Existing law requires that any building with a dwelling unit maintain certain characteristics in order to be tenantable, including the maintenance of adequate heating and hot water systems that conform to the standard of quality set by applicable law. This bill would add a stove and refrigerator that are maintained in good working order and are capable of safely generating heat for cooking purposes and capable of safely storing food, respectively, to the list of characteristics required for the dwelling unit to be tenantable for leases entered into, amended, or extended on or after January 1, 2026. The bill would require a landlord to repair or replace a stove or refrigerator that is subject to recall by the manufacturer or a public entity within 30 days of receiving notice that the stove or refrigerator is subject to recall. The bill would also authorize a tenant and landlord to mutually agree when the lease is signed if the tenant chooses to provide and maintain their own refrigerator, subject to certain conditions. The bill would prohibit the application of these new requirements for certain types of dwelling units, including permanent supportive housing, as defined. Existing law authorizes a tenant to repair dilapidations rendering their premises untenantable if the landlord has neglected to repair those dilapidations, subject to certain conditions, or vacate the premises, as specified. This bill would provide that the above-described requirement on a landlord to repair or replace a recalled stove or refrigerator does not prohibit a tenant from exercising any remedy authorized as described above.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , establishes the Civil Rights Department to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment and to protect and safeguard the right of all persons to obtain and hold employment without discrimination based upon specified characteristics or status. The FEHA makes certain discriminatory employment and housing practices unlawful, and authorizes a person claiming to be aggrieved by an alleged unlawful practice to file a verified complaint with the department. The FEHA requires the department to make an investigation in connection with a filed complaint alleging facts sufficient to constitute a violation of the FEHA, and requires the department to endeavor to eliminate the unlawful practice by conference, conciliation, and persuasion. Existing law authorizes a complaint to be filed by an aggrieved person or the department on behalf and as representative of a group or class if the alleged unlawful practice adversely affects, in a similar manner, a group or class of persons of which the aggrieved person is a member. This bill would define the term "group or class complaint" for purposes of the FEHA. Existing law tolls the time for a complainant to file a civil action alleging a violation of specified civil rights provisions commencing with the filing of a complaint with the department until the department files a civil action for the alleged violation or until one year after the department issues written notice that it has closed its investigation without filing a civil action. This bill would additionally toll the time for a complainant to file a civil action if the complainant timely appeals to the department the closure of their complaint until one year after the department issues written notice that it remains closed following the appeal. Existing law authorizes the director to bring a civil action in the name of the department, acting in the public interest, on behalf of an aggrieved person if conference, conciliation, mediation, or persuasion fails to eliminate an unlawful practice. Existing law imposes a deadline of one or 2 years for the department to bring a civil action, as specified. Existing law requires those deadlines to be tolled during a dispute resolution proceeding. This bill would additionally require those deadlines to be tolled pursuant to a written agreement by the complainant and the department, during the pendency of a petition to compel, and for the duration of an appeal to the department for the closure of a complaint. Under existing law, if the department does not file a civil action, the department is required to promptly issue the person claiming to be aggrieved a right-to-sue notice upon request, as specified, or upon completion of its investigation and not later than one year after the filing of the complaint. For a complaint treated as a group or class complaint, existing law requires the department to issue a right-to-sue notice upon completion of its investigation and not later than 2 years after the filing of the complaint. Existing law requires these deadlines to be tolled during a dispute resolution proceeding. Under this bill, if the department determines that an aggrieved person's complaint relates to a complaint filed in the name of the director or a group or class complaint, as specified, the department would be required to issue a right-to-sue notice after the director's or group or class complaint has been fully and finally disposed of and all administrative proceedings, civil actions, appeals, or related proceedings have terminated. The bill would require this deadline and the above-described deadlines relating to issuing a right-to-sue notice to additionally be tolled pursuant to a written agreement by the complainant and the department, during the pendency of a petition to compel, and for the duration of an appeal to the department for the closure of a complaint. Existing law authorizes the department, in the case of failure to eliminate specified violations relating to housing discrimination that have occurred, or that are about to occur, as specified, to bring a civil action in the name of the department. Existing law authorizes the action to be filed in any county where the unlawful practice is alleged to have been committed, the records relevant to that practice are maintained and administered, the aggrieved party would have resided, or the defendant's residence or principal office is located, as specified. This bill would remove the above-described provisions specifying the counties where the civil action may be filed.
Existing law establishes procedures relating to an action for unlawful detainer, and sets timelines regarding the filing of a complaint and the defendant's response, including a demurrer or motion to strike, as specified. The hearing on such a motion is required to occur within 5 to 7 court days after its filing, unless good cause is shown, in which case the hearing may occur on a later date on notice prescribed by the court. This bill would instead limit the court's authority to set a later hearing for a noticed motion. The bill would permit the court to order the hearing held on a later date upon the written stipulation of the parties or upon good cause shown in the case of a residential or commercial tenancy, not to exceed 10 court days after the first date set for a hearing on the motion in the case of a commercial tenancy.
Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate transitional housing placement providers, which is defined as organizations licensed by the department to provide transitional housing to foster children at least 16 years of age and not more than 18 years of age and to nonminor dependents to promote their transition to adulthood. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations governing transitional housing placement living arrangement requirements for minors and nonminor dependents, including allowing a participant to share a bedroom or unit with certain other individuals and requiring all counties and program contracts to allow participants and those certain other individuals to share bedrooms, bathrooms, and units together, regardless of gender identity. Under existing law, a violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would require all counties and program contracts to also ensure that decisions about sharing bedrooms, bathrooms, and units together are led by the program participant and agreed upon in collaboration with the provider. By increasing county duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires an applicant to obtain certification from a county specifying the population that will be served by the facility in order to be licensed as a transitional housing placement provider. Existing law requires the certification to confirm that the program includes specified components, depending on the population served. This bill would specify contract requirements if a county contracts with a transitional housing placement provider, including prohibiting the contract from containing terms that create unreasonable barriers for a qualified foster youth's admission into or participation in the 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(1) Existing law establishes various programs, administered by the State Department of Social Services, to assist individuals experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, including, among other programs, the CalWORKs Housing Support Program, the Home Safe Program, the Bringing Families Home Program, and the Housing and Disability Income Advocacy Program. This bill would require counties opting to participate in any of those programs to have written program policies and make them available to the public, and to implement and conduct county-level complaint resolution processes according to minimum requirements developed by the department, as specified. The bill would require the department to develop program guidance on a procedure for counties to inform recipients in writing of housing-related services and financial assistance being provided to the recipient, would provide program recipients with the right to file a request with the department for a state administrative hearing for county actions resulting in a reduction or discontinuance of housing-related services and financial assistance, as specified, and would require the department to establish criteria for recipients to receive housing-related services and financial assistance pending the resolution of a complaint and a state hearing. The bill would require the department to consult with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, counties, and advocates for program applicants and recipients on the development of the previously described processes, and would authorize the department to implement and administer these provisions by means of all-county letters or similar written instructions. (2) Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families using federal, state, and county funds. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility. Existing law specifies the sequence of employment-related activities a welfare-to-work participant is required to undertake, which includes orientation and appraisal and, commencing July 1, 2026, or, if automation is necessary, the later of July 1, 2026, or when the department notifies the Legislature that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation, if eligible, family stabilization, substance abuse, mental health, or domestic violence services. Existing law, as it relates to family stabilization, substance abuse, mental health, or domestic violence services, requires the recipient to make their election verbally or in writing on the welfare-to-work plan. This bill would remove the requirement that the recipient make their election verbally or in writing on the welfare-to-work plan. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2026, or, if automation is necessary, the later of July 1, 2026, or when the department notifies the Legislature that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation, requires the department to develop an updated, streamlined appraisal tool to replace the Online CalWORKs Appraisal Tool (OCAT) and exempts a contract necessary to obtain licenses for OCAT and the alternative appraisal tool developed by the department from, among other things, the Public Contract Code and the State Contracting Manual. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2026, or, if automation is necessary, the later of July 1, 2026, or when the department notifies the Legislature that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation, requires an assessment to be available upon completion of orientation and appraisal and, at the participant's option, authorizes the assessment to incorporate the OCAT, as specified. The bill would make technical corrections to the above provisions relating to the OCAT and the alternative appraisal tool developed by the department. Existing law requires counties, as part of the administration of the CalWORKs program, to use a semiannual report form and, to the extent permitted by federal law, provide recipients with a prepopulated semiannual report form. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to complete final policy guidance for changes to the prepopulated semiannual report form by August 15, 2025. This bill would delete the requirement that the department complete final policy guidance relating to the semiannual report form by August 15, 2025. (3) Existing law establishes the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) , administered by the State Department of Social Services, to benefit children residing in foster homes by providing the stability and security of permanent homes. Existing law authorizes AAP payments for placement in an out-of-state residential treatment facility if one or more of the adoptive parents reside in the state in which the residential treatment facility is located and the responsible public agency has confirmed that placement is necessary. Existing law defines a "responsible public agency" to mean either the department or the licensed county adoption agency responsible for making AAP determinations for a child. This bill would revise the definition of "responsible public agency" to include all county adoption agencies responsible for making AAP determinations for a child without regard to whether the agency is licensed. (4) Existing federal law establishes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Under existing federal law, beginning in fiscal year 2028, a state's cost share for SNAP benefits will be determined based on the state's payment error rate. Under that federal law, if a state's payment error rate is less than 6%, the state's cost share is 0%, with increasing cost share for the state if the payment error rate is above that threshold. This bill would, until October 1, 2027, and when necessary to reduce the CalFresh payment error rate, authorize the State Department of Social Services to implement and administer the CalFresh program by means of all-county letters and emergency regulations, as specified. The bill would require the department to engage in stakeholder consultation starting in September 2025 and continuing through the duration of the multiyear activities. The bill would also require the department, beginning in November 2025 through November 2027, to update the Legislature, including specified information, on a quarterly basis on the implementation of the multiyear activities. Existing federal law generally prohibits a resident of an institution from receiving supplemental nutrition assistance benefits. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, if the department deems it necessary to maximize CalFresh enrollment outcomes or employment placement success rates for individuals reentering the community from the state prison or a county jail, to submit to the United States Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service a request to waive that prohibition to allow for preenrollment of applicants prior to their release. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a CalFresh workgroup by February 1, 2026, composed of members with specified backgrounds, to meet no less than quarterly. Existing law requires the workgroup to create and submit a report to the department and to the Legislature by August 31, 2027, and by August 31 annually thereafter, through 2030, with its recommendations for a state reentry process incorporating the necessary resources for transition from state prison or county jail to obtaining CalFresh benefits upon reentry into the community. This bill would delay the establishment of the workgroup to February 1, 2028, and would delay the reporting period by 2 years. (5) This bill would appropriate $3,200,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Social Services for automation related to CalFresh payment error rate mitigation and implementation of federal H.R. 1 (Public Law 119-21) . (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
(1) 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. Existing law exempts from CEQA a rezoning that implements the schedule of actions contained in an approved housing element, as specified. This bill would subject a rezoning that would allow for the construction of a bed and breakfast inn, motel, hotel, or other transient lodging to CEQA review even if the rezoning implements a schedule of actions contained in an approved housing element. The bill would specify that other transient lodging does not include a residential hotel, as defined, or a resident's use or marketing of a unit as short-term lodging, as defined, in a manner that is consistent with local law. (2) Existing law, for the approval of a proposed housing development project, as defined, 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 disqualifying condition, as specified, limits the application of CEQA to the effects upon the environment that are caused solely by that single condition. For these projects, existing law requires the initial study or EIR to examine only 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. This bill would exempt from that limited application of CEQA a housing development project that has a project site or parcel size that exceeds 4 acres, if the project is a builder's remedy project, as defined, and the project applicant applied, as specified. This bill would subject a project that includes a bed and breakfast inn, hotel, motel, or other transient lodging, as specified, to full CEQA review even if it would be eligible for the limited application of CEQA described above because of a single disqualifying condition. The bill would specify that other transient lodging does not include a residential hotel, as defined, or a resident's use or marketing of a unit as short-term lodging, as defined, in a manner that is consistent with local law. To the extent that this bill would impose new responsibilities on a lead agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law exempts from CEQA, except when located on natural and protected lands, a project that consists exclusively of a facility for advanced manufacturing, as specified. 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 repeal the CEQA exemption for a project that consists exclusively of a facility for advanced manufacturing. The bill would instead exempt from CEQA a project that consists exclusively of a facility for manufacturing, producing, or assembling certain products, components, or systems, as provided, if, among other things, the project is not located within 300 feet of a sensitive receptor, as defined, and the project applicant demonstrates high road employment standards, as defined, and certifies to the lead agency that it will maintain those standards in the development, construction, and operation of the facility. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project meets the high road employment standards, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to develop and make available to lead agencies guidelines for evaluating whether a project applicant demonstrates high road employment standards. The bill would exempt the development of these guidelines from the Administrative Procedure Act. (4) This bill would appropriate $10,000 from the General Fund to the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation for implementation of this act. (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.
(1) Existing law, the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025 (GRP) , which became effective on July 5, 2025, reorganized specified state agencies and departments, including establishing the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee (executive committee) within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency for the purpose of centralizing affordable housing finance policymaking across state government. The GRP requires the executive committee to, among other things, work to align state housing funding sources for the creation of a consolidated application for multifamily affordable housing developers and a coordinated review process for the application of funds. The GRP, beginning July 1, 2026, establishes the Housing Development and Finance Committee within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, which the GRP also establishes, and transfers the executive committee to the Housing Development Finance Committee effective July 1, 2026. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that, in addition to the other duties required of the executive committee created by the GRP to align state housing funding sources, as described above, the executive committee be required to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding improvements the Department of Housing and Community Development may make to optimize loan administration, as specified. (2) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each county and each city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and specified land outside its boundaries, that includes, among other specified mandatory elements, a housing element. That law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to, among other entities, the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, formerly known as the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Housing and Community Development. This bill would require an annual report required by its provisions to be prepared using standards, forms, and definitions adopted by the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, except as specified. The bill would also make a nonsubstantive change to update a reference to the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation in these provisions. (3) The Permit Streamlining Act establishes requirements for the review and approval of applications for development projects by public agencies. Existing law defines "development project" for purposes of those provisions to include a housing development project that requires an entitlement from a local agency. This bill would define "housing development project" for purposes of those provisions. (4) 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 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, for various purposes, including for the purpose of limiting certain exemptions from CEQA, defines "natural and protected lands" to mean sites located within specified locations, including, among other locations, lands protected as preserve areas or reserve lands, as provided. This bill would instead include in the definition of "natural and protected lands" for CEQA purposes lands that are identified for conservation in an adopted natural community conservation plan, as provided, or other adopted natural resource protection plan. (5) Existing law exempts from CEQA specified new agricultural employee housing projects and projects consisting exclusively of the repair or maintenance of an existing farmworker housing project. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change by amending and renumbering the above-described section of law. (6) CEQA exempts from its requirements housing projects that meet certain conditions. Under the exemption for housing projects, CEQA requires a local government to notify and consult, as specified, with each California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the project site on the proposed project, as specified. For a development project exempt from CEQA pursuant to this exemption, existing law, the Permit Streamlining Act, requires that a public agency that is the lead agency for the development project approve or disapprove the project within 30 days from the conclusion of the consultation process. Existing law, the Housing Accountability Act (HAA) , among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving a housing development project that complies with applicable objective general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards and criteria, or from imposing a condition that it be developed at a lower density, unless the local agency bases its decision on written findings supported by a preponderance of the evidence on the record that specified conditions exist, as provided. When a local agency makes a decision as described above, existing law requires the local agency to provide the applicant documentation describing the reason for the decision within a specified time period. For a development project exempt from CEQA pursuant to the exemption for housing projects, this bill would instead require the public agency to approve or disapprove the project within 30 days from the later of the conclusion of the above-specified consultation process or the above-specified time period under the HAA. (7) Existing law, for a proposed housing development project that would otherwise be exempt from CEQA pursuant to a statutory exemption or specified categorical exemptions, but for a single condition, limits the application of CEQA to the effects upon the environment that are caused by that single condition, except as provided. This bill would exempt from that limited application of CEQA a housing development project that has a project site or parcel size that exceeds 4 acres, if the project is a builder's remedy project, as defined, and the project applicant applied, as specified. (8) Existing law exempts from CEQA any aspect of a housing development project, as defined, including any permits, approvals, or public improvements required for the housing development project, if the housing development project meets specified conditions, as provided. Existing law requires, as one of those conditions, that the project site or parcel size for a builder's remedy project, as defined, not be more than 5 acres. This bill would instead require, as part of those conditions, that the project site or parcel size for a builder's remedy project not be more than 4 acres. The bill would require, if a lead agency determines that CEQA does not apply to an activity pursuant to the above-described exemption and determines to approve or carry out the activity, the lead agency to file a notice of exemption with the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and the county clerk of the county in which the activity will occur, as specified. (9) This bill, notwithstanding exemptions from CEQA or the limited application of CEQA to housing development projects, would apply CEQA to a housing development project that meets specified criteria, including, among other things, that the project is located in a city with a population of more than 85,000 but less than 95,000, as determined by the 2020 Census, and a portion of the parcel where the project is located is within a regulatory floodway, as provided. (10) Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, counties, and tribes in 6 rounds, with rounds 1 to 5, inclusive, administered by the Interagency Council on Homelessness and round 6 administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development, as provided. Existing law establishes a round 7 of the program and states the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that specifies the parameters, as specified. Existing law, effective July 1, 2026, appropriates $500,000,000, as specified, provided that these funds be disbursed in accordance with specified requirements. Existing law authorizes the Department of Finance to augment Item 2240-001-001 of the Budget Act of 2025 by $8,000,000 to prepare to administer round 7 of the program. This bill would instead require the department, during fiscal year 2025–26, to prepare to administer round 7 of the program with the goal that initial round 7 disbursements will be available to grantees meeting the statutory provisions for disbursement beginning September 1, 2026, as specified. (11) This bill would appropriate the sum of $2,106,000 from the General Fund to the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to support implementation of SB 131 (Chapter 24 of the Statutes of 2025) . (12) By increasing the duties of local agencies, this 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (13) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
The Budget Act of 2018 appropriated $50,000,000 to the Board of State and Community Corrections for a grant program, known as the Adult Reentry Grant Program, for the purpose of awarding competitive grants to community based organizations to support offenders formerly incarcerated in state prison. The Budget Act of 2018 allocated a specified amount of those funds for, among other things, rental assistance, rehabilitation of existing property or buildings, and to support the warm hand-off and reentry of offenders transitioning from prison to communities. Subsequent budget acts have continued to fund the program. This bill, instead, commencing July 1, 2026, and upon appropriation of funds, would transfer the administration of the grant program to the Department of Housing and Community Development. The bill would require the department, on or before December 1, 2026, to modify the grant program to provide 5-year renewable grants to geographically diverse regional administrators responsible for funding permanent supportive housing and reentry services for eligible people, as specified. The bill would require the department to issue proposed guidelines or a draft notice, as specified, establishing the grant program and require the department to competitively score applicants applying for grant funds as regional administrators. The bill would require the department to work collaboratively with the State Department of Health Care Services, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and homeless continuums of care, and seek to work collaboratively with county probation departments, to establish a process for referrals of people eligible to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would also require the department to establish specified benchmarks to promote and track ideal outcomes from the program. This bill would require the department to distribute program funds by executing contracts with awarded regional administrators and would impose certain requirements on those regional administrators. The bill would prescribe eligibility requirements for a person scheduled for release from, or who has been be formerly incarcerated in, state prison, to participate in the program. The bill would require program funds to be used for specified purposes, including specified administrative fees, permanent housing, rental and operating subsidies, incentives to landlords, and voluntary multidisciplinary services, as specified. The bill would require the department, upon implementation of the program, to design an evaluation and hire an independent evaluator to assess outcomes from the program, and would require the evaluation to be submitted to specified committees of the Legislature. This bill would require the board to continue to oversee and administer existing program grants that have not yet expired, using resources allocated to the board through funds allocated by the Budget Act of 2025. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a process to engage an individual scheduled for discharge, within at least 210 days of the scheduled release date, for the purpose of assessing the individual's risk of homelessness upon discharge, as specified.
Existing law makes specified recorded covenants, conditions, restrictions, or private limits on the use of land contained in specified instruments affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property unenforceable against the owner of an affordable housing development, as defined, if an approved restrictive covenant affordable housing modification document has been recorded in the public record, as specified. As part of this process, existing law requires the owner to submit to the county recorder a copy of the original restrictive covenant, among other documents, and requires the county counsel to determine, among other things, if a modification document may be recorded. Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist, as specified. This bill would expand the provisions making a recorded restrictive covenant unenforceable against the owner of an affordable housing development to additionally apply to a development located on property that is the subject of a recorded restrictive covenant and is located within a county subject to the state of emergency declared by the Governor on January 7, 2025, related to the Palisades Fire and windstorm conditions. The bill would make conforming changes in this regard. By imposing additional duties on county 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(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.
