The 2025 Legislative session has finally wrapped up with “mostly beneficial results for cities,” according to Brian Hendershot, managing editor of Cal Cities Advocate.
The following eight bills, which were sponsored by Cal Cities, have passed and are awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature:
AB 492 (Valencia): requires the Department of Health Care Services to send a written notice to the city or county where a new alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facility is licensed at the same time the license is issued.
AB 424 (Davies): requires the Department of Health Care Services to confirm within 30 days that a complaint about an alcohol or drug treatment facility has been received and to inform the complainant of the outcome, including any discovered violations, upon closing the case.
AB 476 (Gonzalez): strengthens penalties and oversight for metal theft.
AB 620 (Jackson): allows cities to rent zero-emission vehicles when complying with the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, rather than limiting cities to ownership.
AB 650 (Papan): changes the process and timelines for housing element updates under RHNA. According to Cal Cities, it would “significantly improve the housing element review process by encouraging local jurisdictions to begin planning earlier and providing greater clarity and certainty to a difficult and complex process.”
AB 996 (Pellerin): would help coastal and bay cities meet sea level rise plans that are already required to be completed by 2034. Specifically, this bill would establish the California Coastal Planning Fund to support sea level rise planning, encourage early consultation with the California Coastal Commission, and allow existing sea level rise information to satisfy plan requirements.
SB 346 (Durazo): allows cities to require that short-term rental property addresses be provided for listing purposes. Cities would also have audit authority for transient occupancy taxes collected.
SB 454 (McNerney): helps fund local efforts to remove forever chemicals, or PFAS, from the water supply.
Cal Cities is also asking Governor Newsom to sign the following bills:
SB 415 (Reyes): refines last year’s AB 98 (Carrillo, Reyes), which established statewide standards for warehouse and logistics facility development.
AB 330 (Rogers): extends the sunset date for the Local Prepaid Mobile Telephony Services Surcharge Collection Act to 2031. According to Cal Cities, 102 cities and 2 counties rely on the act to help fund emergency services.
AB 992 (Irwin): strengthens and clarifies educational requirements for peace officers in California.
SB 701 (Wahab): creates new state criminal penalties for use of signal jammers, including making it a crime to manufacture, import, market, purchase, sell, or operate a signal jammer unless authorized.
AB 1 (Connolly), AB 888 (Calderon), SB 326 (Becker), and SB 616 (Rubio): strengthen home hardening and other property-level wildfire mitigation efforts.
Cal Cities is urging the Governor to veto SB 79, which would allow multifamily housing of several stories in residential areas near transit stops, regardless of local zoning restrictions. Cal Cities also wants Newsom to veto AB 538 (Berman), AB 339 (Ortega), and SB 827 (Gonzalez).
AB 538 would require cities to obtain and make available certified payroll records from a contractor upon request. Cal Cities argues that local governments do not maintain this information and that AB 538 contains no enforcement provision that would help them obtain these records when necessary.
Under AB 339, cities would have to give unions at least 45 days of written notice before issuing requests for proposals (RFPs), requests for quotes (RFQs), or renewing or extending contracts for services within the scope of work of job classifications represented by the organization. Cal Cities argues the bill would create a legal and bureaucratic headache for governments and slow down public services.
SB 827 would alter existing ethics training requirements, mandating that certain local agency officials receive at least two hours of fiscal and financial training at least once every two years. Cal Cities asked the bill’s author to apply the same standards to lawmakers. That request was denied, so the organization launched opposition to the bill.
October 13 is the deadline for the Governor to sign legislation.