AB 1061 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Housing developments: urban lot splits: historical resources.

Summary

Under the Planning and Zoning Law, the legislative body of a county or city may adopt ordinances that, among other things, regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land, as provided. The Subdivision Map Act vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency and sets forth procedures governing the local agency's processing, approval, conditional approval or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps. Existing law requires a local agency to consider ministerially a specified proposed housing development or to ministerially approve a parcel map for an urban lot split if the development or parcel meets specified requirements, including, that the development or parcel is not located within a historic district or property included on the State Historic Resources Inventory or within a site that is designated or listed as a city or county landmark or historic property or district pursuant to city or county ordinance, as specified. Existing law authorizes a local agency to impose specified objective standards on the development or parcel created by an urban lot split, except as specified. With respect to ministerial review of a proposed housing development under the above-described provisions, this bill would, if the other specified requirements are met, instead require a local agency to consider ministerially the development that is not located in either a contributing structure within a historic district included on the State Historical Resources Inventory or within a historic property or district pursuant to city or county ordinance or in a parcel individually listed as a historical resource included in the State Historical Resources Inventory or within a property individually designated or listed as a city or county landmark under a city or county ordinance. The bill would also authorize a local agency to adopt objective standards for the purposes of maintaining the historical value of a historic district listed in the California Register of Historical Resources, as specified. With respect to an urban lot split under the above-described provisions, this bill would, if the other specified requirements are met, instead require a local agency to ministerially approve the urban lot split if the parcel is not located within a historic landmark property included on the State Historical Resources Inventory or within a site that is designated or listed as a city or county landmark pursuant to a city or county ordinance. The bill would additionally require that the proposed urban lot split not require demolition or alteration of specified structures. By imposing additional duties on 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.

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Aug 2025

Assembly Passage

May 2025

Senate Passage

Sep 2025

Signed into Law

Oct 2025

Introduced Feb 20, 2025 Signed Oct 10, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 6 comparisons

What changed between versions

03/28/25 - Amended Assembly → 06/23/25 - Amended Senate · 4 edits · Jun 23, 2025

MODERATE

The Senate amendment to AB 1061 makes three substantive changes to how historic properties are protected in the context of two-unit housing developments and urban lot splits. It removes the federal Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation as a default standard when local agencies have not adopted their own objective standards, rewrites the demolition prohibition for housing developments to use a 25 percent exterior wall area threshold instead of an absolute ban on demolishing specific listed structures, and broadens the urban lot split demolition protection by removing the requirement that affected structures be individually listed on the State Historic Resources Inventory or designated by city or county ordinance.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the provision that in the absence of locally adopted objective standards, the federal Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation (36 CFR Part 67) would automatically apply. This affects both the two-unit housing development section and the urban lot split section. Without this fallback, jurisdictions that have not adopted their own historic preservation standards no longer have a default benchmark.

Changed the demolition prohibition for two-unit housing developments from an absolute ban on demolishing specific structures (exterior walls and contributing structures) that are listed on the State Historic Resources Inventory or designated by city or county ordinance, to a threshold-based standard: no development may demolish more than 25 percent of the exterior wall area or affect the character-defining exterior features of the principal elevation of a contributing structure of a historic district.

Broadened the urban lot split demolition protection by removing the qualifier that affected structures must be 'included on the State Historic Resources Inventory' or 'designated or listed as a city or county historic resource pursuant to city or county ordinance.' The prohibition now applies to all contributing structures in historic districts and all existing exterior structural walls, regardless of whether they are individually listed.

DEFINITION

Changed 'local government' to 'local government agency' in the provision authorizing adoption of objective standards for maintaining the historical value of a historic district listed in the California Register of Historical Resources.

06/23/25 - Amended Senate → 07/10/25 - Amended Senate · 4 edits · Jul 10, 2025

MODERATE

The July 10 Senate amendment to AB 1061 makes three substantive changes to the bill's historic preservation provisions. First, it expands the historic exemption for ministerial housing development approval to cover contributing structures within historic districts, not just individually listed parcels. Second, it adds 'alteration' alongside 'demolition' as a prohibited action for urban lot splits near protected structures. Third, it narrows the protection for existing exterior structural walls in urban lot splits to only those located within designated historic districts, rather than applying to all properties.

ELIGIBILITY

The historic preservation exemption for ministerial approval of housing development (up to 2 units) is expanded. Previously it only applied if the parcel was not individually listed on the State Historic Resources Inventory or individually designated as a local landmark. Now it also applies if the development is not located in a contributing structure within a historic district (state or locally designated). This means more properties in historic districts will qualify for ministerial approval.

REQUIREMENT

For urban lot splits, the prohibition on affecting protected structures now covers both demolition AND alteration. Previously only demolition was prohibited. This gives local agencies broader protection for contributing structures in historic districts and existing exterior structural walls.

The legislative digest no longer states that the bill would remove the setback prohibition for existing structures in housing developments. The statutory text for setbacks (no setback for existing structures, up to 4 feet otherwise) remains unchanged, but the characterization of the bill's effect on this provision was corrected.

SCOPE

The protection for existing exterior structural walls in urban lot splits is narrowed. Previously it applied to any property's exterior structural wall. Now it only applies to exterior structural walls of properties located within a historic district included on the California Register of Historical Resources or designated by city or county ordinance. This removes the universal protection and limits it to historic districts.

02/20/25 - Introduced → 03/28/25 - Amended Assembly · 5 edits · Mar 28, 2025

MODERATE

The amendment narrows the historic preservation exemptions for both two-unit housing developments and urban lot splits, making it easier to build in or near historic areas by removing blanket exclusions for entire historic districts. In exchange, it adds new targeted protections including a prohibition on affecting character-defining exterior features of contributing structures and authorizes local governments to adopt objective standards for California Register-listed historic districts. This is a compromise that expands housing access while addressing historic preservation concerns with more specific safeguards.

Scope change

The bill's scope effectively expands: more parcels in and around historic areas now qualify for ministerial approval of two-unit housing developments and urban lot splits. The historic preservation carve-out was narrowed from covering all of a historic district to only individually listed or designated properties, while new targeted protections were added to address the resulting gap.

ELIGIBILITY

For two-unit housing developments (Section 65852.21(a)(5)), the historic exemption was narrowed from excluding any development within a 'historic district or historical landmark property' to only excluding parcels 'individually listed' as historical landmarks on the State Historic Resources Inventory or individually designated as city/county landmarks. Developments within historic districts that are not on individually listed properties are now eligible for ministerial review.

For urban lot splits (Section 66411.7(a)(3)(E)), the same narrowing was applied: the exclusion no longer covers parcels within a 'historic district' broadly, only those on individually listed landmark properties or individually designated city/county landmarks.

REQUIREMENT

A new restriction was added to Section 65852.21(a)(6) prohibiting demolition of more than 25 percent of exterior wall area OR affecting the character-defining exterior features of the principal elevation of a contributing structure in a historic district. The old version only addressed the 25 percent exterior wall threshold.

A new paragraph (b)(5) was added to Section 65852.21 authorizing local governments to adopt objective standards for maintaining the historical value of a historic district listed in the California Register of Historical Resources. This gives localities a new tool to protect registered historic districts.

For urban lot splits (Section 66411.7(a)(3)(F)), the demolition prohibition for contributing structures was narrowed to apply only to contributing structures within historic districts listed in the California Register of Historical Resources or designated by city/county ordinance, rather than any 'historical district' broadly.

Floor votes · Senate Sep 3, 2025 · Assembly May 19, 2025

How they voted

24–10

Passed · 6 other

Total votes 40

Sep 3, 2025

D Democratic30

24 Yea 6

80% Yea

R Republican10

10 Nay

100% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Oct 10, 2025

Signed into law

Approved by the Governor.

legislature

Sep 8, 2025

Lower · Passed

Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 46. Noes 18. Page 3021.).

lower

Sep 4, 2025

Introduced

In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.

lower

Sep 3, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 24. Noes 10. Page 2435.).

upper

Aug 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.

upper

Jul 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Jul 9, 2025

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 9).

upper

Jun 23, 2025

Introduced

From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

upper

Jun 18, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 7. Noes 2.) (June 17). Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

upper

May 28, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on HOUSING and L. GOV.

upper

May 19, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 45. Noes 14. Page 1591.)

lower

Apr 30, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 3.) (April 30).

lower

Apr 23, 2025

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Apr 1, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

lower

Mar 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

Mar 27, 2025

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (March 26).

lower

Mar 10, 2025

Committee

Referred to Coms. on H. & C.D. and L. GOV.

lower

Feb 21, 2025

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 23.

lower

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors