Electric vehicle charging stations: arenas: payments: internet-based applications.

New Section 1.5 amends Health and Safety Code 44268.2 to explicitly allow EV charging stations to operate on a subscription- or membership-only basis, provided they still offer non-members the ability to use the station through contactless card payment or phone/SMS payment options.

The commission's regulatory authority over EV charging payment methods is expanded from being able to only 'add to or subtract from' required payment methods to also being able to 'modify' them, and 'cost impacts' is added as a factor the commission may consider alongside changing technologies.

New Section 2 creates a coordination mechanism: the new Section 1.5 only becomes operative if both SB 533 and AB 1423 are enacted and effective on or before January 1, 2026, each amends Section 44268.2, and SB 533 is enacted after AB 1423. In that scenario, Section 1 of SB 533 would not become operative.

The arena exception for app-only payment was clarified by removing the word 'facility' (which appeared to be a drafting artifact), so the exception now clearly applies only to arenas with at least 15,000 seats rather than potentially broader facilities.

Website navigation elements (skip to content, home, accessibility, FAQ, feedback, sitemap, login, Quick Search fields) were added as part of the web page layout.

A 'Digest Key' section was added showing Vote: MAJORITY, Appropriation: NO, Fiscal Committee: NO, Local Program: NO.

Version history links (09/16/25 Enrolled, 09/03/25 Amended Assembly, etc.) and a 'Date Published' timestamp were added as website metadata.

The bill text was reformatted from a line-numbered amendment layout to a clean enrolled bill format with no line numbers. The substantive language of Sections 1, 1.5, and 2 is unchanged.

Standard enrollment elements were added: Senate passage date (September 11, 2025), Assembly passage date (September 9, 2025), signature blocks for the Secretary of the Senate and Chief Clerk of the Assembly, a Governor receipt line, and an approval line with space for the Governor's signature.

The amendment history header (listing dates of amendments in Senate and Assembly), the 'Introduced by Senator Richardson' line, the original introduction date (February 20, 2025), and the vote/appropriation/fiscal committee/state-mandated local program notation were removed as part of standard enrollment formatting.

The exception for app-only EV charging stations was narrowed from applying to any 'facility' that requires an app for access to only 'an arena that has a seating capacity of at least 15,000 seats.' This excludes smaller venues, parking garages, and other facilities that previously could require app-based payment.

The provision allowing a charging station to require use of the internet-based application for admission to the premises was removed. The app can now only be required for payment of charging services, not as a gatekeeping mechanism for entry to the facility.

The exception allowing charging stations to require app-based payment and app-only admission is now limited to stations on premises of a facility that can only be accessed through that same internet-based application. Previously, any charging station could impose this requirement regardless of the facility's access model.