Accelerated restaurant building plan approval: California Retail Food Code: tenant improvements.

Header changed from enrolled bill format to authenticated electronic legal material format with chapter number 470 assigned and Governor's approval date of October 9, 2025 recorded.

All references to 'local building department or local permitting department' were changed to just 'local building department,' narrowing which local agencies must implement the streamlined certification process.

Removed the provision stating that repeated violations by a qualified professional certifier may result in suspension or revocation of certification privileges under the chapter.

Removed the provision allowing local jurisdictions to impose reasonable administrative penalties, including fines, for willful noncompliance with the chapter's requirements.

Assembly Members Mark Gonzalez and Haney were added as coauthors of the bill.

Section number corrected from 5587 to 5586.5 in the Business and Professions Code addition and in cross-references within Section 66345.2(e). This was a typographical error in the prior version.

Cross-reference in Section 5 (statewide concern finding) corrected from 'Section 1 of this act' to 'Section 3 of this act,' fixing an incorrect section pointer for the chapter being added to the Government Code.

Bill formatting changed from amended version (with line numbers, amendment history headers, and inline correction markup) to clean enrolled format with passage dates and Governor's signature block. Page numbering shifted from 92 to 91.

When an applicant resubmits corrected plans after an initial denial, the local building department or health enforcement agency may now only review the deficiencies identified in that initial denial. The agency cannot raise new issues on resubmission. This applies to both the building plan review process (Government Code 66345.2) and the restaurant tenant improvement plan review under the California Retail Food Code (Health and Safety Code 114380).

The new Business and Professions Code section is renumbered from Section 5587 to Section 5586.5, with all cross-references updated accordingly.

Senator Grayson is added as a coauthor of the bill.

New Business and Professions Code Section 5587 makes a false statement in a certification submission under the restaurant tenant improvement chapter grounds for disciplinary action against an architect serving as a qualified professional certifier.

Business and Professions Code Section 6775 gains a new subdivision (g) making false statements in certification submissions under Chapter 14 of the Government Code a specific ground for discipline of a licensed professional engineer. Existing subdivisions are relettered accordingly.

Section 66345.2(e) now cross-references the specific B&P Code sections (5587 for architects, 6775 for engineers) rather than referencing the licensing chapters generally, creating a clearer statutory link between the certification process and disciplinary authority.

All section numbers in the bill are renumbered to accommodate the two new B&P Code sections at the front (original Section 1 becomes SEC. 3, original Section 2 becomes SEC. 4, findings become SEC. 5, reimbursement becomes SEC. 6).

New definitions added: 'restaurant' means a retail food establishment that prepares, serves, and vends food directly to the consumer; 'tenant improvement' means a change to the interior of an existing building.

The certifier's compliance statement is now required to be an affidavit made under penalty of perjury, raising the legal stakes for false statements beyond the prior general 'statement' requirement.

A 20-business-day deemed-approval deadline is added: if the local building or permitting department does not approve or deny a complete application within 20 business days, the plan is deemed approved. Previously, approval was automatic upon submission of the certification with fees and documents.

A resubmission process is added: if an application is denied within the 20-business-day window, the applicant may resubmit corrected plans addressing identified deficiencies, and the local department must approve or deny each resubmission within 10 business days of receipt.

The deadline for issuing a plan check correction notice after an audit reveals material noncompliance changed from 10 days to 10 business days.

Audit sampling changed from a percentage of all tenant improvements submitted annually to a percentage of those submitted per week, which substantially increases the number of audits conducted over the course of a year.

The amendment to Section 135 of the Health and Safety Code (a technical change requiring departments to publish federal plans and waivers on their website) has been removed from the bill entirely.

The digest now states that to the extent the streamlined ministerial review process applies to final discretionary approval of a tenant improvement, those projects are exempt from CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act).

Coauthors Assembly Members Blanca Rubio and Ward are added, and Assembly Member Gabriel is added as a co-author alongside Wicks.

The no-reimbursement provision (Section 3) is expanded to also cover costs incurred because the act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates one, or changes a penalty, in addition to the existing service-charge justification.

The definition of 'restaurant' now explicitly excludes fast food restaurants as defined in Section 1474 of the Labor Code, narrowing which establishments qualify for the accelerated plan review process.

A new exclusion states that this chapter does not apply to tenant improvements already subject to plan review requirements under the California Retail Food Code (Section 114380), preventing overlap between the two review processes.

Cities and counties are now authorized to adopt additional qualifications or requirements for qualified professional certifiers by ordinance, including registration, training, fees (capped at reasonable implementation cost), and penalties such as decertification or administrative fines for willful noncompliance or repeated certification of noncompliant plans.

A second affidavit is required, in which the certifier or applicant must attest under penalty of perjury that the restaurant meets the definition in Section 66345.1(b) (i.e., it is not a fast food restaurant).

A new provision requires the local building department to affirmatively approve or deny the application within 20 business days, adding an active duty on top of the existing deemed-approval mechanism.

The applicant must now indemnify the local agency from any property damage or personal injury arising from construction permitted under this chapter, shifting financial risk to the applicant.

A new public entity immunity provision shields local agencies and employees from liability for injuries caused by their discretionary or ministerial acts or omissions in issuing or denying permits under this chapter, overriding the general Government Claims Act standard (Section 815.6).

References to 'applicable building, health, and safety codes' throughout the bill were expanded to 'all applicable building, health, and safety codes, including, but not limited to, building standards approved by the California Building Standards Commission and local building standards,' making the compliance scope broader and more explicit.

New Section 2 amends Health and Safety Code Section 114380 to add subdivision (f), creating a deemed-approval process for restaurant tenant improvement plans under the California Retail Food Code enforcement agency. If the enforcement agency does not approve or deny a complete plan within 20 business days, it is deemed approved. Resubmissions after denial must be resolved within 10 business days.

The audit requirement in Section 66345.2(c)(1) was changed from 'annually conduct a random audit of no less than 10 percent and no more than 20 percent' to 'conduct a random audit of no less than 20 percent' per week, removing the annual frequency limit and the upper cap while raising the minimum threshold.

Section 66345.4(b), which stated that the chapter does not reduce or limit the authority or liability of a local building department or permitting department, was removed entirely. The remaining liability provision (certifiers liable for negligent plan review) now stands as a single unnumbered sentence.

The CEQA description in the digest was expanded to include 'or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect,' and the exemption language changed from 'process' to 'processes.'

The two separate reimbursement provisions (old Sections 3 and 3) were consolidated into a single Section 4 combining both the service-charge authority rationale and the crime-definition-change rationale for no state reimbursement.

Added a new Chapter 14 (Sections 66345-66345.4) to the Government Code creating an Accelerated Restaurant Building Plan Approval program that applies to all cities, including charter cities, based on a finding that restaurant regulation is a matter of statewide concern.

Defined 'qualified professional certifier' as a licensed architect or professional engineer with at least five years of experience in commercial building design or plan review and professional liability insurance of at least $2,000,000 per occurrence.

Requires local building or permitting departments to allow qualified professional certifiers to certify compliance with building, health, and safety codes for restaurant tenant improvements. Certified plans are deemed approved upon submission if all fees and required documents have been submitted.

Makes qualified professional certifiers liable for damages arising from negligent plan review, while clarifying that certification does not reduce local department authority or liability and does not exempt projects from other mandatory inspections (fire, health, structural) or food facility inspections under the California Retail Food Code.

Requires local departments to conduct annual random audits of 10-20 percent of certified tenant improvements, initiated within five business days of permit issuance. Material noncompliance triggers a correction notice within 10 days. Repeated violations can result in suspension or revocation of certification privileges.

Establishes that false statements in certifications are grounds for disciplinary action by the California Architects Board or Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. Local jurisdictions may impose administrative penalties including fines for willful noncompliance.

Fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes' and state-mandated local program changed from 'no' to 'yes.' The bill states no state reimbursement is required because local agencies can levy fees sufficient to cover the mandated program costs.

The original technical change to Section 135 of the Health and Safety Code (changing 'Internet Web site' to 'internet website') was retained but renumbered as a later section in the bill due to the addition of the new chapter.