NOTABLE BILLS
2024-2025 LEGISLATIVE
SESSION
Town of Yountville
Gary B. Bell, Town Attorney
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Statistics
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• 2,124 bills introduced
• 1,206 sent to Governor (passed by both houses)
• 1,017 signed into law by Governor
• 189 vetoed by Governor
• Many major items died in committee or were put on hold • Many have been reintroduced this year
AB 2715 (Boerner)
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• The Brown Act requires Town Council meetings be
“open” to the public – unless a “closed session”
exception applies.
• AB 2715 creates a new exception for officials to meet in a closed session to discuss cybersecurity threats
• Applies to “critical infrastructure controls” or “critical infrastructure information” relating to cybersecurity
AB 98 (Carillo)
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• AB 98 requires towns to make the following amendments to their circulation elements by January 1, 2028:
• Incorporate truck routes as specified by Government Code Section 65302.02. • Establish travel routes for the transport of goods, materials, or freight to safely accommodate additional truck traffic and avoid residential areas and sensitive receptors. • Maximize the use of interstate or state divided highways as preferred routes for truck routes.
• AB 98 also requires towns to inform the public about decisions regarding changes to the circulation element:
• Post clear signage to identify truck routes, parking, and idling facility locations. • Make truck routes publicly available in geographic information system format. • Incorporate public input from citizens, California Native American Indian tribes, and other community groups into relevant decision-making.
• This bill authorizes the Attorney General to penalize the Town up to $50,000 for every 6 months that a town delays compliance with any of the above requirements.
© 2025 Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC © 2025 Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC AB 1889 (Friedman)
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• Town must update its conservation element to account for wildlife movement and habitat connectivity, including:
• Connectivity areas, permeability, and natural landscape areas; • Existing or planned wildlife passage features;
• Impacts of development and barriers to wildlife and habitat connectivity and means to avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts and barriers to wildlife movement; and
• Opportunities to remediate existing barriers, degraded habitat, and open space.
• Town may create a new “wildlife connectivity element” to incorporate these changes
• Applies when one or more elements is updated on or after January 1, 2028
AB 3093 (Ward)
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• Housing element update for 7
th cycle housing element
(the next one beginning in January 2031)
• Creates two subcategories of “lower income households” • Acutely low income (“ALI”) households
• Extremely low income (“ELI”) households
• Adds ALI and ELI to a category of individuals that have “special housing needs” that the Town must analyze in its housing element
• The Town must also:
• Include programs to incentivize the creation of ALI housing; • Account for ALI and ELI households in sites inventories; and • Account for ALI and ELI in its Regional Housing Needs Allocation plan.
SB 1211 (Skinner)
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• Existing law allows two detached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on a lot with an existing multifamily home.
• SB 1211 increases the allowed number of detached ADUs from two to eight ADUs for existing multifamily homes, so long as the number of ADUs does not exceed the number
of existing dwelling units on the lot
• The limit remains two for proposed multifamily homes
© 2025 Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC © 2025 Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC AB 2533 (Carillo)
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• Extends the amnesty period for the “unpermitted ADU
amnesty program” – unpermitted ADUs built before
January 1, 2018 may not be denied a permit for violation of ADU standards
• AB 2533 now applies the program to all unpermitted
ADUs built before January 1, 2020
• The program also now applies to Junior ADUs (JADUs)
built within the amnesty period
AB 1820 (Schiavo)
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• Existing law requires the Town to post on its website a current schedule of development fees, exactions, and
affordability requirements.
• AB 1820 allows an applicant to submit a request in its preliminary application for preliminary fee and exaction estimates, and requires the Town to respond in 30 days
• Furthermore, upon final approval of an entitlement for a housing development project, the Town must provide an
itemized list and good faith estimate of all fees and
exactions that apply to a housing development within 30 days
SB 937 (Wiener)
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• Existing law authorizes the Town to collect development impact fees to mitigate a development project’s impact on public infrastructure and facilities
• Under SB 937, the Town may collect development impact fees on “designated residential development projects”
upon the earlier of the issuance of the first certificate of occupancy or the first temporary certificate of occupancy. • Collecting development impact fees upon final building inspection is no longer an option.
• Designated residential development projects includes projects of 10 or fewer residential housing units
© 2025 Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC © 2025 Colantuono, Highsmith & Whatley, PC AB 413 (Lee)
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• Prohibits stopping, standing, or parking a vehicle within 20 feet of the vehicle approach side of any marked or unmarked crosswalk or within 15 feet of any crosswalk where a curb extension is present
• Town may establish a different distance by ordinance if it is:
• Justified by established traffic safety standards, and • Marked at the intersection using paint or a sign.
• Town may permit commercial vehicle loading and unloading within those distances if:
• Each crosswalk is identified by ordinance, and
• Marked using paint or a sign.
SB 1243 (Dodd)
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• Town Councilmembers are prohibited from making,
participating in, or influencing an entitlement proceeding if accepted more than $500 in campaign contributions in preceding 12 months from a party, participant, or agent (recusal)
• Also prohibited while entitlement is “pending”, and
• Prohibited for 12 months following decision
• Threshold used to be $250
• Proceedings requiring recusal include:
• Licenses,
• Permits,
• Other entitlements for land use, and
• Contracts (except for competitively bid, employment, and labor contracts)