUNCILORS :

COUNCILORS:

COUNCILORS:

Chahal, Cox, Gonzalez, Hardy, Jain, and
Park, and Mayor Gillmor
None
None
None
ATTEST: ~

NORA PIMENTEL, MMC

ASSISTANT CITY CLERK

CITY OF SANTA CLARA
Attachments incorporated by reference: None
Ordinance/Military Equipment Policy Page 4 of 4
City of Santa Clara
Agenda Report
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050
santaclaraca.gov
@SantaClaraCity
26-1710 Agenda Date: 1/13/2026

REPORT TO COUNCIL

SUBJECT
Action to Waive First Reading and Approve Introduction of an Ordinance Amending Section 2.80.080 of the City Code

BACKGROUND
Assembly Bill 481 (AB 481), codified in California Government Code Sections 7070-7075, established statewide requirements to enhance transparency, accountability, and oversight requirements related to the acquisition and use of military equipment by law enforcement agencies.

To implement these requirements, in March 2022, the City Council approved Ordinance No. 2042 (RTC #22-409) creating Chapter 2.80.080 (“Military Equipment Policy”) of Title 2 (“Administration and Personnel”) of the Code of the City of Santa Clara (“City Code”). The ordinance establishes procedures for annual reporting, public review, and ongoing authorization, to provide a consistent framework for evaluating the use of identified equipment by the Police Department.

The City Code incorporates obligations codified in California Government Code Sections 7070, et. seq., related to AB 481 including annual reporting and public review; requirements for public availability and community engagement; and documentation of fiscal impacts associated with military equipment. Ensuring accurate cross-references to California Government Code is essential for continued compliance and maintenance of a clear and functional regulatory framework.

In addition to transparency and reporting requirements, AB 481 obligates the governing body to annually review and formally approve the published Military Equipment Use Report and Policy, and to vote to renew the Ordinance for an additional year, based upon particular findings. City Code

2.80.080 Paragraph (f) reflects this mandate.

DISCUSSION
The City Code currently references multiple obligations established under the California Government Code, specifically:
· Section 7072 (2.80.080(e)) regarding annual reporting and public review requirements; · Section 7071(e)(2) (2.80.080(f)) regarding annual review and approval by the City Council of the Military Equipment Use Report, and renewal of the Ordinance; and · Section 7070(d) (2.80.80(g)) regarding a statement of formal approval of Policy.

Including clarifying language that California Government Code sections may be amended or renumbered in future legislative cycles will help ensure the City Code remains accurate and aligned with AB 481 requirements in the event of State legislative amendments.

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26-1710 Agenda Date: 1/13/2026
Additionally, Paragraph (f) of the City Code requires the ordinance be reviewed and renewed by the City Council on an annual basis. While AB 481 mandates annual review and authorization of military equipment use policies by the governing body, it does not specifically require the yearly adoption or amendment of a new City ordinance. State law states, in pertinent part, that “The governing body shall review any ordinance that it has adopted pursuant to this section approving the funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment at least annually and … vote on whether to renew the ordinance at a regular meeting held pursuant to the … Ralph M. Brown Act.” Historically, the City has implemented this requirement through adoption of a Resolution making the required findings and formally renewing the ordinance for an additional year. The proposed Ordinance amendment includes an express reference to the Resolution process for ordinance renewal. Renewal of the current ordinance by resolution will provide clear, procedural continuity while fully complying with the intent and statutory obligations of AB 481.

Proposed Updates to the City Code
The proposed amendments to the existing ordinance can be summarized as follows:
· Modifications to 2.80.080 Paragraphs (e), (f) and (g) to include “as that section may be amended or renumbered” after each specified California Government Code Section. · Modification to 2.80.080 Paragraph (f) to include annual review of the ordinance and vote whether to renew it by Resolution.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(5) in that it is a governmental organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.

FISCAL IMPACT
There are no additional costs to the City beyond administrative staff time and related expenses, which are already included in the current budget.

COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office.

PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email [email protected] or at the public information desk at any City of Santa Clara public library.

RECOMMENDATION
Waive First Reading and Approve Introduction of an Ordinance Amending Section 2.80.080 (“Military Equipment Policy”) of the City Code to provide for updated references to applicable Government Code Sections and a formalized process for annual review and renewal by Council resolution.

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26-1710 Agenda Date: 1/13/2026
Reviewed by: Cory Morgan, Chief of Police
Approved by: Jovan Grogan, City Manager

ATTACHMENTS

1. Ordinance No. 2042, adopted on March 22, 2022

2. Proposed Ordinance Amending City Code Section 2.80.080 City of Santa Clara Printed on 1/9/2026Page 3 of 3
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ORDINANCE NO. 2042

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA,
CALIFORNIA, ADDING SECTION 2.80.080 ENTITLED
"MILITARY EQUIPMENT POLICY" TO "THE CODE OF
THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA" IN
COMPLIANCE WITH ASSEMBLY BILL 481
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA AS FOLLOWS:

WHEREAS, on September 30, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 481 (creating Government Code Section 7070, et seq.), relating to the use of military equipment by California law enforcement agencies; WHEREAS, AB 481 seeks to provide transparency, oversight, and an opportunity for meaningful public input on decisions regarding whether and how military equipment is funded, acquired, or used;
WHEREAS, the Santa Clara Police Department is in possession of certain items of equipment that qualify as "military equipment" under AB 481; WHEREAS, AB 481 requires that a law enforcement agency possessing and using such qualifying equipment prepare a publicly released, written, military equipment use policy document covering the inventory, description, purpose, use, acquisition, maintenance, fiscal impacts, procedures, training, oversight, and complaint process, applicable to the Department's use of such equipment;
WHEREAS, the Policy and supporting information must be approved by the governing body by ordinance, and reviewed annually; and,
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Santa Clara, having received the information required under AB 481 regarding the Santa Clara Police Department's use of military equipment as defined in said law, deems it to be in the best interest of the City to approve the Military Equipment Policy as set forth herein.

Ordinance/AB 481 Military Equipment Policy
Rev: 09/2019