Committees in both the Assembly and Senate at the state capitol are considering many SPUR-sponsored and -supported housing bills aimed at reducing housing construction costs. The importance of these bills can’t be overstated. A recent research report by the RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness found that, in every cost category the authors considered, California is the most expensive state for multifamily housing production.
Over almost a decade, pro-housing production activists and advocates in Sacramento have pushed for more properly zoned sites for multifamily housing and for streamlined housing approvals and permitting.
Last year saw major policy breakthroughs, including Assembly Bill 130, the budget trailer bill, which included a broad California Environmental Quality Act exemption for environmentally friendly urban infill housing, and Senate Bill 79 (Wiener), which upzones sites for housing near high-quality transit stops. Now the focus is shifting to various policy levers that can reduce the cost of housing construction.
Housing Construction Innovation: Factory-Built Housing
In early December 2025, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks announced the establishment of the Assembly Select Committee on Housing Construction Innovation and led a series of committee hearings and visits to domestic and international manufactured-housing facilities to identify ways to reduce construction time and costs using innovative building methods and materials.
On March 2, the Select Committee announced the release of Potential Pathways to Scale Innovative Construction Methods in California, by UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation. The report provides evidence-backed research that supports legislative efforts to promote construction innovation and reduce “barriers that prevent promising methods from achieving scale and increasing overall housing production.” It also presents potential policy actions to guide the legislature on industrialized construction.
Then, on March 24, building on the work of the Select Committee and the Terner Center report, a bipartisan group of legislators announced a package of six bills aimed at bringing down the cost of construction to make housing more affordable.
Affordable Homeownership Opportunities
Another major theme in the legislature this year is affordable homeownership. Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Chris Ward are authoring SPUR-sponsored bills to reform laws related to condominium financing and construction.
AB 1406 (Ward) would reform California’s condominium pre-sale system to facilitate construction financing through the use of buyer deposits protected by a bond or other insurance instrument. The bill would raise “liquidated damages” from 3% to 6% when a buyer defaults to better reflect the associated risks and costs of contract cancellations and to discourage speculation. SPUR is cosponsoring the legislation with California YIMBY.
AB 1903 (Wicks) would restore the original intent of the “right to repair” law, SB 800 (Burton, 2002), by improving transparency in construction defect claims and allowing homeowners to have problems resolved quickly through repairs. The legislation would require completion of the pre-litigation repair process before any lawsuit may be filed and would improve the notice-of-claim process by requiring claimants to identify the location and observable evidence of alleged defects. The bill would establish a developer option to conduct third-party enhanced quality-control inspections during construction, enabling builders who repair defects to obtain a release once repairs are completed. SPUR is sponsoring this legislation with the California Building Industry Association, California YIMBY, the Housing Action Coalition, the Bay Area Council, the Council of Infill Builders, and Habitat for Humanity California.
Modernize State Density Bonus Law for Mixed-Income Developments
AB 2433 (Alvarez) would modernize California’s State Density Bonus Law to create greater flexibility and better align the law’s benefits with local inclusionary housing requirements and would ensure access to the full “stacked bonus,” including up to 100% density bonus, available under AB 1287 (Alvarez, 2023). The bill would affirm that the granting of a density bonus, incentive or concession, or waiver or reduction of development standards is not subject to any discretionary approval. To encourage homeownership, the bill would grant two additional incentives for projects that include for-sale units for low- and moderate-income families. SPUR is cosponsoring the legislation with Circulate San Diego, the Inner City Law Center, and the San Diego Chamber of Commerce.
Disclosure, Transparency, and Credit for Development Impact Fees
SB 1014 (Grayson) would require jurisdictions to provide housing project sponsors with a complete list of required offsite and onsite improvements within 30 days of their application for a housing development. The bill would prohibit local or state agencies from requiring any additional onsite or offsite improvements that were not disclosed to the project sponsor within 30 days of applying for a post-entitlement phase permit. SPUR is cosponsoring the legislation with California YIMBY.
SB 1036 (Grayson) would provide clarity and uniformity under the Mitigation Fee Act by requiring that all jurisdictions and special districts provide “credit” for any use previously on the project site if the redevelopment project and the prior use both cause the need for the service or facility funded by the impact fee. SPUR is the bill sponsor.
Cleanup of Urban Infill Brownfield Site for Residential Development
SB 1258 (Wiener) aims to make it easier to clean up certain hazardous waste sites so that they can be developed into housing. It changes when a public health agency must determine if a site is safe for development, allowing the site to qualify for a faster approval process under SB 35/423. By aligning site remediation timing with construction loans and activities, the legislation would ensure that more sites are properly remediated and that more climate-friendly infill housing is built on remediated sites. SPUR is cosponsoring this legislation with the Housing Action Coalition.
SB 328 (Grayson) would expedite and substantially reduce remediation costs for contaminated sites slated for housing by setting timelines for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to respond to permit requests for housing projects and by capping fees for reviewing the cleanup of sites not contaminated by the housing project sponsor. SPUR is cosponsoring this legislation with the Bay Area Council and the Housing Action Coalition.
Implementation of Existing Housing Approvals Streamlining Laws
AB 2390 (Schiavo) is clean-up legislation to improve implementation of SB 35 (Wiener, 2017) and SB 423 (Wiener, 2023), the landmark laws streamlining housing approvals. It would clarify that when determining whether a project site meets location restrictions, a local government’s review is limited to the area that will be physically disturbed by construction, rather than parcel lines. It would specify that modifications to an approved housing development must be evaluated using the same objective zoning, subdivision, and design review standards that were in effect at the time the original application was submitted. It would ensure that subsequent modifications are reviewed using the same assumptions and analytical methodology originally used by the local government, as well as in any prior modifications. Finally, it would clarify that extensions of project approvals during litigation apply to multiple modification requests, not just the developer’s first request. The bill is sponsored by SPUR.
AB 2118 (Hoover) AB 2011, the Affordable Housing and High Roads Jobs Act of 2022, created a streamlined pathway for affordable and mixed-income housing to be built on commercially zoned land near transit stops. To be eligible for ministerial review, projects must meet objective development standards, pay a prevailing wage to their workforce, and fulfill inclusionary zoning requirements. On February 25, the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee held an oversight hearing to review AB 2011 implementation and outcomes, including successes and challenges. AB 2118 addresses two of the remaining obstacles to full implementation by clarifying that state permits approvals, along with local approvals, are to be granted ministerially and by proscribing the application of development standards that limit or prohibit mixed-use development proposals on the site. The bill is sponsored by the Student Homes Coalition, and SPUR is providing testimony in support.