California’s new housing laws: every housing bill Gavin Newsom signed and vetoed in 2026
Governor Gavin Newsom signed 97 housing bills in 2026 and vetoed 7. Most of the new laws take effect on January 1, 2027. Here is each one in a sentence, grouped by who it affects, with its chapter number, the date it was signed and when it takes effect.
Checked against the enacted text of each bill as chaptered · Updated
At a glance
- Signed
- 97 housing bills, from June to September 30, 2026; 66 of them on September 29 and 30.
- Vetoed
- 7 housing bills.
- In effect
- January 1, 2027 for most. 14 took effect when signed, and some rules start later.
- On the ballot
- Proposition 1, an $11.25 billion housing bond, on November 3, 2026.
- Where the list comes from
- The Legislature’s bill database; summaries paraphrase Legislative Counsel’s digest of each bill.
When the new laws take effect
Under the California Constitution, a law passed in a regular session takes effect on the January 1 after a 90-day period from its enactment, so almost every bill below becomes law on January 1, 2027. Urgency statutes, tax levies and a few other kinds of law take effect immediately. These 14 did: SB 328, SB 344, SB 722, AB 2329, SB 1090, SB 1426, AB 2692, SB 296, SB 417, AB 179, AB 1294, AB 672, AB 2270 and AB 1265.
Many laws also set later dates for particular duties, such as a state report or a new program, which the summaries note where they matter.
Building and approving homes
Zoning, permits, subdivision maps, density bonuses, CEQA and housing elements.
Three of these amend SB 79, the 2025 law on housing near transit, which our California housing laws page explains.
Building and approving homes: housing bills signed in 2026
| Bill | Author | What it does | Signed | In effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB 2074 Ch. 797 | Haney | By July 1, 2027, requires large transit-rich cities to designate at least one regional transit hub district, where downtown housing that meets labor standards gets streamlined, ministerial approval. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1116 Ch. 808 | Caballero | Expands the Starter Home Revitalization Act: height limits are measured in feet rather than stories, front and internal setbacks are limited, and the law is to be read in favor of the most homes. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1751 Ch. 781 | Quirk-Silva, Wicks | The Missing Middle Townhome Ownership Act: ministerial approval for townhome projects that meet objective standards, on lots as small as 600 square feet. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2601 Ch. 955 | Lee | Lets a project of up to two homes in a single-family zone be processed at the same time as its urban lot split map. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1621 Ch. 780 | Wilson | Limits building permit review to two rounds of plan checks, and bars inspectors from requiring changes that depart from approved plans. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1014 Ch. 806 | Grayson | Lets housing applicants ask for an estimate of the onsite and offsite improvements a city will require, due within 30 business days. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2390 Ch. 799 | Schiavo | Requires cities to approve changes to streamlined projects that meet the objective standards in effect when the project was first filed. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2118 Ch. 579 | Hoover | Bars cities’ objective standards under the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 (AB 2011) from limiting mixed-use projects. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1085 Ch. 1004 | Durazo | Speeds water supply checks for housing: cities must ask water systems within 15 days, and for certain projects the systems must answer within 45. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1169 Ch. 423 | Grayson | Lengthens the life of an approved tentative subdivision map to 48 months, with up to 36 more by local extension, including maps still valid on December 31, 2026. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1834 Ch. 43 | Patel | Extends a Subdivision Map Act exception to land in tracts zoned for mixed-use development, including mixed use with homes. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1256 Ch. 1024 | Jones | Until 2032, bars a Subdivision Map Act lawsuit that repeats the claims of a CEQA lawsuit against the same defendant. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1738 Ch. 271 | Carrillo | Requires cities to offer remote inspections for permitted work on one- and two-unit homes, starting in 2028. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2044 Ch. 136 | Petrie-Norris | Bars the Building Standards Commission from adopting a building standard without a completed estimate of what compliance will cost. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1815 Ch. 782 | Wicks, Quirk-Silva | Bars local building standards for factory-built housing that go beyond the state building code, except for local climate, geology or topography. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2058 Ch. 783 | Harabedian, Wicks | Updates the Factory-Built Housing Law: optional installation inspections by quality assurance agencies, and caps on local inspection fees. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2433 Ch. 800 | Alvarez | Revises the Density Bonus Law, including letting an applicant with a base density study take its bonus as added floor area. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 939 Ch. 790 | Schultz | Lets a density bonus project meet its for-sale affordability requirement by selling to a nonprofit for lower-income buyers in a below-market loan program. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2480 Ch. 801 | Ávila Farías | Revises density bonus rent rules for student housing, and adds a further bonus for projects with more units for lower- and moderate-income students. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1383 Ch. 1032 | Arreguín | For buildings over 85 feet, a density bonus concession can’t be used to waive local labor standards that don’t exceed state requirements. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2181 Ch. 924 | Zbur | Bars valuing land under an operating hotel or motel for ground rent under an existing lease based on density bonuses that are not yet entitled. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1344 Ch. 811 | Cabaldon | Raises to $1 million the bond a court may require from a plaintiff suing to stop certain low- and moderate-income housing projects, and covers behavioral health housing. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 916 Ch. 805 | Ashby | Applies the same lawsuit bond rule to student housing developments. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 958 Ch. 788 | Weber Pierson | Under CEQA, a qualifying project’s environmental effects from added building height alone can’t be treated as significant. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1732 Ch. 792 | Alvarez, Wicks | Extends a CEQA exemption for affordable housing to 2037 and adds public university and college housing. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 328 Ch. 785 | Grayson | Changes the Surplus Land Act’s exempt land rules, including for the former Concord Naval Weapons Station if a quarter of its homes are affordable to lower-income households. | When signed | |
| SB 344 Ch. 786 | Weber Pierson | Deems San Diego’s environmental impact report for the Midway Rising mixed-use project complete under CEQA. | When signed | |
| SB 722 Ch. 100 | Wahab, Wiener | Excludes mobilehome parks and RV parks from SB 79’s transit-oriented housing rules. | When signed | |
| AB 2576 Ch. 214 | Harabedian | Excludes sites in historic districts, and individually listed historic resources, designated before 2025 from SB 79’s transit-oriented housing rules. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1361 Ch. 1027 | Durazo | Bars a city with an existing or planned SB 79 transit stop from taking specified actions against transit agencies and transit projects. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 457 Ch. 802 | Becker | By July 1, 2028, the state housing department must publish formulas cities may use to estimate how many homes their housing element sites can realistically hold. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2296 Ch. 798 | Papan | Lengthens deadlines in the regional housing needs allocation process for future housing element cycles. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1573 Ch. 524 | Bryan | Lets a housing element’s target population include survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2110 Ch. 381 | Johnson | Creates workforce housing enhanced infrastructure financing districts, which may issue bonds with two-thirds voter approval; homes they fund stay affordable by recorded covenant. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2397 Ch. 938 | Ta | Requires a city to make findings before abandoning a planned critical housing infrastructure district under the community facilities district law. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2263 Ch. 930 | Kalra | Lets the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority buy land and build affordable rental and for-sale housing for its employees and the public. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2329 Ch. 937 | Fong | Sets a condition-adjusted price, based on 2019 values, for selling surplus state-owned homes in Pasadena and South Pasadena. | When signed | |
| SB 1090 Ch. 1006 | Pérez | Until 2030, suspends ministerial lot-split and related approvals for new applications in Altadena (ZIP codes 91001 and 91003) after the Eaton fire. | When signed | |
| SB 904 Ch. 771 | Seyarto | After a wildfire that destroys many buildings, the state housing department must identify state and local permitting rules that could be suspended to speed rebuilding. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1072 Ch. 322 | Senate Housing Committee | The annual housing omnibus: technical changes across housing law, including how owners of assisted housing must give notice to local agencies. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1426 Ch. 56 | Senate Housing Committee | Reorganizes the rules for cities’ annual housing progress reports, without changing what they require. | When signed |
Renters, landlords and mobilehome residents
New rules for rental listings, leases, assisted housing and mobilehome parks.
SB 996 follows the federal change to manufactured housing explained on our manufactured housing page.
Renters, landlords and mobilehome residents: housing bills signed in 2026
| Bill | Author | What it does | Signed | In effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SB 1296 Ch. 1025 | Durazo | Landlords must have a written pet policy and share it on their website, in ads, with rental search sites and with every application. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2025 Ch. 572 | Pellerin | Rental ads that use digitally altered photos must say so and include the unaltered image. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2689 Ch. 958 | Ávila Farías | In fully affordable tax-credit housing, makes household income above 140% of area median for two years good cause not to renew a lease, with advance notice. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2128 Ch. 922 | Haney | Bars housing authorities and other covered providers from imposing time limits or work requirements on assistance, unless federal law requires them. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1160 Ch. 681 | Durazo | Requires county courts to report eviction case data to the Judicial Council by ZIP code, phased in from 2033. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1957 Ch. 279 | Pacheco | Limits post-foreclosure bidding rights on one- to four-unit homes to tenants and qualifying community nonprofits. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1817 Ch. 793 | Addis | A mobilehome park’s notice of a rule violation must quote the rule, state the facts and say what the resident must do. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1093 Ch. 775 | Allen | After a disaster, mobilehome park management must give displaced residents regular status updates and access to their homes. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2596 Ch. 953 | Gipson | A mobilehome park that leaves a federal housing program must still follow the Mobilehome Residency Law and other state and local law. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 635 Ch. 866 | Ahrens | The state housing department must refer mobilehome residency complaints to nonprofit legal services providers, through grants running by July 1, 2029. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2174 Ch. 386 | Johnson | The state housing department must accept electronic signatures to release liens on manufactured homes by January 1, 2028. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 996 Ch. 995 | Padilla | Matches state law to the federal definition of a manufactured home, with or without a permanent chassis; state rules are due July 1, 2027. | Jan. 1, 2027 |
Homeowners, ADUs and HOAs
Accessory dwelling units, homeowners associations, mortgages and property tax.
Homeowners, ADUs and HOAs: housing bills signed in 2026
| Bill | Author | What it does | Signed | In effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB 956 Ch. 791 | Quirk-Silva | Cities must approve up to two detached, newly built accessory dwelling units on a lot with a single-family home, on any lot zoned to allow one. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1117 Ch. 809 | Cervantes | Fees on an accessory dwelling unit larger than 750 square feet may be charged only on the space above 750. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 908 Ch. 787 | Wiener | Voids HOA rules and deed restrictions that block replacing windows with energy-code-compliant ones, while allowing reasonable installation rules. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1684 Ch. 887 | Ward | Voids HOA rules and deed restrictions that bar installing or using a code-compliant cooling system. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2050 Ch. 796 | Caloza | From 2032, HOA reserve studies must set a minimum yearly contribution that keeps reserves above zero for 30 years, and associations must fund it. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1892 Ch. 169 | Davies | HOAs must repair gas, heat, water or power outages that start in common areas; changes notice timing for elections. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 739 Ch. 506 | Jackson | HOA boards must review their managing agent’s fees every year. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1267 Ch. 350 | Allen | Owners of EV chargers in HOA common areas are responsible for damage they cause; installers must indemnify the association. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2035 Ch. 916 | Dixon | Lowers the vote needed to amend a declaration to more than 37% in certain senior HOAs whose declarations have not changed in 35 years. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2692 Ch. 124 | Irwin | In Los Angeles County, until 2028, lets HOAs reinstate declarations that expired at the end of their initial term. | When signed | |
| AB 1842 Ch. 241 | Harabedian | The California Mortgage Relief Act: mortgage forbearance of up to 12 months on homes made uninhabitable by a federally declared disaster. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1847 Ch. 242 | Harabedian | Extends wildfire mortgage forbearance to 24 months, with requests allowed until January 7, 2029, and lets borrowers defer the missed payments to the end of the loan. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1278 Ch. 877 | Harabedian | Interest on insurance payouts held by a mortgage servicer must be paid to the borrower at least once a year. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 296 Ch. 727 | Archuleta, Valladares, Schiavo | Exempts half of the first $1 million of value of a 100% disabled veteran’s home from property tax. | When signed | |
| SB 974 Ch. 665 | Seyarto | Treats a special needs trust as an eligible way to pass a home between generations under property tax rules. | Jan. 1, 2027 |
Affordable housing funding and finance
The housing bond on the November ballot, the budget bill, tax exemptions and state programs.
Proposition 1 is on the November 3, 2026 ballot. SB 417 placed the $11.25 billion Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act before voters. The Legislative Analyst’s Office analysis explains what it would fund and cost.
Affordable housing funding and finance: housing bills signed in 2026
| Bill | Author | What it does | Signed | In effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SB 417 Ch. 16 | Limón, Rivas | Places an $11.25 billion housing bond on the November 3, 2026 ballot as Proposition 1. | When signed | |
| AB 179 Ch. 68 | Assembly Budget Committee | The 2026 housing budget bill: state housing agencies must weigh local in-kind contributions when awarding funds, and unspent homelessness grants are reallocated. | When signed | |
| AB 1294 Ch. 778 | Haney | A partial property tax exemption, for 15 years, for rental housing serving low- and moderate-income households, for claims starting 2027 through 2029. | When signed | |
| AB 2089 Ch. 577 | Ward | Extends a welfare exemption rule for low-income rental housing through 2028–29, and makes counties accept electronic signatures and release tenant income forms by November 15. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 672 Ch. 868 | Caloza | Extends the property tax exemption for community land trusts to 2032. | When signed | |
| AB 2020 Ch. 795 | Gabriel | Lets the state housing department move residual receipts or excess reserves between rental developments with the same owner. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2185 Ch. 784 | Quirk-Silva, Wicks | State housing finance agencies must adjust their rules by July 1, 2027 to support factory-built housing. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 750 Ch. 803 | Cortese | The California Housing Finance Agency must study credit enhancements that could cut borrowing costs, with a final report by July 1, 2028. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 772 Ch. 804 | Cabaldon | Widens Infill Infrastructure Grant eligibility to more vacant infill sites and to areas covered by AB 2011. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1170 Ch. 810 | Durazo | Lets nonprofit housing developers join public agencies in joint powers agreements to pool insurance risk. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 750 Ch. 789 | Quirk-Silva | Lets the state housing department fund repairs and longer affordability for affordable developments at risk of conversion or in financial trouble. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1388 Ch. 1034 | Durazo | Creates a state program to help affordable housing providers reduce risk and find cheaper insurance. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1091 Ch. 807 | Caballero | Creates a program to buy and rehabilitate unrestricted housing and add long-term affordability, without displacing current residents. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 677 Ch. 974 | Wiener | Lets the state Treasurer approve bonds for rental projects when a member city of a joint powers authority will not, and changes subdivision map appeals. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 799 Ch. 980 | Allen | Expands the South Bay Regional Housing Trust to fund preservation and moderate-income housing. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 802 Ch. 417 | Ashby | By 2028, Sacramento County and five of its cities must form a joint powers authority on housing and homelessness. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2270 Ch. 931 | Arambula | Adds farmworker housing to state tax credit scoring, and bars tax credits for housing used to meet federal H-2A requirements. | When signed | |
| AB 1890 Ch. 905 | Aguiar-Curry | Up to $500,000 a year in state matching funds for farmworker housing in Napa County. | Jan. 1, 2027 |
Converting existing buildings
Two laws that touch reusing existing buildings as housing.
The main California law for converting offices and other buildings is AB 507, the Office to Housing Conversion Act, in force since July 1, 2026. The federal RESIDE Act would fund conversions of vacant buildings.
Converting existing buildings: housing bills signed in 2026
| Bill | Author | What it does | Signed | In effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB 2320 Ch. 935 | Ta | The state housing department must consider letting Homekey funds pay for adaptive reuse projects that substantially rehabilitate or rebuild an existing building. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1265 Ch. 515 | Haney | Renews the state tax credit for rehabilitating certified historic buildings for 2027 through 2031, without the 25% enhanced credit or the credit for owner-occupied homes. | When signed |
Homelessness programs
State strategy, recovery housing and programs for young people.
Homelessness programs: housing bills signed in 2026
| Bill | Author | What it does | Signed | In effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB 1924 Ch. 794 | Gabriel, Quirk-Silva | The state’s homelessness council must adopt a statewide homelessness prevention strategy by July 1, 2028. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2146 Ch. 923 | Stefani | The state’s homelessness council must study the coordinated entry system by July 1, 2028. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 1556 Ch. 779 | Haney | Sets conditions for state-funded recovery housing, including that relapse alone is not grounds for eviction and that overdose medication is kept on site. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2162 Ch. 582 | Bryan | Extends the Housing Navigation and Maintenance Program to young adults 18 to 28, with priority for former foster and probation youth. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 2766 Ch. 216 | Ahrens | Public colleges with student housing must give priority to current and former foster youth and homeless youth. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 479 Ch. 969 | Arreguín | Lets cities that run their own health departments form homeless adult and family multidisciplinary teams. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 692 Ch. 977 | Arreguín | Lets local agencies dismantle abandoned vehicles declared hazards that can’t be towed, after notice to the owner. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| AB 647 Ch. 867 | Mark González | Lets agencies in Alameda and Los Angeles counties dispose of abandoned RVs, until 2032. | Jan. 1, 2027 | |
| SB 1322 Ch. 697 | Richardson | Opens Community Care Expansion grants to tribes on terms consistent with federal tribal housing grants. | Jan. 1, 2027 |
Housing bills Newsom vetoed
Each reason is quoted from the governor’s veto message.
Housing bills vetoed in 2026
| Bill | Author | What it would have done | The governor’s reason | Vetoed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB 1165 | Gipson | The California Housing Justice Act of 2026: statewide finance plans and metrics for homelessness and housing affordability. | “this bill layers a new finance-planning and reporting mandate onto existing work at a time when the state should be focused on delivering programs and measuring results.” Message | |
| AB 1997 | Lee | Would have required a decision on certain deeply affordable housing projects within 30 days after their environmental impact report. | “this bill creates further statutory ambiguity by failing to clarify how its deadline applies to subsequent project approvals that rely on a program, master, or staged EIR.” Message | |
| AB 2166 | Carrillo, Wicks | Would have created state-backed credit for surety bonds issued to offsite housing factories serving multifamily projects. | “this novel program is estimated to require hundreds of millions of dollars in initial capitalization, funding that was not included in the state budget.” Message | |
| AB 2012 | Hoover, Wicks | Would have eased permit and escort rules for moving manufactured homes, factory-built housing and modular buildings. | “This bill would change longstanding permitting and escort requirements before the workgroup it creates has evaluated whether and how those requirements can safely be revised.” Message | |
| AB 306 | Schultz, Hadwick, Wicks | Would have let the Building Standards Commission hear more appeals of local building code decisions. | “this bill does not clearly explain how the Commission’s new appeals pathway would interact with the existing processes administered by the California Energy Commission, the State Historical Building Safety Board, and the Office of the State Fire Marshal.” | |
| AB 2439 | Blanca Rubio, Lowenthal | Would have limited HOA restrictions on public streets and added notice rules and liability for assessment collection. | “this bill would make an association liable for “any costs” a homeowner incurs because the association failed to follow assessment-collection procedures. The bill neither defines nor limits those costs.” | |
| SB 1238 | Wahab | Would have set a duty of care for HOA managing agents toward both the association and its members. | “Establishing a duty owed to both the association and its individual members could create conflicting obligations when a member’s interests diverge from those of the community as a whole.” |
How this list was made
We took every bill the governor signed or vetoed in 2026 from the Legislature’s bill database, as updated through October 2, 2026, and kept those heard in the Assembly or Senate housing committee, plus housing bills heard in other committees, such as CEQA exemptions for housing, the housing budget bill and tenant, mortgage and homeowner law. We left out bills whose final text was no longer about housing, and home insurance and energy rules. Chapter numbers, dates and authors are from each bill’s record; the summaries paraphrase Legislative Counsel’s digest, and each bill number links to its full text. Checked October 3, 2026.
Questions
What new housing laws did Gavin Newsom sign in 2026?
By our count from the Legislature's records, 97 housing bills, 66 of them on September 29 and 30. They include AB 2074, which requires large transit-rich cities to designate regional transit hub districts for downtown housing; SB 1116, which expands the Starter Home Revitalization Act; AB 956, which allows two detached ADUs on a single-family lot; AB 1751, the Missing Middle Townhome Ownership Act; and SB 417, which puts an $11.25 billion housing bond on the November 2026 ballot as Proposition 1.
When do California's new housing laws take effect?
Most take effect on January 1, 2027, the first January 1 at least 90 days after they were signed. 14 took effect the day they were signed, as urgency statutes or other laws the state constitution puts in force immediately. Some laws set later dates for particular rules, such as remote inspections in 2028 or HOA reserve funding in 2032.
What are the new California rental laws for 2027?
From January 1, 2027, landlords must have a written pet policy and share it in listings and with applications (SB 1296); rental ads that use digitally altered photos must disclose it and show the original (AB 2025); housing authorities may not impose time limits or work requirements unless federal law requires them (AB 2128); and owners of fully affordable tax-credit housing may decline to renew the lease of a household earning over 140% of area median income for two years, with notice (AB 2689).
What housing bills did Newsom veto in 2026?
7: AB 1165 (the California Housing Justice Act), AB 1997 (a 30-day decision deadline for some deeply affordable projects), AB 2166 (state-backed bonding for housing factories), AB 2012 (moving manufactured and modular homes), AB 306 (building code appeals), AB 2439 and SB 1238 (homeowners associations). His veto messages cited unclear legal standards, overlap with existing work, the need for safety review, and costs not in the budget.
Can I build two ADUs in California?
Starting January 1, 2027, under AB 956 (Chapter 791, Statutes of 2026), cities must approve up to two detached, newly built accessory dwelling units on a lot with an existing or proposed single-family home, on any lot zoned to allow single-family use. Separately, SB 1117 limits fees on an ADU over 750 square feet to the space above 750.
What is Proposition 1 on the November 2026 ballot?
The Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, placed on the ballot by SB 417 (Chapter 16). It would authorize $11.25 billion in state general obligation bonds for affordable housing, homeownership and the CalVet Home Loan Program. Voters decide on November 3, 2026; the Legislative Analyst's Office publishes a nonpartisan analysis.
Did Newsom sign AB 2074?
Yes, on September 29, 2026, as Chapter 797. By July 1, 2027, it requires large transit-rich cities to designate at least one regional transit hub district, where downtown housing that meets labor standards is an allowed use with streamlined, ministerial approval.
Do the new laws make it easier to convert offices to housing?
Two of them touch it: AB 2320 asks the state to consider Homekey funding for adaptive reuse, and AB 1265 renews the state historic rehabilitation tax credit through 2031. The main California conversion law is still AB 507, the Office to Housing Conversion Act, in force since July 1, 2026.
Sources
- California Legislature, “Bill information for each bill listed (leginfo)”
- California Legislative Counsel, “Legislative information downloads (pubinfo)”
- Office of the Governor, “Governor Newsom signs housing legislation, September 29, 2026”
- Office of the Governor, “Legislative update, September 30, 2026”
- Office of the Governor, “Legislative update, September 27, 2026”
- Office of the Governor, “Legislative update, September 18, 2026”
- Office of the Governor, “Veto message, AB 1165”
- Office of the Governor, “Veto message, AB 1997”
- Office of the Governor, “Veto message, AB 2166”
- Office of the Governor, “Veto message, AB 2012”
- Legislative Analyst’s Office, “Proposition 1 (November 3, 2026)”
- California Legislature, “California Constitution, article IV, section 8”
More California law: Office to Housing Conversion Act (AB 507) · California’s new housing laws and Ro Khanna
Federal law: The ROAD to Housing Act explained · Environmental review changes · CDBG and HOME changes · Opportunity Zones · The Innovation Fund · The Build Now Act · Manufactured housing and the chassis rule · How RESIDE grants should be sized · The ban on large investors buying homes