(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.
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 requires a program applicant to provide specified information through data collection, reporting, performance monitoring, and accountability framework, as established by the council. This bill would enact the Functional Zero Act, which, beginning with the next round of HHAP program applications, or when updates to the regionally coordinated homeless action plan are next required to be submitted, would require an applicant to provide information relating to its efforts to address homelessness in its jurisdiction, including an assessment of what would be required for the applicant to achieve and maintain both functional zero, which the bill would define as a milestone indicating a community has measurably solved homelessness, as specified, and functional zero unsheltered, which the bill would define as a necessary milestone in the effort to achieve functional zero indicating that sufficient housing options of all types to accommodate a jurisdiction's unsheltered, chronically homeless population based on its most recent homeless point-in-time count. The bill would require, as part of the assessment of progress toward functional zero, applicants to include, at a minimum, an analysis of the number of housing units of all types needed to achieve functional zero in a jurisdiction, and as part of the assessment of progress toward functional zero unsheltered, a financial model assessing the needs for investment in prescribed areas and further analysis of, among other things, funding programs that provide housing or services to persons experiencing homelessness. The bill would also require an applicant to provide information regarding the applicant's implementation of local homeless housing incentives, as provided, and to demonstrate its efforts to include small cities, as defined, in its regionally coordinated homeless action plan, as specified.
Existing law provides that in a civil action brought by a plaintiff to challenge a housing development project that meets or exceeds the requirements for low- or moderate-income housing, a defendant may seek an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish an undertaking as security for costs and damages that may be incurred by the defendant if the bringing of the action would result in preventing or delaying the project, as specified. Existing law authorizes the court to limit the amount of the undertaking or to decline to require the plaintiff to furnish an undertaking if the court determines that, based on evidence submitted by the plaintiff, furnishing an undertaking would cause the plaintiff to suffer undue economic hardship. This bill would expand the type of civil actions for which motions for undertaking may be filed to include actions that challenge a community-serving project, as defined.
(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a local agency, as defined, to compile one or more lists that specify in detail the information required from any applicant for a postentitlement phase permit, as defined. Existing law also establishes time limits for completing reviews regarding whether an application for a postentitlement phase permit is complete and compliant, and whether to approve or deny an application. If a local agency finds that a complete application is noncompliant, existing law requires the local agency to provide the applicant with a list of items that are noncompliant and a description of how the application can be remedied by the applicant within specified time limits. Existing law requires the time limits to be tolled, if the local agency requires review of the application by an outside entity, until the outside entity completes the review and returns the application to the local agency, as specified. This bill would prohibit the local agency from requiring or requesting more than 2 plan check and specification reviews in connection with an application for a building permit, as part of its review, except as specified. The bill would authorize a local agency to deny an application that is not compliant with the permit standards following 2 plan check and specification reviews. The bill would also authorize an applicant to request additional submittals of applications that are not compliant with the permit standards. The bill, if a local agency finds that a complete application is noncompliant, would prohibit a local agency from requesting or requiring any action or inaction as a result of a building inspection undertaken to assess compliance with the applicable building permit standards that would represent a deviation from a previously approved building plan or similar approval for the building permit, except as specified. This bill would remove the above-described tolling requirements relating to outside entity reviews and, instead, would require, if federal or state law requires review of the application by another public agency that is independent of the local agency before the local agency is authorized to act on the application, the time limits to be tolled for the application until the public agency completes the review and returns the application to the local agency. The bill would require the local agency to notify the applicant, within 3 business days of the start of the tolling and within 3 business days of the resumption of the time limit, of the tolling and the resumption of the time limit, respectively. (2) Existing law, if a postentitlement phase permit is determined to be incomplete or noncompliant, requires a local agency to provide a process for an applicant to appeal that decision in writing to the governing body of the agency or, if there is no governing body, to the director of the agency, as provided by that agency. Existing law requires the city or county to provide that the right of appeal is to the governing body or, at their option, the planning commission, or both. Existing law requires a local agency to provide a final written determination on the appeal not later than 60 business days after receipt of the applicant's written appeal, for housing development projects with 25 units or fewer, and not later than 90 business days for a housing development projects with 26 units or more. Existing law also specifies that the fact that an appeal is permitted to both the planning commission and to the governing body does not extend the specified time period. This bill would revise those timelines to not later than 30 business days for housing development projects with 25 units or fewer and 45 business days for housing development projects with 26 units or more. The bill would remove the specification that the fact that an appeal is permitted to both the planning commission and to the governing body does not extend the specified time period. The bill would remove the requirement that, if a postentitlement phase permit is determined to be incomplete or noncompliant, a local agency provide a process for an applicant to appeal that decision to the director of the agency if there is no governing body, as provided by that agency. The bill would remove the requirement that a city or county provide that the right of appeal is to the governing body or, at their option, the planning commission, or both. This bill would authorize the applicant to seek a writ of mandate to compel approval of the application, if the applicant's appeal is denied, or a decision on the appeal is not made within the timelines provided, or an appeals process is not provided as required. By imposing additional duties on local agencies regarding postentitlement phase permits, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households unless the local agency makes written findings as to one of certain sets of conditions, as specified. The act also requires, when a proposed housing development project complies with applicable, objective general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards and criteria in effect at the time that the application was deemed complete, but the local agency proposes to disapprove the project or to impose a condition that the project be developed at a lower density, that the local agency base its decision regarding the proposed housing development project upon written findings supported by a preponderance of the evidence on the record that 2 specified conditions exist. Existing law defines the term "disapprove the housing development project" for these purposes to include any instance in which a local agency takes certain actions or fails to comply with certain requirements, including the time limits described above. Existing law makes a local agency's failure to meet the above-described time limits relating to postentitlement phase permits a violation of the Housing Accountability Act. This bill would, instead, make a violation of the above-described provisions relating to postentitlement phase permits, among others, a violation of the Housing Accountability Act. The bill would also revise the definition of "disapprove the housing development project" under the Housing Accountability Act to include any instance in which a local agency fails to comply with any of the provisions described above relating to postentitlement phase permits. By requiring local agencies to take certain actions, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) The bill would make other conforming changes and would provide that certain changes are declaratory of existing law. (5) 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. (6) 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.
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.
The Housing Accountability Act prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project, as defined for purposes of the act, for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or an emergency shelter unless the local agency makes specified written findings based on a preponderance of the evidence in the record. That act states that it shall not be construed to prohibit a local agency from requiring a housing development project to comply with objective, quantifiable, written development standards, conditions, and policies appropriate to, and consistent with, meeting the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need, except as provided. The act further provides that for its purposes, a housing development project or emergency shelter shall be deemed consistent, compliant, and in conformity with an applicable plan, program, policy, ordinance, standard, requirement, or other similar provision if there is substantial evidence that would allow a reasonable person to conclude that the housing development project or emergency shelter is consistent, compliant, or in conformity. The act requires a housing development project to be subject only to the ordinances, policies, and standards adopted and in effect when a preliminary application, as specified, was submitted, except as otherwise provided. The act defines "ordinances, policies, and standards" to include general plan, community plan, specific plan, zoning, design review standards and criteria, subdivision standards and criteria, and any other rules, regulations, requirements, and policies of a local agency, as defined, including those relating to development impact fees, capacity or connection fees or charges, permit or processing fees, and other exactions. This bill would include in the definition of "ordinances, policies, and standards" materials requirements, postentitlement permit standards, and any rules, regulations, determinations, and other requirements adopted or implemented by other public agencies, as defined. The Permit Streamlining Act, among other things, requires public agencies to approve or disapprove of a development project within certain timeframes, as specified. The act requires public agencies to compile one or more lists that specify in detail the information that will be required from any applicant for a development project. The act requires a public agency, upon its determination that an application for a development project is incomplete, to include a list and a thorough description of the specific information needed to complete the application. This bill would provide that for the purposes of the Permit Streamlining Act, a housing development project or emergency shelter shall be deemed consistent, compliant, and in conformity with an applicable plan, program, policy, ordinance, standard, requirement, or other similar provision adopted or implemented by a public agency, as defined, if there is substantial evidence that would allow a reasonable person to conclude that the housing development project or emergency shelter is consistent, compliant, or in conformity, except as specified. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, provides for the adoption and administration of zoning laws, ordinances, rules and regulations by counties and cities and the implementation of those general plans as may be in effect in those counties or cities. In that regard, existing law requires each local agency, by January 1, 2025, to develop a program for the preapproval of accessory dwelling unit plans. This bill would require each local agency, as defined, to develop a program for the preapproval of single-family and multifamily residential housing plans, whereby the local agency accepts single-family and multifamily plan submissions for preapproval and approves or denies the preapproval applications, as specified. The bill would require a large jurisdiction, as defined, to develop this program by July 1, 2026, and a small jurisdiction, as defined, to develop a program by January 1, 2028. The bill would authorize a local agency to charge a fee to an applicant for the preapproval of a single-family or multifamily residential housing plan, as specified. The bill would require the local agency to post preapproved single-family or multifamily residential housing plans and the contact information of the applicant on the local agency's internet website. The bill would require an application for preapproval to include a statement by the applicant that the applicant has sufficient authority, license, or ownership interest in the plan to submit the plan for preapproval and, if approved, posted as described above. This bill would prohibit the preapproval program from applying to single-family or multifamily residential housing plans intended for use in certain communities and developments, as specified. The bill would require a local agency to either approve or deny an application for a single-family or multifamily residential housing unit, both as defined, within 30 days if the lot meets certain conditions and the application utilizes either a single-family or multifamily residential housing unit plan preapproved within the current triennial California Building Standards Code rulemaking cycle or a plan that is identical to a plan used in an application for a single-family or multifamily residential housing unit approved by the local agency within the current triennial California Building Standards Code rulemaking cycle. The bill would also provide that its provisions do not prevent a local agency from voluntarily accepting or admitting additional plans at higher densities in additional zoning districts into the preapproved housing plan program, at the local agency's discretion. Existing 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 Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. Existing law requires the annual report to include, among other things, the city's or county's progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs, as specified. This bill, beginning on April 1, 2027, for large jurisdictions and beginning on April 1, 2029, for small jurisdictions, would require the local agency to include in its annual report the number of units of residential housing that are approved using a preapproved housing plan pursuant to this act. By imposing new duties on local agencies with regard to developing a preapproval program and its annual report, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing law, 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. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. To the extent that the ministerial review process established by the bill would apply to final, discretionary approval of an application for a single-family or multifamily housing unit, the bill would exempt those projects from CEQA. 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.
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. Under existing law, the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Program is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide local assistance to developers for the purpose of developing higher density uses within close proximity to transit stations as provided. Existing law, establishes the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Fund and, to the extent funds are available, requires the department to make loans for the development and construction of housing development projects within close proximity to a transit station that meet specified criteria. This bill would authorize a project, to the extent that the project is required to mitigate transportation impacts under CEQA, to satisfy the mitigation requirement by electing to contribute an amount of money, at a price per vehicle mile traveled, as determined by the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, to the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Fund for the purposes of the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Program, as provided. The bill would require the office, on or before July 1, 2029, and at least once every 3 years thereafter, to update the price per vehicle mile traveled based on specified factors. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the contributions to be available to the department to fund developments located in the same region, as defined, with preference given to specified projects. The bill would require the department to, for each award, confirm the estimated reduction in vehicle miles traveled, as provided, and would require the department to post specified information on its internet website.
(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.
(1) Existing law establishes the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program to provide one-time grants for the construction of student housing, or for the acquisition and renovation of commercial properties into student housing for the purpose of providing affordable, low-cost housing options for students enrolled in public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the University of California to fund project grants using revenue bond funding issued by the University of California for certain projects. This bill would require the University of California to fund construction grants for 2 specified student housing projects using revenue bond funding issued by the University of California. (2) Existing law establishes the California Kids Investment and Development Savings (KIDS) Program, under the administration of the Scholarshare Investment Board, for the purposes of expanding access to higher education through savings, as provided. Existing law requires the governing body of a school district, county office of education, or charter school to confirm that a grade 12 pupil who has not opted out, as specified, completes and submits a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or, if the pupil is exempt from paying nonresident tuition under existing law, completes and submits a form for purposes of the California Dream Act, as provided. Commencing with the 2025–26 school year, this bill would require the governing body of a local educational agency to provide each pupil and the pupil's parent or legal guardian with information about the KIDS Program and the pupil's potential eligibility for that benefit, as provided. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years, requires the Scholarshare Investment Board to partner with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Riverside County Office of Education to explore ways to increase participation in the KIDS Program. Existing law requires the board, on or before September 30, 2025, and in collaboration with those local educational agencies, to report certain information to the Department of Finance and the Legislature related to those partnerships. This bill, for the 2025–26 to 2029–30 fiscal years, inclusive, would require the board to partner with the Riverside County Office of Education and the San Diego Unified School District to explore ways to increase participation in the KIDS Program. The bill would require the board, on or before September 30, 2029, in collaboration with those local educational agencies, to submit an additional report with the same information related to those partnerships to the Department of Finance and the Legislature. (3) Existing law requires the California State University, and requests the University of California, to establish a model uniform set of academic standards for high school courses for admission recognition, as specified, and to develop and implement, by January 1, 2006, a process for high schools to obtain approval of their courses meeting California State University and University of California admissions requirements, as provided. This bill would instead require the California State University, and request the University of California, to begin working on establishing the above-described model uniform set of academic standards on or after October 1, 2025, and would require the model uniform set of academic standards to also be established for college-level coursework taken for credit at a California public college or university by a pupil simultaneously enrolled in high school, as provided. The bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to post on its internet website the model uniform set of academic standards for college-level coursework taken for credit at a California public college or university, as provided. (4) The Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Under existing law, an otherwise qualifying institution with a 3-year cohort default rate that is equal to or greater than 15.5% is ineligible for initial and renewal Cal Grant awards at the institution, as specified, with certain exceptions. Existing law requires the commission to certify by November 1 of each year a qualifying institution's latest 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of Education, except for the 2024–25 academic year existing law requires the commission to use the 3-year cohort default rate certified in 2020 for an otherwise qualifying institution. This bill would require the commission to also use the 3-year cohort default rate certified in 2020 to certify an otherwise qualifying institution for the 2025–26 and 2026–27 academic years. Existing law requires each participating institution, as a condition for its voluntary participation in the Cal Grant Program, to annually report to the commission specified information regarding its undergraduate programs. Existing law requires the commission to provide on its internet website the information submitted by a Cal Grant participating institution pursuant to the reporting requirement described above and other information and links that are useful to students and parents who are in the process of selecting a college or university. This bill would authorize the systemwide central office of a public postsecondary educational institution acting on behalf of the participating institution to annually report to the commission the information regarding the institution's undergraduate programs, as provided. The bill would modify the data required to be reported to the commission, establish an alternative method for reporting that data, and require the data reported to the commission to be reported in a manner that complies with applicable federal and state laws to protect individual privacy, as specified. (5) Existing law establishes the Golden State Teacher Grant Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. For applications received under the program on July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, inclusive, existing law requires the commission to provide one-time grants of up to $10,000 to each student enrolled in a professional preparation program leading to a preliminary teaching credential or a pupil personnel services credential if the student commits to working at a priority school or a California preschool program for 2 years within 4 years following the date the student completes the professional preparation program, as specified. The bill would extend the availability of those grant program funds to applications received under the program on July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive. By expanding the time in which applications can be received under the program, which is funded by an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (6) Existing law establishes the Hire UP Pilot Program and authorizes, subject to an appropriation, the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to enter into agreements with up to 10 community college districts to provide funding for stipends to formerly incarcerated individuals, CalWORKs recipients, and former foster youth. Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to submit an annual report on or before March 1 to the Legislature on the pilot program's implementation, as provided. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2029. This bill would instead make these provisions inoperative on March 15, 2029, and repeal them on January 1, 2030. The bill would require the chancellor to submit an additional report on the pilot program's implementation on March 1, 2029. Existing law establishes the Native American Student Support and Success Program under the administration of the chancellor's office to provide various services for Native American students. Existing law authorizes the chancellor's office to enter into agreements with up to 20 community colleges to provide grants to those participating colleges for the purpose of developing local Native American student support and success programs and delivering matriculation services for Native American students, as provided. Existing law requires the chancellor's office to develop and submit an annual report on before September 1 to the Governor and the Legislature based on certain data and information relating to grants provided under the program, as reported by participating community colleges, and information on the use of program funds. This bill would instead require the chancellor's office to develop and submit those reports triennially until September 1, 2030, as specified. (7) Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to adopt regulations providing for the payment of apportionments to community college districts on a specified schedule. This bill, notwithstanding the provision referenced above, would adjust the payment of apportionments to community college districts for the 2025–26 fiscal year to defer $408,363,000 of those payments to the 2026–27 fiscal year in accordance with a designated schedule. The bill would appropriate that amount to the board of governors for apportionments to community college districts for expenditure in the 2026–27 fiscal year, as specified. (8) Existing law authorizes the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish the Rising Scholars Network to enter into agreements with up to 65 community colleges to provide additional funds for services in support of postsecondary education for justice-involved students, as defined. This bill would authorize the chancellor's office to enter into agreements with all community colleges, rather than up to 65 community colleges. (9) Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish, by March 31, 2019, an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. Existing law required the chancellor to submit, by January 1, 2020, a report on the initiative to the Legislature. Existing law establishes the California Cradle-to-Career Data System to be a source for actionable data and research on education, economic, and health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, and to provide for expanded access to tools and services that support the navigation of the education-to-employment pipeline. Existing law establishes a governing board to govern the data system and the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data as the managing entity required to implement and manage the data system. This bill would establish the California Career Passport Program to be administered by the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, in partnership with the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for the purpose of developing a Career Passport that provides individuals with a secure digital tool that displays their preparation for employment, academic records, and credit for prior learning, as specified. The bill would require the program to accomplish specified goals, including providing individuals access to their aggregated information for use in applying for employment and in training at no or low cost to them, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor's office to convene agency and employer representatives to identify technical and policy considerations for building the secure digital tool, and to engage with business and industry leaders collaboratively to ensure Career Passports are useful to, and used by, California's employers, as specified. This bill would appropriate $25,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the development of the program, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor's office to develop and report to the Department of Finance and the fiscal committees of the Legislature a timeline establishing target dates for key deliverables for the program, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor's office to collect data on development metrics for the Career Passport, and submit a preliminary report on that data and a final report on student and employer use data to the Department of Finance and all relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature, as specified. (10) The California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 provides for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary institutions in the state. The act is administered by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act establishes the Student Tuition Recovery Fund as a continuously appropriated fund to relieve or mitigate economic loss suffered by a student while enrolled in an institution who, at the time of the student's enrollment, was a California resident or was enrolled in a California residency program, prepaid tuition, and suffered economic loss, as defined. The act establishes the Office of Student Assistance and Relief within the bureau to, among other things, assist students with submitting Student Tuition Recovery Fund claims to the bureau. This bill would authorize the bureau to use moneys in the Student Tuition Recovery Fund to cover the costs of Student Tuition Recovery Fund claim administration and positions of the Office of Student Assistance and Relief. By expanding the purposes for which moneys from a continuously appropriated fund may be expended, the bill would make an appropriation. (11) Existing law imposes a filing fee of $605 to file a notice of appeal in a civil case. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, required that $65 of this fee be deposited into the former California State Law Library Special Account for the support of the California State Law Library. This bill would reestablish the California State Law Library Special Account and would require, until July 1, 2030, $65 of each notice of appeal fee to be deposited into the California State Law Library Special Account for the support of the California State Law Library upon appropriation. The bill would specify that this requirement is intended to apply retroactively to January 1, 2025. (12) The Budget Act of 2023 made appropriations for local assistance to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for the 2023–24 fiscal year, including $3,037,990,000 for apportionments. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2023 by reducing the appropriation made to the board of governors for apportionments by $67,001,000. (13) The Budget Act of 2024 made appropriations for local assistance to the board of governors for the 2024–25 fiscal year, including $3,904,892,000 for apportionments. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2024 by increasing the appropriation made to the board of governors for apportionments by $10,822,000. (14) The Budget Act of 2024, among other things, reappropriates $12,000,000 to the board of governors to support the development of e-Transcript California, as provided. This bill would appropriate $6,558,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the development of e-Transcript California pursuant to that provision. (15) This bill would appropriate $5,100,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to provide grants through a community college district to California community-based organizations for financial aid outreach and application assistance supporting current and prospective community college students, as provided. (16) This bill would appropriate $20,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support emergency financial assistance grants to students attending a community college, as specified. (17) Existing law requires the California Community Colleges to designate on each of its campuses a Dreamer Resource Liaison to assist students in meeting certain requirements to be exempt from paying nonresident tuition by streamlining access to all available financial aid and academic opportunities for those students. This bill would appropriate $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support Dreamer Resource Liaisons in assisting students, as described above. (18) The Budget Act of 2022, among other things, appropriates $10,000,000 to the board of governors to support the California Healthy School Food Pathway program, as provided. This bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of Governors to support the California Healthy School Food Pathway program. (19) This bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for transfer to a community college for allocation to the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Council to conduct Emergency Medical Technician and Paramedic Preapprenticeship Training Academies. (20) This bill would appropriate $125,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for allocation on a one-time basis to Santa Rosa Junior College for the construction of a fire academy tower. (21) Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish, by March 31, 2019, an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. Existing law required the chancellor to submit, by January 1, 2020, a report on the initiative to the Legislature. This bill would appropriate up to $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the Credit for Prior Learning Initiative, a systemwide initiative to award degree-applicable or certificate-applicable credit for prior learning opportunities at each campus, as provided. (22) This bill would appropriate $60,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to establish the Student Support Block Grant. The bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to allocate the funds to community colleges pursuant to a specified formula. The bill would authorize community college districts to use the allocated funds for certain purposes, including, among other purposes, for assistance to students with food, housing, transportation, and other basic needs. (23) This bill would appropriate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for allocation to community colleges that are members of the Los Angeles Regional Consortium to assist with workforce recovery efforts and career technical education workforce development associated with the Los Angeles regions' recovery from the Palisades and Eaton fires. (24) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (25) The funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, as specified. (26) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
