APA California Legislative Update: July 2025

After several weeks of policy committee hearings and negotiations on the state budget, the Legislature is preparing to adjourn for their summer recess on July 18. Nearly all high priority bills that APA California is tracking are continuing to move and will be considered in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees upon the Legislature’s return in mid-August. At that time, they will have four weeks to complete their work and send remaining bills to the Governor for consideration. Session will end on September 12 and the Governor will have until October 12 to act on bills that make it to his desk in the final days of session.

APA California continues to track over 300 bills of interest to planners, while working on several of higher priority. Below are a few to note:

• AB 735 (Carrillo) and SB 415 (Reyes) aim to provide clean-up for the implementation of AB 98 (Carrillo, 2024), which was introduced and passed at the end of session in 2024 and creates new warehouse standards and requires local agencies to update their circulation elements in the general plan to include truck routes. APA California’s goals for the clean-up effort have been to provide a safe harbor for jurisdictions that are making a good faith effort to comply, allow local agencies to adopt truck routing requirements in an ordinance, rather than the general plan, and to clean up the statute for consistency generally. This effort remains a work in progress.
• Several bills in a sweeping permitting reform package introduced to speed up the housing approval process from application, CEQA review, entitlement, post-entitlement plan check, inspection and enforcement mostly continue to move. A few to note from this package:
  • AB 610 (Alvarez) currently requires a disclosure statement identifying potential governmental constraints as a part of the housing element and limits the ability of cities and counties to adopt “governmental constraints”, including fees. APA California has opposed unless amended, highlighting the impracticable nature of the requirements. Forthcoming amendments will likely remove the prohibition on adopting “governmental constraints” and instead focus the bill only on the additional disclosures in the housing element.
  • AB 1294 (Haney) would have required HCD to develop, and cities and counties to use, a standardized statewide housing entitlement application to streamline the intake process by limiting the information needed to deem an application complete. However this was made a two-year bill by the author and will not move forward this year. APA California had worked extensively on this bill, including discussions to ensure jurisdictions may request necessary information to determine a project’s consistency and comply with CEQA after being deemed complete. We will resume these discussions if the bill moves next year.
• SB 79 (Wiener) Makes housing development an allowable use within a ½ mile of a major transit stop and allows transit agencies to adopt objective standards for both residential and commercial developments proposed to be constructed on transit-oriented land owned by the transit agency or where the transit agency has a permanent operating easement. While APA has not yet taken a formal position, we continue to provide technical feedback as the bill language evolves.

We continue to share position letters online and remember, and even if you don’t see a position letter on a particular bill, that doesn’t mean we aren’t working on it. We are often working in advance of taking a position to try and address concerns where possible or are asked to provide technical feedback on bills generally as they move. Please reach out to policy@apacalifornia.org if you have questions or thoughts on a particular bill or issue before the Legislature.

Governor Newsom signed SB 101, the main budget bill, and AB 102, which amended the main budget bill, in addition to several trailer bills to implement the budget. Of particular interest to planners are the housing trailer bills, which include several policy changes contemplated in other bills that were already moving in the Legislature and was at the crux of a final deal on the budget. The Governor made approval of the entire budget contingent on the Legislature’s approval of AB 130 and SB 131, which included sweeping CEQA reforms related to infill housing development. After intense negotiations in June, both bills passed on June 30 and were signed that evening. The CEQA reforms became immediately effective.

The following are the list bills that were already moving in the Legislature, some of which APA California supported, that made it into the housing budget trailer bills (though not all include identical provisions):

• AB 609 by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks – California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: housing development projects. (APA California supported)
• AB 306 by Assembly Member Nick Schultz – Building regulations: state building standards. (APA California supported)
• AB 750 by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva – Homeless shelters: safety regulations.
• SB 607 by Senator Scott Wiener — California Environmental Quality Act: Infrastructure Projects. (APA California supported)
• SB 681 by Senator Aisha Wahab — Housing.

Other noteworthy items in the trailer bills include:

• A new VMT Mitigation Bank under CEQA to offset transportation impacts while funding affordable, infill housing.
• A Six-month extension for expenditures under the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) program.
• Funding for various affordable housing programs and future funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Program.

Additional trailer bills will likely develop over the summer and move when the Legislature returns from their summer recess. For more information on what was included in the budget and trailer bills thus far, please see the Governor’s press release.

The executive order fast-tracks the rebuilding of homes and schools affected by the disaster by suspending local permitting laws and building codes, at the request of local officials. The order:

• Expands suspensions of the Coastal Act and CEQA in the city of Los Angeles.
• Expands existing Coastal Act and CEQA exemptions to streamline rebuilding public schools.
• Exempts residents who are rebuilding homes from the requirement to install rooftop solar and battery storage systems to reduce up-front costs, while retaining the “Solar Ready” requirement to ensure these structures can support future installation of solar energy systems.
• Suspends changes to building codes that would go into effect on January 1, 2026, while retaining updated fire safety requirements.

Governor Newsom recently announced that a reorganization proposal went into effect, to authorize the state to create the California Housing and Homelessness Agency (CHHA) and the Business and Consumer Services Agency (BCSA) as was proposed in the Governor’s budget. The CHHA will be focused on housing, homelessness, and civil rights, and the BCSA will focus on business regulation and consumer protection. These changes will become effective July 1, 2026, at which time the current Business Consumer Services and Housing Agency will be dissolved. For more information please see the Governor’s press release.

If you’re interested in receiving updates on legislative and regulatory issues from the Chapter’s Policy and Legislation Team, please join here. Have questions on policy and legislative related issues, including bills and regulations? APA California members are welcome to reach out to the VP for Policy and Legislation at policy@apacalifornia.org.

APA California has a robust legislative program at the Chapter level that engages with the California Legislature. The Policy and Legislation team includes an elected VP for Policy and Legislation, two appointed Legislative Technical Advisors, and a Lobbyist retained by the Chapter. The team engages directly with APA California Section Legislative Representatives from each of the 8 Sections within the Chapter to discuss feedback on legislation and other relevant issues regularly throughout the year. To view the Policy and Legislation team, visit the Board of Directors page.

APA California actively engages in many bills throughout the year. In fact, we work closely with legislative and committee staff on amendments and clarifications to bills before taking a position. As an organization, APA California is often asked to provide feedback on planning related bills and provide technical expertise, giving a voice to planners and an opportunity to help shape legislation. This is a valuable role that the Chapter works hard to maintain. More broadly, we will continue to discuss the work planners are doing at the local level to implement and keep up with all the planning related bills that pass year over year and how that relates to the cumulative impact of bills on the table this year. We also continue seek opportunities to suggest tangible ways, absent fiscal resources at the state level, that the Legislature can help to make implementation more successful and support the planning community.