Existing property tax law permits, at the election of the assessee, the installment payment of delinquent taxes on tax-defaulted property under an installment payment plan. Existing law also permits a one-year deferral of payment under an existing installment plan if the county was declared by the Governor to be in a state of emergency or disaster due to a major misfortune or calamity and specified conditions are met, including that the installment plan was already in existence at the time deferral is requested by the assessee or the agent of the assessee. This bill would modify the above-described condition to be that the installment plan was already in existence, or that the taxpayer had submitted an application for the installment plan, at the time deferral is requested by the assessee or the agent of the assessee. The bill would also remove an obsolete definition from these provisions.
Existing law allows an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of their personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds and accounts, including, among others, to the California Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. This bill would allow an individual to designate on their tax return that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the continuously appropriated California Pediatric Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, which would be created by this bill. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the tax return form to include a space for the designation of contributions to the fund when another voluntary designation is removed from the form or there is space, whichever occurs first. By establishing a new continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require that the above provisions remain operative only until January 1 of the 7th calendar year following the first appearance of the California Pediatric Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund on the tax return, except as specified.
This measure would urge the United States Congress to avoid any cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , which could harm the state's children, older adults, and families, and impact the state's economic well-being.
(1) Existing law provides that a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to provide a memorandum of understanding to the Legislative Analyst, who then has 10 calendar days from the date the tentative agreement is received to issue a fiscal analysis to the Legislature. Existing law prohibits the memorandum of understanding from being subject to legislative determination until either the Legislative Analyst has presented a fiscal analysis of the memorandum of understanding or until 10 calendar days have elapsed since the memorandum was received by the Legislative Analyst. This bill, notwithstanding the above-described statutory provisions, would approve provisions of the agreements entered into by the state employer and specified state bargaining units. The bill would provide that the provisions of the agreements that require the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for these provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature. The bill would authorize the state employer or the bargaining units to reopen negotiations if funds for these provisions are not specifically appropriated by the Legislature. The bill would require the provisions of the agreement that require the expenditure of funds to become effective even if the provisions are approved by the Legislature in legislation other than the annual Budget Act. By approving provisions of the agreements that require the expenditure of funds, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, continuously appropriates to the Controller from the General Fund unallocated special funds, including federal funds and unallocated nongovernmental cost funds, and any other fund from which state employees are compensated, the amount necessary for the payment and compensation and employee benefits to state employees covered by specified memoranda of understanding if the Budget Act of 2026 is not enacted by July 1, 2026. This bill would additionally include the memoranda of understanding for State Bargaining Unit 2 (effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028, inclusive) , State Bargaining Unit 7 (effective July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2027, inclusive) , State Bargaining Unit 13 (effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, inclusive) , State Bargaining Unit 16 (effective July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2028, inclusive) , and State Bargaining Unit 19 (effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028, inclusive) . Existing law, for the 2027–28 fiscal year, continuously appropriates to the Controller from the General Fund unallocated special funds, including federal funds and unallocated nongovernmental cost funds, and any other fund from which state employees are compensated, the amount necessary for the payment and compensation and employee benefits to state employees covered by specified memoranda of understanding if the Budget Act of 2027 is not enacted by July 1, 2027. This bill would additionally include the memoranda of understanding for State Bargaining Unit 2 (effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028, inclusive) , State Bargaining Unit 16 (effective July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2028, inclusive) , and State Bargaining Unit 19 (effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028, inclusive) . Existing law, for the 2028-29 fiscal year, continuously appropriates to the Controller from the General Fund unallocated special funds, including federal funds and unallocated nongovernmental cost funds, and any other fund from which state employees are compensated, the amount necessary for the payment and compensation and employee benefits to state employees covered by the memorandum of understanding for State Bargaining Unit 6, if the Budget Act of 2028 is not enacted by July 1, 2028. This bill would additionally include the memorandum of understanding for State Bargaining Unit 16 (effective July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2028, inclusive) . (3) Existing law states that it is the policy of the state that the workweek of the state employee shall be 40 hours, and the workday of state employees 8 hours, except that workweeks and workdays of a different number of hours may be established in order to meet the varying needs of the different state agencies. Existing law also requires state employees in Bargaining Units 6, 9, and 12, except as specified, from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, inclusive, to participate in the Personal Leave Program 2025 (PLP 2025) , either as required by an applicable memorandum of understanding reached or by the direction of the department for excluded employees, under which each employee receives a reduction in pay not greater than 3% in exchange for a specified number of hours per month of PLP 2025 leave credits. This bill would also require state employees in Bargaining Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 21 to participate in the PLP 2025, for the period from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, inclusive, either as required by an applicable memorandum of understanding or by the direction of the department for excluded employees. Under the program, in exchange for a reduction in pay not greater than certain listed amounts, those employees would receive monthly PLP 2025 leave credits, subject to certain exclusions. The bill would make other related and conforming changes to these provisions. (4) The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System for the purpose of providing public employees pension and other benefits, which are funded by employee and employer contributions and investment returns. Contributions and investment returns are deposited in the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, which is continuously appropriated for the payment of benefits and administration of the system. PERL vests management and control of PERS in its board of administration. PERL and labor agreements prescribe different normal rates of contribution for employees depending on bargaining unit, employer, and inclusion of service in the federal social security system, among other factors. Under PERL, effective July 1, 2023, the normal contribution rates for state miscellaneous or state industrial members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 2 are adjusted in accordance with specified procedures based on increases or decreases in normal cost rates, as determined by the board. This bill would change the above-described effective date to July 1, 2027. The bill would also provide that, effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, inclusive, specified employee contributions for state miscellaneous and industrial members represented by State Bargaining Unit 2 will remain in place. Existing law adjusts the normal contribution rate for state miscellaneous and industrial members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 12 in accordance with certain procedures. Under existing law, effective July 1, 2026, certain employee contribution rates are to remain in effect for those members unless the board makes certain determinations regarding cost rate increases or decreases. This bill would suspend increases to those employee retirement contributions effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, inclusive. Under existing law, effective July 1, 2026, the normal rate of contribution for state safety members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 12 is to remain in effect unless the board determines that certain total normal cost rates have increased or decreased, as prescribed. This bill would suspend increases to those employee retirement contributions effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, inclusive. Existing law establishes that, effective July 1, 2026, the employee contribution rates for state miscellaneous, state industrial, and state safety members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 19 shall remain in effect unless the board determines that specified conditions have been met regarding increases or decreases in normal cost rates. This bill would revise the above-described effective date for those provisions to July 1, 2027. Existing law, effective July 1, 2023, requires an adjustment in the normal contribution rates for state safety members represented by State Bargaining Unit 2 when specified conditions occur regarding normal cost rate increases or decreases, as determined by the board. This bill would revise the effective date of the above provision to July 1, 2027. The bill would also require the employee contribution for state safety members represented by State Bargaining Unit 2 to remain at 11.5% from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027, inclusive. (5) The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA) , which is administered by the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System, prescribes methods for calculating the state employer contribution for postemployment health care benefits for eligible retired public employees and their families and for the vesting of these benefits. PEMHCA establishes the Annuitants' Health Care Coverage Fund, which is continuously appropriated, for the purpose of prefunding health care coverage for annuitants, including administrative costs. PEMHCA requires employees in specified state bargaining units to prefund retiree health care and the state to make a matching contribution. PEMHCA suspends employer's and employees' monthly contributions for prefunding other postemployment benefits for the 2025–26 and 2026–2027 fiscal years for specified state bargaining units, including State Bargaining Unit 6. This bill would suspend the employee and employer monthly contributions for prefunding other post employment benefits for other employees in specified bargaining units for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 fiscal years, including State Bargaining Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 21. The bill would establish the percentage of pensionable compensation to be contributed for prefunding those benefits commencing July 1, 2027, and for each year thereafter, as prescribed. The bill would make other related changes to these provisions. (6) The Budget Act of 2025 makes various appropriations for the purpose of employee compensation. This bill would provide for the reduction of specified Budget Act item appropriations pursuant to agreements reached between the state employer and State Bargaining Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 in accordance with a specified schedule. The Budget Act of 2025 also states that it is the expectation of the Legislature that all state employee bargaining units meet and confer in good faith with the Governor or the Governor's representative on or before July 1, 2025, to achieve savings through the collective bargaining process for represented employees and existing authority for the administration to adjust compensation for nonrepresented employees. This bill would provide that the reductions achieved through the PLP 2025 do not apply to employees of specified state entities. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
The California Constitution provides that all property is taxable, and requires that it be assessed at the same percentage of fair market value, unless otherwise provided by the California Constitution or federal law. The California Constitution and existing property tax law provide various exemptions from taxation, including, among others, a disabled veterans' exemption. Under existing law, the disabled veterans' exemption exempts from taxation part of the full value of property that constitutes the principal place of residence of a veteran, the veteran's spouse, or the veteran and veteran's spouse jointly, and the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran, as provided, if the veteran incurred specified injuries or died while on active duty in military service, as described. Existing law exempts that part of the full value of the residence that does not exceed $100,000, or $150,000 if the household income of the claimant does not exceed $40,000, as adjusted for inflation, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2036, exclude service-connected disability payments from the definition of "household income" for purposes of the disabled veterans' exemption. The bill would also correct an erroneous cross-reference in the above-described provisions. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Constitution limits the amount of ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property, defined as the county assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975–76 tax bill and, thereafter, the appraised value of the real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership occurs after the 1975 assessment, subject to an annual inflation adjustment not to exceed 2%. Pursuant to constitutional authorization, existing property tax law, on and after February 16, 2021, excludes from classification as a change in ownership the purchase or transfer of a family home or family farm, as those terms are defined, of the transferor in the case of a transfer between parents and their children, or between grandparents and their grandchildren if all the parents of those grandchildren are deceased, if the property continues as the family home or family farm of the transferee, as specified. For purposes of the transfer of a family home, that law requires the transfer to be of a principal residence of the transferor and to become the principal residence of the transferee within one year of the transfer. That law also requires the transferee to file for the homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption within a year of the transfer, as described. This bill would expand the above-described exclusion to include, in the case of the purchase or transfer of a family home or a family farm, as applicable, a purchase or transfer of that family home or family farm between eligible transferees, as specified. The bill would also specify that, in the event of a transfer by certain judicial decrees, the transfer commencing either of the above-described one-year periods shall be deemed to occur as of the effective date of the final judicial decree, as specified. The bill would require a transferee to notify the assessor of the county in which the property is located of their intention to claim the exclusion, as specified. By expanding the duties of local tax officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature, with the approval of 23 of the membership of each legislative house, to allow a county board of supervisors to exempt from property taxation those properties having a full value too low to justify the costs of assessment and collection. Existing property tax law implementing this authority generally limits any exemption granted under this constitutional provision by a county board of supervisors to real property with a total base year value, as adjusted annually for inflation as provided, or personal property with a full value, not exceeding $10,000. Existing property tax law also limits any exemption for new construction to situations where the new total base year value of the property, as adjusted for inflation, including the new construction, is $10,000 or less. This bill would raise these maximum exemption amounts from $10,000 to $20,000 for lien dates occurring on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax exemption will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would make specified findings detailing the goal, purpose, and objective of the above-described expansion of a tax exemption, performance indicators for determining whether the expanded exemption meets that goal, purpose, and objective, and data collection requirements. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including various motion picture credits, commonly referred to as motion picture credit 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0, and the certified studio credit, to be allocated by the California Film Commission in differing amounts equal to specified percentages of the qualified expenditures of a qualified motion picture in this state. Existing law allows a qualified taxpayer, if a motion picture credit exceeds the taxpayer's tax liability, to elect to assign a portion of the credit to one or more affiliated corporations for each taxable year in which the credit is allowed, as specified. This bill, if a qualified taxpayer is a single member limited liability company that is disregarded for tax purposes, would additionally allow that qualified taxpayer to elect to assign any portion of a motion picture credit to one or more affiliated corporations, as specified. The bill, for purposes of the motion picture credit 3.0 and 4.0, and for purposes of the certified studio credit, would also expand the definition of a qualified taxpayer to include a single member limited liability company that is disregarded for tax purposes. (2) Existing law allows a motion picture credit (motion picture credit 4.0) to be allocated by the California Film Commission on or after July 1, 2025, in an amount equal to 20% or 25% of qualified expenditures for the production of a qualified motion picture in this state, and limits the aggregate amount of the credit that may be allocated for a fiscal year to $330,000,000, as specified. Existing law allows the California Film Commission to increase the credit amount allocated to a qualified taxpayer if specified conditions are met, including if the qualified taxpayer submits a diversity workplan that is broadly reflective of California's population in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and disability status, and a final diversity assessment that includes specified data. Existing law defines a "qualified motion picture" for purposes of these tax credits to include a motion picture that is produced for distribution to the general public that includes, among other productions, a feature with a specified minimum production budget, an independent film, a new television series produced in California, as specified, or a television series that relocated to California. Existing law allows a qualified taxpayer to elect to be paid a refund equal to 90% of the total refundable amount, as specified, if the amount allowable as a credit under the motion picture credit 4.0 exceeds the qualified taxpayer's tax liability for the taxable year, and allows the excess to be carried over, as specified. This bill, with respect to motion picture credit 4.0, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, would revise the definition of qualified motion picture to include live action and animated series with episodes averaging 20 minutes or more, animated films, and large-scale competition shows, as specified. The bill would specify that a television series that completed principal photography on the previous season more than 48 months prior to applying for an allocation of this credit is considered a new television series for purposes of the definition of qualified motion picture, unless certain conditions are met. The bill would increase the credit amount allowed for a qualified motion picture to 35% or 40%, as specified. The bill would additionally increase the amount of qualified expenditures the California Film Commission is allowed to consider when determining the credit amount allocated to a qualified motion picture. The bill would include veteran status and ZIP Code in the diversity workplan and final diversity assessment. The bill would increase the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated in a fiscal year to $750,000,000, and would revise the allocation limitations for specified qualified motion pictures within that aggregate amount. The bill would additionally correct erroneous cross-references in those provisions. By requiring additional moneys to be paid from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing law also allows a credit for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2032, in an amount equal to 20% or 25%, or as modified, of qualified expenditures paid or incurred during the taxable year by a qualified motion picture produced in this state at a certified studio construction project. Existing law requires a qualified motion picture, for purposes of this credit, to provide a diversity workplan that includes goals broadly reflective of California's population, in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and disability status. This bill, with respect to the certified studio credit, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, would revise specified provisions of the definition of qualified motion picture, the credit amount allowed for a qualified motion picture, and the total credit amount allowed to be allocated to a television series, as specified, in conformity with the motion picture credit 4.0, as described above. The bill would also end the requirement that a certified studio construction project is produced by a qualified taxpayer that either owns more than 50% of the soundstage or soundstages on which the production is filmed or entered into a contract or lease of 10 years or more. The bill would require the diversity workplan to also include veteran status, and to indicate specified ZIP Code data related to members of the workforce. (4) Existing law requires the California Film Commission to develop an application process for the allocation of the motion picture credit 4.0 and the certified studio credit. Existing law requires the issuance of a credit for any subsequent season for the life of a television series that has been approved and issued a credit allocation under any of those credits. Existing law requires the California Film Commission to limit the amount of credits any recurring television series receives in subsequent seasons to no more than the amount reserved in the prior fiscal year it received the credit. This bill would instead limit the amount of credits received by a recurring television series to the sum of the base year allocation and the product of the base year allocation, the number of subsequent years, and 3%, as those terms are defined. The bill would additionally, for purposes of the motion picture credit 4.0, require a recurring television series to reapply for the credit if it does not request a credit allocation within 18 months from the date of completion of principal photography of the previous season, as specified. (5) Existing law establishes a Career Pathways Program, under the California Film Commission, to fund technical skills training for individuals from underserved communities for entry into film and television jobs. Existing law requires the program to work with nonprofit organizations that have an established record of training and job placement in the entertainment industry, focus on training individuals from traditionally underserved communities, and offer training courses focused on skilled, technical positions, as specified. Existing law requires a qualified motion picture to pay a fee equal to 0.5% of their approved credit amount to the program, and authorizes the California Film Commission to increase the fee amount, as specified. This bill would require the California Film Commission to expand the number of nonprofit organizations that partner with the Career Pathways Program, and would require the California Film Commission to establish an application process for nonprofit organizations to obtain approval as a Career Pathways Program. The bill would require the application meet specified requirements to be approved and would provide criteria for the California Film Commission to consider when approving applications. The bill would require the California Film Commission, before July 1, 2026, to develop criteria to incentivize the placement of trainees from the Career Pathways Program in qualified productions, and for the motion picture credit 4.0, would authorize the California Film Commission to increase the credit amount up to 2% of the credit amount allocated for qualified productions that employ trainees from a Career Pathways Program, as specified. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program, administered by the Interagency Council on Homelessness, with respect to rounds 1 to 5, inclusive, of the program, and the Department of Housing and Community Development, with respect to round 6 of the program, for the purpose of providing jurisdictions, as defined, with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. This bill would establish round 7 of the program. The bill would authorize the Department of Finance to augment Item 2240-001-0001 of the Budget Act of 2025 by $8,000,000 from the General Fund to prepare to administer round 7 of the program, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide notification of any augmentation within 10 days to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The bill would, effective July 1, 2026, appropriate $500,000,000, as specified, provided that these funds be disbursed in accordance with specified requirements, including that funds from this appropriation be disbursed to a city, county, tribe, or continuum of care for round 7 of the program after a declaration by the director of the department, in consultation with the Director of Finance, that the department has substantially completed its initial disbursement of round 6 funds to the city, county, tribe, or continuum of care, and that the city, county, tribe, or continuum of care has obligated at least 50% of its total round 6 award. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that specifies the parameters for round 7 of the program, as specified. (2) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to prepare and develop proposed guidelines for the implementation of CEQA by public agencies and requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt those proposed guidelines. CEQA requires those adopted guidelines to include a list of classes of projects that have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and exempts those classes of projects from CEQA, commonly known as categorical exemptions. CEQA requires the guidelines to include criteria for public agencies to follow in determining whether or not a proposed project may have a significant effect on the environment, and requires the criteria to require a finding that a project may have a significant effect on the environment if one or more of specified conditions exist. This bill would exempt from CEQA, except as provided, a rezoning that implements the schedule of actions contained in an approved housing element, as specified. The bill would require the lead agency to be responsible for determining whether a project is exempt from CEQA. By requiring a lead agency to determine the applicability of the exemption and by increasing the duties of a lead agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would, for the approval of a proposed project that would otherwise be exempt from CEQA pursuant to a statutory exemption, or specified categorical exemptions adopted before January 1, 2026, but for a single condition, as specified, limit the application of CEQA to the effects upon the environment that are caused solely by that single condition. For these projects, the bill would only require the initial study or EIR to examine those effects that the lead agency determines, based upon substantial evidence in the record, are caused solely by the single condition that makes the proposed project ineligible for a statutory or categorical exemption. The bill would provide that these provisions do not apply to, among other things, a project that includes a distribution center, as defined, oil and gas infrastructure, as defined, or a project located on specified natural and protected lands, as defined. This bill would exempt from CEQA specified new agricultural employee housing projects and projects consisting exclusively of the repair or maintenance of an existing farmworker housing project. Existing law exempts from CEQA, until January 1, 2028, specified projects that, among other things, do not affect wetlands or sensitive habitats, undertaken by a public agency or private entity that primarily benefit a small disadvantaged community water system or a state small water system, as provided. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would extend the applicability of that exemption until January 1, 2032, and would expand the definition of a project for purposes of the exemption to include a project to provide sewer service to a disadvantaged community served by one or more inadequate sewage treatment systems, as defined. This bill would, until January 1, 2030, exempt from CEQA specified projects for a community water system that receives funding from specified sources that does not otherwise include any construction activities if the project results in long-term net benefits to climate resiliency, biodiversity, and sensitive species recovery and includes procedures and ongoing management for the protection of the environment. This bill would exempt from CEQA wildfire risk reduction projects, including, among other things, projects for prescribed fire, defensible space clearance, and fuel breaks. Existing law exempts from CEQA specified projects that consist of linear broadband deployment in a right-of-way if the project meets specified conditions. This bill would expand that exemption to include a right-of-way of a local street or road. This bill would exempt from CEQA updates to the state's climate adaptation strategy, as provided. This bill would exempt from CEQA any activity or approval necessary for or incidental to planning, design, site acquisition, construction, operation, or maintenance of public park or nonmotorized recreational trail facilities funded by a specified source. This bill would exempt from CEQA, except when located on natural and protected lands, as defined, a project that consists exclusively of a day care center, as specified, a project that consists exclusively of a federally qualified health center or a rural health clinic, as specified, a project that consists exclusively of a nonprofit food bank or food pantry, as specified, and a project that consists exclusively of a facility for advanced manufacturing, as specified. This bill would exempt from CEQA a project that consists of the development, construction, or operation of a heavy maintenance facility or other maintenance facility for electrically powered high-speed rail, as defined, if specified conditions are met. The bill would exempt from CEQA a project that consists of the development, construction, or modification of a proposed passenger rail station, or design changes to a passenger rail station, for the purpose of serving electrically powered high-speed rail, if specified conditions are met. Because a lead agency would be required to determine the applicability of some of the above-described exemptions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would require the office, on or before July 1, 2027, to map the eligible urban infill sites within every urbanized area or urban cluster in the state, as provided. The bill would require the office to develop a definition of and metrics for identifying an eligible urban infill site, as provided. The bill would require the office, at least 120 days before initial adoption of a map of eligible urban infill sites, to transmit a copy of the draft map or revision to the board of supervisors of each county and to the city council of each city in which any portion of the mapped area is located. The bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county to submit comments and proposed corrections and would require the office to consider those comments or proposed corrections and revise the draft map as appropriate. The bill would require the office to publish the draft map on its internet website for at least 45 days, conduct at least one public meeting to present the draft map, and receive public comments, as provided. The bill would authorize the office to amend any portion of the map, as provided. This bill would exempt the adoption or amendment of a map of eligible urban infill sites and the development of the definition of and metrics for identifying an eligible urban infill site from the Administrative Procedure Act. Existing law limits the application of CEQA to the approval of an infill project, as defined, to the effects on the environment that are specific to the project or to the project site and were not addressed as significant effects in the prior EIR or where substantial new information shows the effects will be more significant than described in the prior EIR, as provided. Existing law requires the office to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption guidelines to implement this provision. This bill would, on or before January 1, 2026, and at least once every 2 years thereafter, require the guidelines to be updated to address any rigid requirements, lack of clarity in vague terminology, and the potential for excessive exposure to frivolous litigation over lead agency determinations, as specified. (4) CEQA requires an action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul certain acts or decisions of a public agency to be commenced according to specified processes, including that at the time that the action or proceeding is filed, the plaintiff or petitioner is required to file a request that the respondent public agency prepare the record of proceedings relating to the subject of the action or proceeding, and requires the record of proceedings to include specified items and materials, including, among other things, all internal agency communications, including staff notes and memoranda related to the project or to compliance with CEQA, but excluding communications that are of a logistical nature, as specified. This bill would, except for a project that includes a distribution center or oil and gas infrastructure, exclude staff notes and internal agency communications from the record of proceedings, as provided. (5) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
This bill would make appropriations for the support of state government for the 2025–26 fiscal year. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
