On September 1, 2026, the California State Senate and Assembly adjourned and will take no more action for the 2025-26 Regular Session. Unless legislation signed into law contained an urgency clause, or specifies a different day, all bills will take effect on January 1, 2027.
While regular session has concluded, legislative action on utility wildfire liability could take place if Governor Newsom chooses to call a special session, as he has signaled he may do. An attempted compromise proposal between the Legislature and Governor, SB 492, did not receive a final vote. RCRC took a neutral position on the compromise that crucially wouldn’t have capped investor-owned utility liability for destructive wildfires. Governor Newsom has expressed that he would like to see a cap on Investor-Owned Utility (IOU) liability put in place and elimination of subrogation, which is likely to significantly increase insurance costs for policyholders.
RCRC Sponsored Measures
The following measures are RCRC sponsored and co-sponsored measures that have advanced to the Governor’s desk:
AB 1617 (Alanis) – would align the reporting period for CalRecycle’s Form 303 with DTSC’s electronic Verification Questionnaire (eVQ) reports related to household hazardous waste.
AB 1811 (Rogers) – would maintain the status of designated health profession shortage areas (HPSAs) and would allow HCAI to add new HPSAs for state program purposes.
AB 2667 (Hadwick) requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to evaluate opportunities to increase the safety and convenience related to the management of vapes confiscated by schools from students. Makes changes to law to provide greater regulatory certainty and flexibility to facilitate the acceptance of vapes by local household hazardous waste collection facilities. Bans the sale of disguised vapes and video game vapes.
SB 299 (Cabaldon) – would expand a recently-enacted CEQA exemption for day care centers to projects located in residential areas.
SB 501 (Allen) – would add medium-format batteries to California’s existing Responsible Battery Recycling Act, requiring the producers of those products to provide a convenient collection and management system for Californians.
SB 922 (Laird) This bill clarifies that local governments may recover the cost of street maintenance and repair caused by public service operations, such as waste hauling, through service-related fees and charges. (SIGNED BY GOVERNOR ON 8/27)
SB 758 (Umberg) – would ban tobacco retailers, not including grocery stores, from selling nitrous oxide.
SB 936 (Blakespear) – would ban the sale of all flavored nitrous oxide and unflavored nitrous oxide in cylinders larger than 8 grams, with limited exemption for legitimate business and medical purposes.
SB 1005 (Caballero) – would provide clarity that public agencies may appropriately round cash payments given the potential reduction or elimination of the production of pennies by the United State Mint.
Other Key Legislation Enrolled to the Governor
The following measures of key interest to rural communities have moved to the Governor’s desk for consideration:
AB 442 (Hadwick) would allow landowners to manage a single, landscape-scale fuels treatment project across multiple hydrological areas. (SUPPORT)
AB 690 (Schultz) would require counties to consider recently published standards drafted by the Office of the State Public Defender, establish several new requirements counties must incorporate into any contractual agreement with private firms and establishment of a prohibition on the utilization of flat fee or per-case compensation models when contracting out for cases involving the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole. (OPPOSE)
AB 762 (Irwin) would ban the sale of single-use battery-embedded vapes beginning in 2028. (SUPPORT)
AB 1156 (Wicks) would waive cancellation fees for Williamson Act contracts for lands used for solar energy generation in critically overdrafted basins, including on prime farmland and without regard to the availability of water. (OPPOSE)
AB 1198 (Haney) would require, commencing July 1, 2027, that if the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) determines, within a semiannual period, that there is a change in any prevailing rate of per diem wages in a locality, that determination applies to any public works contract over $35 million that is awarded or for which notice to bidders is published after July 1, 2027. (OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED)
AB 1383 (McKinnor) would make several significant changes to public employees’ retirement benefits undermining PEPRA reform, which would ultimately lead to increased pension liability for state and local agencies. AB 1383 is expected to increase the required contributions of employers and PEPRA members and increase the present value of future benefits by $4.8 billion across State, Schools, and Local Agency plans in just the CalPERS system only. (OPPOSE)
AB 1621 (Wilson) would eliminate the ability of local governments to require more than two plan checks on a building permit application unless the local agency can make a written finding based on substantial evidence that additional review is necessary to address a specific, adverse impact on public health and safety. (OPPOSE)
AB 1711 (Connolly) would allow money in the Fair and Exposition Fund to be used on emergency services improvement projects at fairgrounds. (SUPPORT)
AB 1722 (Hadwick) would establish a clear, good-faith self-defense mechanism under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) for situations involving immediate human safety and listed predatory species. (SUPPORT)
AB 1883 (Bryan) would restrict workplace surveillance tools used for security and basic operations, intended to defend employee rights that existing remedies already protect. (OPPOSE)
AB 1961 (Ahrens) would authorize an employer to seek a workplace violence restraining order on behalf of all employees at the employer’s workplace. (SUPPORT)
AB 2218 (Kalra) would impose a broad new requirement for government-to-government tribal consultation on water issues. (OPPOSE)
AB 2310 (Carrillo) would allow for prosecution of those dumping on property where a permit for those activities was required but not obtained. Also imposes significant consequences on landowners and transporters who illegally dump more than 25 cubic yards of construction debris. (SUPPORT)
AB 2469 (Papan) would prevent cities and counties from approving a discretionary or ministerial permit for new or expanded data centers unless an applicant provides a water supply assessment that describes the project’s water use, and impacts on local water demand. (OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED)
AB 2494 (Rogers) would redefine “management” for purposes of state demonstration forests, in a way that would change the intent of the program and shift away from sustainable timber operations. (OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED)
AB 2656 (Petrie-Norris) would create a broad new mandate for public agencies to serve 45 days’ notice to employee organizations about the use of Generative AI tools. (OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED)
AB 2724 (Bauer-Kahan) would require the California Department of Insurance to review and update distressed areas as defined under the Catastrophe Modeling Regulations. (SUPPORT)
SB 222 (Wiener) would require local jurisdictions to offer remote building inspections for the installation of new heat pump water heater or HVAC systems. (OPPOSE)
SB 577 (Laird) would make several modest reforms to public agency liability, including changes related to older claims and proportional liability. While these changes represent some movement, they do not go far enough to meaningfully address the significant liability costs facing public agencies. RCRC and our public agency partners will continue advocating for additional reforms. (OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED)
SB 877 (Pérez) would require home insurers to provide all documents related to a fire insurance claim upon policy holder request (SUPPORT)
SB 894 (Allen) would establish the California Wildfire Resilience Loan Program to administer projects and activities for wildfire mitigation. (SUPPORT)
SB 947 (McNerney) would limit the use of automated decision systems to inform disciplinary and/or termination actions, reintroduction of a bill vetoed by the Governor last year. (OPPOSE)
SB 973 (Becker) would codify and provide support from the California Office of the State Fire Marshal for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program. (SUPPORT)
SB 1117 (Cervantes) would cap impact fees on an ADU more than 750 square feet for up to two ADUs on a lot, substantially reducing what can be collected and forcing local governments to use general fund cash to cover additional infrastructure and public services costs. (OPPOSE)
SB 1135 (Blakespear) would create the Wildlife Coexistence Program, which would fund a Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program. At least 50 percent of program funding would go to providing equipment and information on practices used to proactively and nonlethally deter wolf attacks on livestock. (PENDING)
SB 1272 (Menjivar) would mandate a six-month to one-year moratorium on administrative fines while delaying corrective action for certain building, plumbing, electrical, and structural or zoning violations — including conditions that can deteriorate into fire hazards, contaminated drinking water, and other emergencies before the grace period expires. (OPPOSE)
SB 1370 (Stern) would create a consolidated and expedited state permit review process for wildfire mitigation projects that comply with the Statewide Fuels Reduction Environmental Protection Plan and waive CEQA for those projects. (SUPPORT)
For additional information, contact the RCRC Government Affairs Team.