2025-26 Legislative Session: Key Developments in Housing, Land Use, and Transportation Policy Area

Throughout the 2025-26 Legislative Session, CSAC has kept you informed about key legislative developments. With Governor Newsom’s final actions now complete, CSAC will publish a series of articles highlighting new laws and vetoed bills in each policy area. This week, our focus is on the Housing, Land Use, and Transportation policy area. 

For additional information, please contact Mark Neuburger. 

Disaster Recovery and Rebuilding 

AB 299 (Gabriel) (Chapter 531, Statutes of 2025) 
Motels, hotels, and short-term lodging: disasters. Existing law regulates tenancy terms and excludes hotel or motel occupants if their stay is 30 days or less. This bill allows residents in lodgings due to a disaster that made their previous homes uninhabitable to stay in a motel or hotel for at least 270 days. These provisions will be in effect until January 1, 2031. Read CSAC’s coalition support letter for this bill here.    

AB 462 (Lowenthal) (Chapter 491, Statutes of 2025)
Land use: accessory dwelling units. Typically, an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) cannot receive a certificate of occupancy before the primary dwelling does. This bill introduces an exception: in counties where a state of emergency is declared by the Governor on or after February 1, 2025, a local agency must issue an occupancy certificate for an ADU even if the main house lacks one, provided that certain conditions are met, such as damage due to the emergency. The bill also changes how permits for ADUs and coastal development are processed. Permitting agencies must approve or deny ADU permit applications within 60 days, with automatic approval if they fail to act. This can be delayed if the ADU is part of a dual application with a new primary dwelling. Similarly, under the California Coastal Act, a local government or the commission must decide on coastal development permits for ADUs within 60 days, unless they are part of a paired application with a new dwelling. Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here.  

AB 818 (Ávila-Farías)  (Chapter 534, Statutes of 2025)
Permit Streamlining Act: local emergencies. This bill requires a local government, when they have declared specific types of local emergencies, to approve or deny building permit applications within 10 business days for applicants applying to build structures intended for temporary use until property repairs are completed. 

SB 625 (Wahab)  (Chapter 548, Statutes of 2025)
Housing developments: disasters: reconstruction of destroyed or damaged structures. This bill creates a streamlined approval process for housing projects on sites where homes were destroyed or damaged by disasters, requiring local governments to approve these developments within 90 days if they meet specific standards. It also invalidates local ordinances that restrict temporary housing solutions like mobile homes post-disaster for three years. Finally, the bill expands CEQA exemptions for ministerial projects, allowing certain developments to bypass environmental review. 

SB 676 (Limón)  (Chapter 550, Statutes of 2025)
California Environmental Quality Act: judicial streamlining: state of emergency: wildfire. This bill, beginning in January 2027, establishes expedited administrative and judicial review procedures under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for projects that maintain, repair, restore, demolish, or replace wildfire-damaged property or facilities located in an area for which the Governor declared a state of emergency on or after January 2023. 

Telecommunications 

AB 470 (McKinnor) (FAILED)
Telephone corporations: carriers of last resort. This bill would have required the California Public Utilities Commission, in coordination with the Office of Emergency Services, to adopt a process for telephone corporations to petition the CPUC to amend their status as a carrier of last resort (COLR) in designated areas by December 15, 2026. Read CSAC’s opposition letter on this bill here.  

Housing 

AB 648 (Zbur)  (Chapter 378, Statutes of 2025)
Community colleges: housing: local zoning regulations: exemption. This measure provides that community college districts don’t need to follow city zoning laws for housing projects on their property if specific conditions are met. If the housing includes units for faculty and staff, the college must ensure some units are offered at affordable rates for extremely low-income and lower-income faculty and staff. 

AB 712 (Wicks)  (Chapter 503, Statutes of 2025) 
Housing reform laws: enforcement actions: fines and penalties.  This bill expands protections for applicants of housing development projects. If an applicant successfully enforces a public agency’s compliance with housing reform laws, they can claim reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. The bill also mandates fines for non-compliant counties and cities and extends the time limit for legal actions by 60 days after notifying the agency of intent to sue. Additionally, public agencies cannot require applicants to indemnify them in cases where the applicant alleges agency violations of housing reform laws.  

AB 1021 (Wicks)  (Chapter 511, Statutes of 2025)
Housing: local educational agencies. This measure revises existing provisions that apply to local school housing projects and extends them to January 1, 2036, and mandates that projects are subject to the Housing Accountability Act, allowing them a density bonus. Additionally, when selling or leasing excess real estate for teacher or employee housing, school districts can opt not to form an advisory committee. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) usually requires a review for environmental impacts but exempts certain affordable housing projects. This bill includes educational agency properties in this exemption. Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here.    

SB 21 (Durazo)  (Chapter 511, Statutes of 2025)
Single-room occupancy units: demolition and replacement: housing assistance programs: eligibility for homeless individuals and families. This bill extends current housing preservation requirements in existing law to include units for acutely low-income households. However, it allows for reduced replacement units in single-room occupancy buildings if necessary for conversion to affordable rental units. The bill also modifies the Department of Housing and Community Development’s role in promoting housing development through programs like the Multifamily Housing Program, which offers financial assistance for housing projects. The department can enter long-term agreements to service financial arrangements. For eligibility determination, individuals displaced from or returning to single-room occupancy units that receive departmental funds and are intended for homeless people would be recognized as homeless under specified criteria. These individuals or families cannot be compelled to fill units through certain referral systems. 

SB 79 (Wiener)
Housing development: transit-oriented development. This measure introduces specific provisions for housing projects near transit-oriented development (TOD) stops. These projects are allowed under zoning for residential, mixed, or commercial development if they meet certain criteria, including minimum dwelling units and standards regarding height and density based on proximity to TOD stops. The bill also impacts the Housing Accountability Act by presuming local government violations if they deny compliant projects in high-resource areas, with penalties starting January 1, 2027. It provides streamlined approval processes but includes requirements for affordability, demolition, anti-displacement, and labor standards. Moreover, the bill allows transit agency boards to set TOD zoning standards and enables local governments to adopt TOD alternative plans. The Department of Housing and Community Development will be responsible for enforcing the bill’s provisions. 

Housing Element 

AB 36 (Soria) (Chapter 485, Statutes of 2025)
Housing elements: prohousing designation. This bill, starting with the 7th Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) cycle, this bill allows small rural jurisdictions to request a review of their housing elements for prohousing status, and these jurisdictions won’t need to renew their designation for at least four years. “Small rural jurisdiction” refers to cities with populations under 25,000 or counties under 200,000. Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here. 

AB 610 (Alvarez) (Chapter 494, Statutes of 2025)
Housing element: governmental constraints: disclosure statement. The measure requires counties and cities to identify potential “governmental constraints” for the 7th and subsequent revisions of their required housing element. This statement identifies any constraints introduced after the previous plan’s deadline. 

AB 670 (Quirk-Silva) (Chapter 701, Statutes of 2025)
Planning and zoning: housing element: converted affordable housing units. Beginning in April 2027, the Annual Progress Reports (APR) that are part of the RHNA process will have new requirements, including a need to provide detailed information on new housing units, demolished units, and replacement units. Specifically, this bill will allow counties to include units converted to affordable housing with long-term covenants ensuring availability for at least 55 years to be reported as units in the APR. 

AB 726 (Ávila-Farías) (Chapter 704, Statutes of 2025)
Planning and zoning: annual report: rehabilitated units. This measure allows counties to include existing deed-restricted affordable housing units that are at least 15 years old and have been significantly rehabilitated with at least $60,000 per unit from local funds in their APR’s. These units, however, cannot be considered when determining eligibility for streamlined approvals. 

SB 233 (Seyarto) (Chapter 577, Statutes of 2025)
Regional housing need: determination: consultation with councils of governments. This measure extends the existing consultation timeframe that the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) must provide to regional planning agencies from 26 months to at least 38 months before the next element revision (i.e. the upcoming 7th revision) and all future revisions, with exceptions for specific councils. 

SB 262 (Wahab) (Chapter 513, Statutes of 2025)
Housing element: prohousing designations: prohousing local policies. This bill expands the types of policies that a county or city may adopt to be considered a ‘prohousing’ jurisdiction to include policies that ensure people remain housed. For background, a county or city that is designated as “prohousing” can receive additional preferences when applying for specific state programs. Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here. 

SB 507 (Limón) (Chapter 519, Statutes of 2025)
Planning and zoning: regional housing needs allocation. This measure allows counties and cities and tribes in the same county to voluntarily agree to count tribal housing developments towards the locality’s RHNA unit development target. It prohibits local governments from requiring tribes to waive sovereign immunity for such agreements. Additionally, it encourages the HCD to approve tribal housing units toward meeting the jurisdiction’s RHNA goal. 

Land Use & Planning  

AB 920 (Caloza) (Chapter 501, Statutes of 2025)
Permit Streamlining Act: housing development projects: centralized application portal. This measure requires counties or cities with populations of 150,000 or more to provide a centralized application portal on their websites for housing project applications. A local jurisdiction may delay implementation until January 1, 2030 if they begin procurement process of the required permit application system by January 1, 2028. The required portal is only required to provide applicants with the ability to track their application. 

AB 1007 (B. Rubio) (Chapter 502, Statutes of 2025)
Land use: development project review. This bill reduces the time frame for responsible agencies in land use decisions to approve or deny a permit for residential and mixed-use development projects from 90 days to 45 days. 

AB 1308 (Hoover) (Chapter 509, Statutes of 2025) 
Residential building permits: inspections: Housing Accountability Act. This legislation requires the building department of every county or city to conduct an inspection of permitted work within 10 business days of receiving notice of the completion of permitted work authorized by a building permit issued for specified housing projects. 

General Plans 

AB 39 (Zbur) (Chapter 356, Statutes of 2025)
General plans: Local Electrification Planning Act. This bill creates the Local Electrification Planning Act which requires counties and cities with population over 75,000 to or update their general plans to include local goals and measures supporting electric vehicle charging and zero-emission fuels by January 1, 2030. The plan must prioritize investments for disadvantaged communities, low-income households, and small businesses. 

AB 1275 (Elhawary) (Chapter 593, Statutes of 2025)
Regional housing needs: regional transportation plan. This measure requires HCD to determine each region with a council of governments existing and projected housing need three years prior to each region′s scheduled housing element revision, rather than two years as required by current law, and makes changes to how the transportation and job projections in a region′s sustainable communities strategy (SCS) must be incorporated into each council’s final RHNA plan. 

SB 415 (Reyes) (Chapter 316, Statutes of 2025)
Planning and zoning: logistics use developments: truck routes. This bill provides clean up the warehouse bill from last session (AB 98, Chapter 931, Statutes of 2024) by:   

• Allowing counties and cities not included in the Warehouse Concentration Region (i.e. San Bernardino & Riverside counties) with logistic use developments to adopt an ordinance (instead of updating their circulation element) by January 1, 2028, and for smaller jurisdictions (cities under 50,000 and counties under 100,000 residents) to adopt an ordinance by January 1, 2030.  

• Providing flexibility to most local governments throughout the state to meet the truck route planning requirements required pursuant to AB 98. 

• Exempting local governments who do not have logistic developments in their jurisdiction from being mandated to comply with circulation element/ordinance adoption requirement. If a jurisdiction approves a logistics development in the future, it would have to adopt an ordinance within two years of the project’s approval. 

• Protecting counties and cities that are making a ‘good faith effort’ to adopt an ordinance or update their circulation element to comply with AB 98. The bill requires the court to consider any mitigating circumstances delaying the jurisdiction from coming into compliance as a determination of whether the jurisdiction is making a good faith effort or is facing substantial undue hardships. 

• Redefining the scope of facilities subject to the law, ensures that projects in rural areas have a permitting pathway, exempts seasonal agricultural facilities, and provides flexibility for local regulation of traffic from smaller agricultural and forestry-related facilities. 

Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here. 

Development Fees 

SB 358 (Becker) (Chapter 515, Statutes of 2025)
Mitigation Fee Act: mitigating vehicular traffic impacts. This bill requires local agencies to reduce vehicle mitigation fees for housing developments near transit unless they make findings supported by substantial evidence in the record that projects are not expected to reduce automobile trips. 

SB 499 (Stern) (Chapter 543, Statutes of 2025)
Residential projects: fees and charges. This measure clarifies that local governments can collect utility service charges at the application stage for water, sewer, or wastewater services. Additionally, it revises provisions for early fee collection for services like fire, public safety, and emergency services, expanding these to include parkland and recreational facilities if identified for emergency purposes in the safety element or hazard mitigation plan of a local agency. 

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 

AB 130 (Committee on Budget) (Chapter 22, Statutes of 2025) 
Housing. Among a variety of provisions, this budget trailer bill: 

• Expands CEQA exemptions for housing developments that meet specific requirements 

• Establishes a voluntary vehicle miles traveled (VMT) mitigation bank that allows counties to direct their required transportation VMT mitigation funding, required by CEQA, to a program that funds infill affordable housing projects and related infrastructure projects in their region. 

• Places a 6-year moratorium (October 2025 through June 2031) on the ability for state and local government to modify portions of building standards and codes on residential buildings. 

AB 752 (Ávila-Farías) (Chapter 164, Statutes of 2025)
Child daycare facilities. This measure exempts daycare centers that meet specific requirements and when co-located with multifamily housing from CEQA requirements, therefore making these centers a use by right. Also, the bill prohibits a local jurisdiction from imposing a charge, tax, or fee for a business license, equivalent instrument, or permit for the privilege of operating a daycare center that is co-located with multifamily housing. 

SB 71 (Wiener) (Chapter 742, Statutes of 2025) 
California Environmental Quality Act: exemptions: transit projects. This bill expands and extends existing CEQA exemptions for transit projects from 2030 to 2040. Many of the projects covered by the existing exemption are relevant to county transit and transportation programs, including those that: 

• Construct pedestrian and bicycle facilities, including new facilities. 

• Consist of projects that improve customer information and wayfinding for transit riders, bicyclists, or pedestrians. 

• Are a public project to construct or maintain infrastructure to charge or refuel zero-emission transit buses, trains, or ferries, as specified. 

• Serve the maintenance, repair, relocation, replacement, or removal of any utility infrastructure associated with one of these projects. 

Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here.   

Building Standards 

AB 253 (Ward) (Chapter 487, Statutes of 2025)
California Residential Private Permitting Review Act: residential building permits. This measure allows an applicant for small residential building permits to contract with or employ a private professional provider to check plans and specifications if a county or city is unable to review the plan within 30 days of filing a complete application. The applicant may resubmit corrected plans if initially non-compliant. The bill adjusts requirements for post entitlement phase permits, ensuring compliance occurs if a private provider checks the plans. While indemnifying local agencies from liability related to the privately checked plans, it specifies that public agencies are not liable for injuries resulting from their actions or omissions in permitting decisions. The bill also mandates that starting in 2027, the annual report on housing development must include data on permits reviewed by private professionals and the resources dedicated to permit processing. The provisions of this bill are set to sunset in 2036. 

AB 368 (Ward) (Chapter 145, Statutes of 2025)
Energy: building standards: passive house standards. This bill requires the California Energy Commission to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of passive house building energy efficiency standards by climate zone. The aim is to compare the cost-effectiveness of passive house construction with current building practices. The commission is required to submit a report detailing its findings and recommendations to the Legislature by July 1, 2028. 

AB 671 (Wicks) (Chapter 470, Statutes of 2025)
Accelerated restaurant building plan approval: California Retail Food Code: tenant improvements. This measure modifies the approval process for local permits for tenant improvements related to restaurants in California. Under this bill, a qualified professional certifier, such as a licensed architect or engineer, can be hired by an applicant to certify compliance with building, health, and safety codes. Upon submission of a complete application, local building departments must approve or deny the permit within 20 business days or the plan is deemed approved. If initially denied, applicants can resubmit corrected plans, and subsequent reviews are limited to previously identified deficiencies, with responses required within 10 business days. Local building departments must conduct audits on certified improvements, and counties or cities can impose additional qualifications or penalties for certifiers, who would be liable for damages from negligent reviews. Applicants must indemnify local agencies from related damages. 

Transportation  

AB 978 (Hoover) (Chapter 443, Statutes of 2025)
Department of Transportation and local agencies: streets and highways: recycled materials. This bill increases the amount of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) material requirements that local agencies may use in their road projects. Additionally, if a local agency declines to use RAP in their road project due to feasibility concerns, bidders can request an explanation of why the material was not used from the local agency. 

SB 78 (Seyarto) (Chapter 743, Statutes of 2025) 
Department of Transportation: report: state highway system: safety enhancements. This measure requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to prepare a report evaluating current strategies and potential improvements to streamline the processes for delivering highway safety enhancement projects by January 1, 2027. 

SB 359 (Niello) (Chapter 217, Statutes of 2025)
Use Fuel Tax Law: Diesel Fuel Tax Law: exempt bus operation. This bill clarifies that the current diesel fuel tax exemption for transit system operators applies to counties that operate local transit systems. Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here.     

Aviation 

AB 1150 (Schultz) (Chapter 182, Statutes of 2025) 
Local agencies: airports: alternative customer facility charges. This bill modifies how “customer facility charges” (CFC) that airports can require rental vehicle companies to collect can be used. Specifically, the bill raises the existing daily fee cap from $9 to $12, allows CFC’s to be used to cover major maintenance costs, and clarifies the revenue from CFC’s can be used for specified purposes. Read CSAC’s support letter for this bill here.