AB 1914 California Assembly · 2025-2026 Regular Session

General plan elements: childcare.

Summary

The Planning and Zoning Law requires the legislative body of a city or county to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan that includes various elements, including, among others, a land use, circulation, housing, safety, and environmental justice element. Existing law requires a city or county to update its general plan elements subject to certain criteria and timelines. This bill would require a city, county, or city and county, no later than January 1, 2033, to prepare and adopt a childcare plan or integrate a childcare plan into the next adoption of the city, county, or city and county's general plan to address the childcare needs of the jurisdiction, as specified. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Aug 2026

Assembly Passage

May 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 12, 2026 Last action Aug 13, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

04/27/26 - Amended Assembly → 06/08/26 - Amended Senate · 3 edits · Jun 8, 2026

MINOR

The Senate amendment to AB 1914 primarily strengthens the constitutional basis for applying the childcare planning mandate to charter cities by adding specific language explaining why ensuring adequate childcare planning is a matter of statewide concern. It also cleans up and simplifies the definition of 'childcare' in the operative section, confirming the age threshold at 13 years. Assembly Member Ahrens was added as a coauthor.

Scope change

The bill's scope did not change in terms of which jurisdictions are covered (all cities, counties, and city and counties remain subject to the mandate). However, the constitutional basis for applying it to charter cities was strengthened with more specific language, making it harder for charter cities to successfully challenge the bill on municipal affairs grounds.

SCOPE

Section 3 (the statewide concern finding) was expanded with additional language stating that 'ensuring that all cities and counties adequately plan for childcare needs within their jurisdiction is a matter of statewide concern.' This strengthens the constitutional justification for applying the bill to charter cities by providing a more specific rationale beyond the generic assertion.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'childcare' in Section 65302.03(a)(1) was simplified. It removed the phrase 'including, but not limited to, private for-profit programs, nonprofit programs, and publicly funded programs, services, and' and cleaned up amendment markup that showed the age changing from 12 to 13. The final definition now reads: 'license-exempt childcare, childcare and development services, and childcare and development programs, for children up to 13 years of age, including children with exceptional needs and children from all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.'

TECHNICAL

Assembly Member Ahrens was added as a coauthor alongside Assembly Members Schiavo, Lee, and Stefani, and Senator Becker.

04/20/26 - Amended Assembly → 04/27/26 - Amended Assembly · 6 edits · Apr 27, 2026

MODERATE

AB 1914 was substantially simplified in this amendment. The requirement for cities and counties to review and update specific general plan elements (land use, circulation, housing, safety, and environmental justice) to address childcare needs was removed, along with a detailed list of ten strategies (zoning changes, locating near housing, emergency planning, climate adaptation, etc.) that guided how jurisdictions should achieve childcare access goals. The bill now only requires preparing and adopting a childcare plan or integrating one into the general plan by 2033. Additionally, the age threshold for covered children was raised from 12 to 13 years old.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed: it no longer mandates updates to specific general plan elements or prescribes detailed strategies for achieving childcare access. Jurisdictions now only need to produce a childcare plan (or integrate one into their general plan) by January 1, 2033, with more local discretion over content and approach. The age of covered children was expanded from 12 to 13.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the requirement that cities and counties review and update the land use, circulation, housing, safety, and environmental justice elements of their general plans to address childcare needs upon the next update of two or more elements.

Removed a detailed list of ten strategies (items A through J) that described how jurisdictions could achieve the goal of ensuring access to quality childcare, including directing resources, locating facilities near housing and employment, revising zoning for family daycare homes, including childcare in emergency and climate planning, and allowing emergency shelters to include childcare space.

DEFINITION

Changed the age threshold in the definition of 'childcare' from 'up to and including 12 years of age' to 'up to and including 13 years of age,' expanding coverage to 13-year-olds.

Added new cross-reference definitions for 'childcare and development programs,' 'childcare and development services' (both referencing Section 10213.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code), and 'license-exempt childcare' (referencing Section 1596.792 of the Health and Safety Code).

SCOPE

The bill's operative requirement was narrowed from a dual mandate (update general plan elements AND adopt a childcare plan) to a single mandate (adopt a childcare plan or integrate one into the general plan), giving local governments more flexibility in how they comply.

TECHNICAL

Assembly Members Lee and Ahrens were added as coauthors of the bill.

02/12/26 - Introduced → 04/20/26 - Amended Assembly · 7 edits · Apr 20, 2026

MODERATE

The amended version of AB 1914 significantly strengthens the childcare planning mandate by adding a hard compliance deadline of January 1, 2033, requiring jurisdictions to prepare and adopt a dedicated childcare plan (or integrate one into their general plan), expanding coverage to explicitly include 'city and county' jurisdictions, and adding a grandfathering provision for existing plans. Legislative findings were also expanded and restructured to appear as a standalone section at the beginning of the bill.

SCOPE

The bill now explicitly applies to 'city, county, or city and county' rather than just 'city or county,' clarifying that combined city-county jurisdictions (like San Francisco) are covered.

TIMELINE

A hard outer deadline of January 1, 2033 was added. Jurisdictions must comply by this date at the latest, whereas the original only set a start date of January 1, 2028 with no end date.

REQUIREMENT

A new requirement mandates that each city, county, or city and county prepare and adopt a childcare plan or integrate one into the next general plan adoption. This goes beyond the original language of merely reviewing and updating existing elements to address childcare needs.

DEFINITION

A new definition of 'childcare plan' was added: a plan developed by a city, county, or city and county to address the childcare needs of the jurisdiction.

ELIGIBILITY

A grandfathering provision was added allowing jurisdictions that have already adopted a similar childcare plan (in or apart from their general plan) to designate it as compliant with this section, avoiding duplicate work.

TECHNICAL

Legislative findings were moved from Section 2 to a new standalone Section 1 at the top of the bill and expanded to include findings about emergency preparedness, disaster planning, and community resilience. All subsequent sections were renumbered accordingly.

Coauthors Assembly Member Stefani and Senator Becker were added to the bill.

Floor votes · Assembly May 21, 2026

How they voted

58–9

Passed · 12 other

Total votes 79

May 21, 2026

D Democratic59

55 Yea 4

93% Yea

R Republican20

3 Yea 9 Nay 8

45% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

In committee: Held under submission.

upper

Aug 3, 2026

Committee

In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

upper

Jun 29, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 1.) (June 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Jun 17, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on HUMAN S. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (June 17). Re-referred to Com. on HUMAN S.

upper

Jun 8, 2026

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 3, 2026

Committee

Referred to Coms. on L. GOV. and HUMAN S.

upper

May 21, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 59. Noes 9. Page 5179.)

lower

May 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 2.) (May 6).

lower

Apr 28, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Apr 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

Apr 23, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (April 23).

lower

Apr 21, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S.

lower

Apr 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended.

lower

Apr 16, 2026

Introduced

From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. (Ayes 8. Noes 1.) (April 15).

lower

Mar 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

lower

Mar 2, 2026

Committee

Referred to Coms. on L. GOV. and HUM. S.

lower

Feb 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.

lower

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors