California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: affordable housing projects: public university or public college housing projects.

Header changed from listing prior amendment dates to showing final passage dates: Passed the Assembly August 25, 2026, and Passed the Senate August 20, 2026.

Added Governor's receipt line (date and time blank) and approval signature block at the end of the enrolled bill.

Line breaks, indentation, and page numbering reformatted throughout the bill text with no change to substantive content.

The entire proposed amendment to Section 21080.66 was deleted. This section had provided a CEQA exemption for broader housing development projects (up to 20 acres in urban areas) and included detailed tribal cultural resource consultation procedures, prevailing wage labor standards, environmental assessment requirements, and freeway-adjacent housing design requirements.

The Section 21080.40 exemption was expanded to include 'public university or public college housing projects' - defined as housing facilities for students, faculty, or staff of UC, CSU, or California Community Colleges campuses, including dining, academic, and student support spaces.

Subdivision (b) paragraph (4) now includes 'higher education land use plan amendments' in the list of exempted actions (rezoning, specific plan amendments, general plan amendments, or higher education land use plan amendments required specifically and exclusively to allow construction).

The sunset date for the Section 21080.40 exemption was extended from January 1, 2033 to January 1, 2037.

A new qualifying amenity was added to the 'proximal' definition: a shuttle or bus stop operated by a public university or public college, within one-half mile of the project site.

References to Health and Safety Code sections 25319.1 and 25319.5 were updated to sections 78090 and 78095, reflecting a renumbering of those provisions.

A new category called 'public university or public college housing project' is added to the CEQA exemption in Section 21080.40. It covers housing facilities for students, faculty, or staff of UC, CSU, or California Community Colleges campuses, including dining, academic, and student support spaces.

The bill's section order is reorganized: Section 21080.40 (affordable housing exemption) becomes Section 1, the no-reimbursement provision becomes Section 2, and Section 21080.66 (housing development projects) moves to a later section number.

The sunset date for the affordable housing CEQA exemption (Section 21080.40) is extended from January 1, 2033 to January 1, 2037, giving developers four additional years of certainty.

The entity responsible for confirming that project sites meet specified requirements changes from 'a public agency' to 'the lead agency,' shifting the confirmation duty to the CEQA lead agency rather than a broader public agency.

New buffer zone requirements are added: for sites where multifamily housing is not a permitted use, no housing may be within 500 feet of a freeway, within 3,200 feet of an active oil or natural gas extraction or refining facility, or in a very high fire hazard severity zone.

A Phase I environmental assessment requirement is added to the affordable housing exemption conditions. If a recognized environmental condition is found, a preliminary endangerment assessment must follow, and any hazardous substance release must be removed or mitigated to insignificance.

New definitions are added to Section 21080.40 for 'affordable housing project,' 'high-quality transit corridor,' 'proximal' (to an amenity), 'public university or public college housing project,' 'vacant site,' and 'very low vehicle travel area.'

In Section 21080.66, the redundant phrase 'zoning ordinance, ordinance or public higher education land use plan' is corrected to 'zoning ordinance or public higher education land use plan.'

The bill now also amends Section 21080.66 of the Public Resources Code (previously only Section 21080.40 was amended), adding a new section to the bill that expands the CEQA exemption for housing development projects.

A housing development project is now deemed consistent with applicable land use requirements if it is consistent with a public higher education land use plan, in addition to the existing general plan and zoning ordinance. This allows university and college campus housing projects to qualify for the CEQA exemption based on their institution's land use plan.

A new fallback provision allows a housing development project that is not subject to any applicable general plan, zoning ordinance, or public higher education land use plan to still qualify for the exemption if there is substantial evidence it meets specified conditions, including satisfying statewide performance standards for infill projects under CEQA guidelines.

The consistency requirement language was changed from 'general plan and zoning ordinance' to 'general plan and zoning ordinance, ordinance or public higher education land use plan,' broadening what counts as an applicable land use control document.

The digest now notes that the 21080.66 changes impose a state-mandated local program on local governments because they increase duties related to expanding the exemption to additional projects, and no reimbursement is required because local agencies can levy sufficient fees.

The entire amendment to Section 21080.66 (housing development project CEQA exemption) is deleted. This removed provisions for site size limits, urban use adjacency, general plan and zoning consistency, public higher education land use plan consistency, density requirements, historic structure demolition prohibition, transient lodging prohibition, detailed tribal consultation procedures with binding conditions, freeway proximity building standards, and labor standards including prevailing wage and San Francisco-specific joint labor-management committee enforcement.

The bill now amends only Section 21080.40 (affordable housing project CEQA exemption) rather than both 21080.66 and 21080.40, narrowing the bill to a single statutory section.

Assembly Member Caloza is added as a coauthor of the bill.

Public university or public college housing projects (housing for students, faculty, or staff of UC, CSU, or California Community Colleges campuses) are added as a new category eligible for the CEQA exemption under Section 21080.40, with requirements including labor standards, location criteria (urbanized area, transit proximity, very low vehicle travel area, or proximity to six amenities), and urban use adjacency.

The tribal cultural resources requirement for vacant sites is removed. Previously, a vacant project site could not contain tribal cultural resources found through consultation whose effects could not be mitigated. This is replaced with a new subdivision (d) requiring the lead agency to provide notice to and consult with California Native American tribes before approving or carrying out the project, per specified CEQA sections, and authorizing the lead agency to impose conditions of approval to avoid or mitigate impacts to tribal cultural resources.

The entity responsible for confirming that project sites meet specified requirements changes from 'a public agency' to 'the lead agency' in subdivision (c)(3), shifting the confirmation duty to the CEQA lead agency rather than a broader public agency.

The bill now amends Section 21080.40 of the Public Resources Code instead of Section 21080.66, re-targeting the legislative change to a different statutory provision.

The CEQA exemption for affordable housing projects is expanded to also include public university or public college housing projects that meet specified requirements.

Seven additional Assembly members (Ahrens, Alanis, Avila Farias, Muratsuchi, Michelle Rodriguez, Schultz, and Zbur) were added as coauthors, indicating broader legislative support for the expanded bill.

The requirement relating to tribal cultural resources on a vacant project site is deleted and replaced with a process requiring the lead agency to provide notice to, and consult with, California Native American tribes before approving or carrying out an affordable housing or public university or public college housing project.

Confirmations previously required to be made by a public agency are now required to be made by the lead agency.

The lead agency is now authorized to impose conditions of approval on these housing projects to avoid or mitigate potential impacts to tribal cultural resources.

The sunset date for the affordable housing exemption provisions is extended from January 1, 2033 to January 1, 2037.