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CAL.Regulation

California broadens the Gambling Control Commission attorney seat to regulatory or gaming law experience

AB 2793 (Chapter 409), approved September 20, amended Business and Professions Code Sections 19800 and 19812 so that the attorney seat on the five-member California Gambling Control Commission requires 'regulatory or gaming law experience' rather than only 'regulatory law experience.' The commission's structure, party-balance cap, and cooling-off rules for gambling-establishment employment were unchanged.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California keeps securities fee schedule funding the Financial Protection Fund

AB 2795 (Chapter 410), approved September 20, restated Corporations Code Section 25608, the fee schedule the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation charges for securities filings, broker-dealer and investment adviser certificates, examinations, and hearings. All fees collected under the section go to the Financial Protection Fund.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California lets gift-certificate issuers sell sub-$15 printed stock through 2028 with point-of-sale notice

SB 1078 (Chapter 420), approved September 20, added Civil Code Section 1749.52, letting gift-certificate issuers sell through December 31, 2028, certificates printed with a cash-redemption threshold lower than the statutory amount, if the certificates were manufactured or printed before April 1, 2026. Issuers must post a notice in at least 24-point font at each point of sale stating that certificates with cash value under fifteen dollars are redeemable in cash.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California sets 48-month expiration for approved tentative subdivision maps

SB 1169 (Chapter 423), approved September 20, rewrote Government Code Section 66452.6 so that an approved or conditionally approved tentative subdivision map expires 48 months after approval, plus any local-ordinance extension of up to 36 months. Where the subdivider must spend at least $236,790 on offsite public improvements, each phased final-map filing extends expiration by 48 months, up to 10 years from approval.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California caps retention on public architecture and engineering contracts at 5 percent

SB 1205 (Chapter 424), approved September 20, added Public Contract Code Section 7204, capping retention on design-bid-build contracts and amendments entered on or after January 1, 2027, between a public entity and an architecture or engineering firm at 5 percent. Withheld retention must be released within 60 days after the firm's services are complete, regardless of project completion. Higher retention requires a pre-bid substantially-complex finding.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California lets officers and code enforcement boot vehicles of repeat illegal dumpers with delinquent fines

SB 1218 (Chapter 425), approved September 20, added Vehicle Code Section 22651.10, authorizing peace officers and salaried code-enforcement employees to immobilize a vehicle on a highway or public lands when the registered owner has five or more delinquent illegal-dumping violation notices, or two or more delinquent commercial-quantity dumping notices. Release requires identification, proof of payment or an active payment plan, and current registration.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California requires estate representatives to notify the child-support agency of a decedent's death

SB 1264 (Chapter 427), approved September 20, added subdivision (e) to Probate Code Section 9202, requiring a general personal representative or estate attorney with actual knowledge of a court-ordered child support obligation to notify the Director of the Department of Child Support Services within 90 days after letters are first issued. The duty applies to estates where letters are first issued on or after January 1, 2027.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California authorizes instructional alcohol tasting events under new tied-house exception rules

SB 1273 (Chapter 428), approved September 20, amended Business and Professions Code Section 25503.56, the tied-house exception for instructional tasting events on qualifying off-sale premises. Authorized licensees may conduct consumer tastings of wine, beer, or distilled spirits with per-person caps — one-fourth ounce for spirits, one ounce for wine, eight ounces of beer per day — and no charge may be made.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California exempts day care centers in residential areas from CEQA review

SB 299 (Chapter 413), approved September 20, added Section 21080.68 to the Public Resources Code, exempting from the California Environmental Quality Act any project consisting exclusively of a day care center located in a residential area. Existing law already exempted day care centers outside residential areas. The exemption excludes projects within 3,200 feet of active oil or gas extraction or refining facilities and projects on natural and protected lands.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California extends battery producer stewardship to medium-format batteries with per-county collection minimums

SB 501 (Chapter 414), approved September 20, amended the Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022's stewardship-plan requirements in Public Resources Code Section 42422.1, extending the extended-producer-responsibility program to medium-format batteries. Plans must provide free-at-drop-off collection in every county: at least 10 sites per county or one per 15,000 people for small format, and at least five sites per county or one per 30,000 people in larger counties for medium format.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California

Rulings this week

All court orders

CAL.Regulation

California directs its air board to build a hydrogen sulfide response framework for unregulated sources

SB 58 (Chapter 411), approved September 20, added Section 41514.7 to the Health and Safety Code, directing the State Air Resources Board to develop a response framework for fugitive and natural sources of hydrogen sulfide gas. The board must consult local air districts, health and emergency agencies, tribes, and community organizations, hold at least three public workshops, and estimate implementation resources.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California requires body-worn camera policies to add a patient-footage redaction procedure by July 2027

SB 691 (Chapter 416), approved September 20, added subdivision (c) to Penal Code Section 832.18, requiring every law enforcement agency with a body-worn camera policy to add, by July 1, 2027, a procedure letting emergency service personnel request redaction — before any public release — of recordings showing a patient receiving medical or psychological evaluation, procedure, or treatment. Redaction may include blurring patient care and muting audio.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

Sacramento County and five cities must form a joint powers authority for housing and homelessness by January 2028

SB 802 (Chapter 417), approved September 20, enacted the Sacramento Regional Housing and Homelessness Joint Powers Authority Act, requiring Sacramento County and the cities of Sacramento, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, and Folsom to establish a joint powers authority by January 1, 2028. The authority assumes oversight of the Sacramento City and County Continuum of Care, sets system performance goals, and coordinates prevention, outreach, shelter, and housing programs.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California requires qualifying cities and counties to offer remote building inspections for specified residential work

AB 1738 (Chapter 271), approved September 18, added Section 17970.9 to the Health and Safety Code, requiring California cities and counties to offer homeowners and their contractors the option of remote building inspections for specified residential work, including heat-pump installations, reroofs, small photovoltaic systems, and smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors. Larger agencies must comply by January 1, 2028; small agencies that issue remote inspections by July 1, 2028.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California orders utility-rate review so data centers bear grid costs

SB 1168 (Chapter 440), signed September 21, requires the Public Utilities Commission, in a new or existing proceeding, to assess rate-structure opportunities ensuring data centers pay a reasonable share of transmission and distribution costs, their proportionate share of load increases and procurements, consistent with integrated resource planning. The review must also alleviate cost pressures on residential ratepayers, including CARE and FERA program customers.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California conditions data-center CEQA streamlining on zero-carbon power, water, and community terms

SB 887 (Chapter 439), signed September 21, added data centers to California's environmental leadership development project program under the California Environmental Quality Act, opening a path to expedited judicial review. To qualify, a project must prepay interconnection costs, add no fossil fuel use, install four-hour zero-carbon storage at peak demand, use recycled or waterless cooling, reach 100 percent zero-carbon electricity within five years, and sign an enforceable community benefits agreement.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California assigns data centers interconnection, transmission-upgrade, and stranded-cost risks

SB 886, the California Technology Innovation and Ratepayer Protection Act (Chapter 438), signed September 21, directs the Public Utilities Commission to establish interconnection and service tariffs for large data centers by January 1, 2028. Tariffs must prevent stranded costs and cost shifts to other customers, assign transmission upgrade costs to the data center, impose early termination fees for departures within ten years, and require utilities to publish maps of low-upgrade interconnection sites.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California folds data-center demand into urban water-shortage planning

AB 2619 (Chapter 437), signed September 21, adds data-center electricity demand to the factors shaping urban water-shortage contingency planning. Urban water suppliers must incorporate the unconstrained demand of data centers, irrigation, and other large users into their annual water supply and demand assessments, weighing weather, growth, and supply-management policies for the current year and one dry year against available supply, infrastructure constraints, and shortage response actions.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California conditions data-center approvals on water-supply and workforce disclosures

AB 2469 (Chapter 436), signed September 21, bars cities and counties from approving permits for data-center construction or water-use-increasing expansions unless the applicant supplies a water supply assessment, a water scarcity plan beginning in 2028, projected water use and efficiency measures, and workforce disclosures. Applicants must bear the full cost of required water infrastructure improvements. Meeting the conditions does not obligate the locality to approve the project.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California requires data-center tariffs that prevent ratepayer cost shifts

AB 2383 (Chapter 435), signed September 21, requires the Public Utilities Commission to order electrical corporations to file transmission, distribution, and generation tariffs for data centers that keep incremental costs off other ratepayers. Community choice aggregators and electric service providers must adopt equivalent generation tariffs by January 1, 2028. The tariffs must run at least ten years, with upfront collateral, minimum payments tied to projected load, and early termination fees.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California requires large data centers to report energy and operating metrics

AB 1577 (Chapter 434), signed September 21, requires owners or operators of data centers with at least 10 megawatts of electrical capacity to report energy and operating data to the California Energy Commission at energization and annually thereafter. The commission must publish the data in anonymized, aggregated form on its website and assess data-center electricity load trends in its biennial Integrated Energy Policy Report beginning in 2029.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California authorizes incentive payments for recycled beverage-container materials

AB 2481 (Chapter 403), signed September 20, adds Public Resources Code section 14549.1, authorizing CalRecycle, subject to available funds, to pay quality incentive payments per beverage-container material type: up to $60 per ton for color-sorted glass used to make glass beverage containers in California, up to $30 per ton for other glass products, up to $180 per ton for resin-sorted plastic, and up to $125 per ton for clean aluminum. Only one payment per container is allowed.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California lets localities authorize official-duty OHV use on highways

AB 2453 (Chapter 400), signed September 20, adds Vehicle Code section 21100(p), authorizing local authorities to regulate off-highway motor vehicle operation by peace officers and first responders on highways within their jurisdiction during official duties. The locality must adopt a publicly reviewed policy or plan posted on its website, limiting highway operation to five miles for accessing off-highway areas or patrol locations and specifying activities, timeframes, and required training and safety equipment.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California raises county pest-control registration fee caps

AB 2380 (Chapter 397), signed September 20, raises the maximum total registration fee for a pest control business to register in its home county from $25 to $75, with a $50 maximum for an additional county. It also raises the maximum fees for pest control aircraft pilots, pest control advisers, and Structural Pest Control Board registered companies in their home and additional counties, including fumigation registration and fees for adding operators and field representatives.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California requires electronic funds transfer for alcohol wholesale payments

AB 2375 (Chapter 396), signed September 20, requires licensed retailers' payments to licensed wholesalers for beer, wine, or distilled spirits to be made by wholesaler-initiated electronic funds transfer, received no later than 30 days after delivery. Cash, check, or money order is allowed only in specified cases such as failed transfers or temporary permits. Each party pays its own processing costs, and retailers may not accept rebates or incentives from the wholesaler's chosen processor.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California extends Broomrape Program to 2030 and revises weed funding

AB 2326 (Chapter 395), signed September 20, extends the Broomrape Program in the Department of Food and Agriculture by two years to July 1, 2030, and expands assessed commodities from processing tomatoes to any broomrape-impacted commodity the secretary specifies. It revises Noxious Weed Management Account rules so the 60 percent control-and-abatement share goes only to eligible weed management areas, and raises the administration cost cap from 10 to 25 percent. The bill appropriates continuously appropriated funds.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California grants Martinez tidelands under public-trust conditions

AB 2312 (Chapter 394), signed September 20, grants tidelands trust lands to the City of Martinez to hold as trustee for maritime and water-dependent commerce, navigation, fisheries, scientific study, open space, wildlife habitat, and water-oriented recreation. The city may not alienate the lands and may lease them for up to 66 years at fair rent, with longer terms requiring State Lands Commission approval. The state reserves highway use, public fishing rights, and archaeological, historical, and mineral deposits.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California directs PUC to weigh consolidating load-serving-entity plans by 2030

AB 2266 (Chapter 389), signed September 20, requires the Public Utilities Commission, by January 1, 2030, to consider consolidating the procurement plans load-serving entities file under specified provisions into a single plan. Where feasible, the commission must consolidate compliance reporting for reliability requirements and explain in a decision or ruling if consolidation is not feasible. Commission-issued reporting templates must be final at least 30 business days before reports are due.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
CAL.Regulation

California accepts verified e-signatures for mobilehome lien releases from 2028

AB 2174 (Chapter 386), signed September 20, requires the department, beginning January 1, 2028, to accept verified electronic signatures — digital signatures meeting Government Code section 16.5 attributes — on documents releasing or satisfying a legal owner's security interest in manufactured homes, mobilehomes, commercial coaches, truck campers, and floating homes, with the same force as an original signature. The 120-day escrow moratorium on competing title-record amendments is retained.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California