Toplines
- 6 CBIA-sponsored bills currently on the governor’s desk pending signature
- All 5 bills designated Housing Killers at the start of the year dead for 2025 (i.e., two-year bills) or amended to address CBIA’s concerns
- CBIA’s AB 130 VMT legislative fix, SB 508, put into print as a two-year bill (the only organization able to get their trailer bill clean-up language into print before the end of session)
CBIA’s 11th Sponsored Bill
SB 508 (Valladares et al.): AB 130 (Statutes of 2025) included reforms that seek to increase housing supply and streamline delivery of infrastructure projects. However, CBIA had concerns that the VMT mitigation bank provisions, as currently written in law, could unintentionally increase costs for new housing for Californians across the state.
As a result, CBIA launched a massive campaign to fix these provisions. The campaign included the allocation of financial resources for a robust public affairs effort, which featured impactful earned and digital media, a public-facing website, and the creation of a coalition of over 170 organizations all focused on fixing this issue. Most importantly, the campaign featured the active engagement of local BIA chapters, whose participation was critical to this effort. The campaign also included the active and robust participation of the Legislative Problem Solvers Caucus — a 26-member bipartisan, bicameral caucus in the California State Legislature — and other housing champions such as Assembly Member Buffy Wicks and Senator Anna Caballero.
CBIA vigorously negotiated with the Governor’s office for months before they ultimately offered to agree to specific language at the start of the final week of the legislative session. Specifically, the language: 1) reduces the legal risks associated with using the new VMT mitigation bank, thereby lowering the likelihood of new housing getting tied up in unnecessary litigation; 2) clarifies that the VMT mitigation bank provisions only take effect after LCI’s related regulatory guidance has been issued; 3) supports the timely, cost-effective delivery of much-needed housing without imposing unnecessary costs on public agencies and housing project applicants.
After reaching agreement on language with the Governor’s Office, it became clear that legislative leadership, contrary to prior conversations, did not want to advance, or even put into print, any trailer bill clean-up language from any organization as they felt it would further complicate end-of-session food fights between the Senate and the Assembly.
In the end, during the final days of session and with the clock ticking, CBIA aggressively pushed to have its clean-up language put into print as a two-year bill and was ultimately successful. CBIA is the only organization that was able to actually get their clean-up language into print — a massive achievement that allows the organization to now champion a specific bill number and gives it the ability to continue bolstering its efforts during the fall before the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Status: Pending in the Assembly (Two-Year Bill)
CBIA’s 10 Original Sponsored bills
1. AB 226 (Calderon and Alvarez): Increases stability of the insurance market and helps address the housing policy crisis by authorizing the Insurance Commissioner to work with financial institutions to issue bonds to strengthen the claims-paying capacity of the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan (FAIR Plan) and repay bonds issued for that purpose.
Status: On the Governor’s Desk
Key Team Members Involved: Steve Cruz / Audrey Ratajczak (Cruz Strategies), Dan Dunmoyer
2. AB 420 (Petrie-Norris): Creates a de minimis exemption to an existing requirement for large Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) to obtain approval from the California Public Utilities Commission when an IOU abandons an old utility easement and is granted a new one. The existing approval process can take up to 18 months and stall new developments. This bill effectively exempts a super-majority of approval requests from the aforementioned requirement in existing law, saving new developments both time and money.
Status: On the Governor’s Desk
Key Team Members Involved: Kirk Kimmelshue (Fernández Jensen Kimmelshue Government Affairs), Karim Drissi / Nick Cammarota, Lori Holt Pfeiler (San Diego BIA)
3. AB 610 (Alvarez): Increases local government transparency by requiring cities and counties to prepare a disclosure statement identifying potential governmental constraints as a part of their housing element.
Status: On the Governor’s Desk
Key Team Members Involved: Vanessa Chavez, Paul Campos
4. AB 712 (Wicks): Establishes minimum uniform, consistent, transparent, fair, and effective standards for holding public agencies accountable when a court finds they have violated housing reform laws. Specifically, AB 712, among other provisions, ensures that if a housing development applicant sues a public agency to enforce these laws and wins the case, they are entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and legal costs. This measure will effectively allow members to recoup millions in legal fees.
Status: On the Governor’s Desk
Key Team Members Involved: Karim Drissi, Nick Cammarota, Paul Campos
5. AB 1007 (Rubio): Expedites the approval of housing by shortening the time frame from 90 days to 45 days for state and regional agencies to approve or disapprove applications for housing development projects for which they are a responsible agency.
Status: On the Governor’s Desk
Key Team Members Involved: Kirk Kimmelshue (Fernández Jensen Kimmelshue Government Affairs), Karim Drissi / Nick Cammarota / Paul Campos
6. SB 489 (Arreguin): Plugs gaps in the permitting process by requiring public agencies to post their application requirements online. Members will now have a greater ability to clearly determine what is needed for a complete application, saving them both time and money.
Status: On the Governor’s Desk
Key Team Members Involved: Silvio Ferrari (Axiom Advisors), Karim Drissi / Nick Cammarota / Paul Campos
7. AB 261 (Quirk-Silva): Would have authorized the State Fire Marshal to meet and confer with any entity or member of the public and make recommendations on what steps the entity or member of the public could take to reduce the fire hazard of an area.
Status: Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense File (Held “Under Submission” — Dead)
Key Team Members Involved: Silvio Ferrari (Axiom Advisors), Nick Cammarota / Chris Ochoa
8. AB 660 (Wilson): Would have provided that a local agency cannot require or request more than two plan check and specification reviews in connection with an application for a building permit, unless the local agency’s requirement or request for additional review was accompanied by written findings based on substantial evidence in the record that the additional review was necessary to address a specific, adverse impact on public health or safety.
Status: Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense File (Held “Under Submission” — Dead)
Key Team Members Involved: Steve Cruz / Audrey Ratajczak (Cruz Strategies), Karim Drissi / Nick Cammarota / Paul Campos
9. AB 782 (Quirk-Silva): Would have prohibited local governments from requiring bonding related to subdivision improvements that will be privately owned and maintained. During the legislative process, it became clear that this measure was a solution in search of a problem. As a result, CBIA explored the possibility of using this measure as a potential vehicle for our AB 130 VMT legislative fix efforts. When it was determined this wasn’t possible, CBIA asked the author to place the measure on the Senate Floor Inactive File as the bill vehicle was no longer needed.
Status: Senate Floor Inactive File
Key Team Members Involved: Silvio Ferrari (Axiom Advisors), Karim Drissi / Nick Cammarota
10. AB 1276 (Carrillo): Would have locked in the rules at the time of application with regard to regulations and requirements made by state and regional agencies.
Status: Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense File (Held “Under Submission” — Dead)
Key Team Members Involved: Steve Cruz / Audrey Ratajczak (Cruz Strategies), Karim Drissi / Nick Cammarota / Paul Campos
Housing Killers
1. AB 52 (Aguiar-Curry): Substantially broadens the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) consultation process with California Native American tribes. However, it does so in a way that could create an indefinite CEQA review cycle, leaving projects without certainty — even after environmental documents are certified and all necessary permits have been approved. Moreover, AB 52 could require projects to be permanently halted even after construction has begun. This approach overlooks the comprehensive tribal consultation process already built into the early stages of project planning, which is specifically designed to surface and address these critical issues upfront — helping to prevent delays and ensure timely delivery of much-needed housing for California families.
Position: Oppose (Housing Killer)
Status: Dead for 2025, but may return in 2026 (Two-Year Bill)
2. AB 902 (Schultz): Requires metropolitan planning organizations to duplicate work that has already been done to establish new habitat corridors that would become an obstacle to development and transportation projects. This would drive up costs and add regulatory barriers to housing production by layering duplicate requirements onto regional transportation planning and development efforts aimed at mitigating barriers to wildlife movement. AB 902 would thereby give metropolitan planning organizations an implicit land use authority. Amendments obtained by CBIA narrow the bill to transportation infrastructure projects other than the state highway system and only require incorporation of wildlife passage features if they are feasible. CBIA has removed its opposition based on these amendments.
Position: Neutral — Amended to Address CBIA’s Concerns
Status: Dead for 2025, but may return in 2026 (Two-Year Bill)
3. AB 1157 (Kalra): Poses a significant barrier to the development of new rental housing by making California’s existing rent control laws even more restrictive. AB 1157, among other provisions, extends rent control to single-family homes and condominiums owned by individuals and families — many of whom are already struggling with rising costs for maintenance, insurance, and utilities. In a market already challenged by high interest rates, tariffs, and soaring construction costs, this bill further discourages both private and institutional investment, ultimately leading to fewer homes being built for California’s families.
Position: Oppose (Housing Killer)
Status: Dead for 2025, but may return in 2026 (Two-Year Bill)
4. SB 601 (Allen): Exacerbates California’s housing crisis by, among other provisions, imposing burdensome new water quality regulations on housing projects. While proponents argue that SB 601 is needed in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting federal regulations, the bill as written goes far beyond what federal law previously required.
Position: Oppose (Housing Killer)
Status: Dead for 2025, but may return in 2026 (Two-Year Bill)
5. SB 682 (Allen): As introduced, this bill would have granted the Department of Toxic Substances Control unchecked authority to determine which building products can be used in housing construction, imposing sweeping and arbitrary restrictions that would severely disrupt homebuilding across California. As amended, the language related to banning the sale of construction materials with PFAS has been eliminated, removing CBIA’s opposition to the bill.
