Governor’s Deadline to Act on Lingering Legislation Approaches
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Throughout the 2025 Legislative Session, CSAC has kept you informed about key legislative developments. With Governor Newsom’s deadline to sign or veto legislation approaching on Monday, October 13, CSAC will publish a series of articles highlighting new laws and vetoed bills in each policy area. Although the Legislative Session ended on September 13, your CSAC Legislative Affairs team remained engaged on a number of bills that moved to the Governor’s desk, and made requests for the Governor to act on legislation consistent with the best interests of counties.
Consistent with years past, the Governor issued legislative updates in sporadic bursts in the weeks before the deadline. So far, the Governor has signed 476 bills, vetoed 55 bills, and 1,005 are pending. Outcomes so far of priority measures relevant to county governments includes the following:
SB 72 (Caballero) (Chapter 210, Statutes of 2025)
The California Water Plan: long-term supply targets. Co-sponsored by CSAC, this measure recasts the California Water Plan as a comprehensive, strategic plan for the sustainable management and stewardship of California’s water resources and requires the plan to include long-term water supply targets and strategies to meet those targets. Read CSAC’s support letter here.
Questions? Contact Jordan Wells at jwells@counties.org and Caitlin Loventhal at cloventhal@counties.org
SB 415 (Reyes) (Chapter 316, Statutes of 2025)
Planning and zoning: logistics use developments: truck routes. This measure is part of a legislative package that honors the commitment of the Legislature to address counties’ implementation concerns with legislation from 2024 regarding planning and zoning of warehouses (AB 98, Chapter 931, Statutes of 2024). Read CSAC’s support letter here.
Questions? Contact Mark Neuburger at mneuburger@counties.org
SB 707 (Durazo) (Chapter 327, Statutes of 2025)
Open meetings: meeting and teleconference requirements. This measure represents the most sweeping and ambitious changes to the Brown Act in several years. CSAC worked throughout the year to carefully craft the bill’s language to balance the best interests of county governments and the accessibility of public meetings. The bill extends sunset dates on laws that provide meeting participation flexibility, add new flexibility for multi-jurisdictional bodies, and address challenges in recruitment and retention for advisory bodies by allowing them the flexibility to meet remotely. New requirements are tempered by language that provides needed legal protection, ability to use lower-cost tools, and greater flexibility to administer. Read our statement on SB 707 here.
Questions? Contact Eric Lawyer at elawyer@counties.org and Julissa Ceja Cardenas at jcejacardenas@counties.org
But wait, there’s more!
In the coming weeks, we will publish comprehensive updates on the outcome of legislation for each policy area. The schedule of publications by policy area is as follows:
- Thursday, October 16 – Administration of Justice
- Thursday, October 23 – Government Finance and Administration
- Thursday, October 30 – Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources
- Thursday, November 6 – Health and Human Services
- Thursday, November 13 – Housing, Land Use, and Transportation
Curious about the fate of specific bills and can’t wait for an article to be published? We encourage you to reach out to CSAC’s Legislative Affairs team anytime.