Civil actions: housing development projects.

The document was reformatted for enrollment: line numbers removed, passage dates added (Senate August 27, 2026; Assembly August 24, 2026), and a Governor's approval block was added at the end.

In Section 1.5 (the SB 1344 incorporated version of Section 529.2), the $1,000,000 plaintiff liability cap is now presented as clean enacted text rather than amendment markup showing a change from $500,000 to $1,000,000. The substantive amount is the same in both versions.

A new Section 1.5 was added that incorporates amendments from SB 1344 into Section 529.2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. This section only becomes operative if both bills are enacted by January 1, 2027, and SB 916 is enacted after SB 1344.

Priority care developments as defined by Section 425.21 are now added as a third category of covered housing projects, alongside low/moderate-income housing and student housing projects.

The grounds for a motion for undertaking were expanded to include actions brought to thwart the student housing or low/moderate-income nature of the project, and to address the suitability of a priority care development to serve its intended population.

The maximum liability cap for costs and damages was increased from $500,000 to $1,000,000.

A new inflation adjustment mechanism was added: the liability cap adjusts annually starting January 1, 2028, based on the California Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, rounded to the nearest $25.

The bad faith liability provision (developer liable for cost of undertaking if plan is changed in bad faith) was expanded to also cover cases where the project fails to meet the definition of a priority care development or student housing project, not just low/moderate-income requirements.

New definitions clarify that 'plaintiff' includes petitioner, cross-petitioner, and cross-plaintiff, and 'defendant' includes respondent, cross-respondent, cross-defendant, and real party in interest.

The entire provision regarding digital replicas of deceased personalities' voices or likenesses (amending Civil Code Section 3344.1) was removed from the bill. This had provided a $10,000 minimum damages remedy for unauthorized use of a deceased personality's likeness in expressive audiovisual works or sound recordings.

The grounds for a motion for undertaking now include actions brought 'to thwart the student housing or low- or moderate-income nature of the housing development project,' extending the anti-abuse protection to explicitly cover student housing projects, not just low- or moderate-income housing.

Existing provisions regarding the $500,000 cap on plaintiff liability and the court's discretion to decline a bond based on undue economic hardship were reorganized within the document but remain substantively unchanged.

The bill now amends Section 529.2 of the Code of Civil Procedure in addition to its original amendment to Civil Code Section 3344.1, expanding the bill from a single nonsubstantive change to two distinct substantive provisions.

A new definition of 'student housing project' is added: one or more housing facilities occupied by students of one or more campuses and owned by a public university, including dining, academic, and student support service spaces, and other necessary attendant facilities and equipment.

Developers of qualifying student housing projects can now file a noticed motion requiring the plaintiff to post an undertaking (bond) as security for costs and damages if the action would prevent or delay the project. The motion must be based on grounds that the action is without merit, brought in bad faith, vexatiously, for delay, or to thwart the low- or moderate-income nature of the project.

The plaintiff's liability under the undertaking is capped at $500,000. The court must consider evidence of the plaintiff's economic hardship and avoid causing undue economic hardship. If any bond amount would cause undue economic hardship, the court may decline to impose one.

If a developer changes the housing development plan in bad faith so that it no longer meets or exceeds low- or moderate-income housing requirements, the developer becomes liable to the plaintiff for the cost of obtaining the undertaking.