Everything cities need to know about the heated last days of session

Sep 2, 2026

By Cal Cities Staff  

The legislative session came to a rather explosive end on Tuesday afternoon. After days of heated negotiations, Assembly leadership killed a high-profile wildfire liability compromise bill — for now. Assembly leadership pledged to hold hearings on the issue this fall. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the proposal’s original architect, noted he is “here until January” and wasn’t done with the issue.

“We will continue to tackle the difficult but critically important issue of wildfire reform,” said Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas on Tuesday. “The proposal before us does not yet deliver the relief, accountability or meaningful reform that Californians deserve. So, we are going back to work — and we will not stop until we have done everything in our power to deliver real results.”

But while the last-minute scramble sucked all the oxygen out of the room, it was hardly the only high-profile issue that lawmakers had to deal with in the waning days of California’s two-year session. Legislators also took action on key data center, pension, climate spending, and license plate reader bills — with some favorable results for cities.

The Governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the hundreds of bills. Here are the top bills that cities should consider advocating on over the next four weeks.

- Brian Hendershot, Cal Cities Advocate managing editor 

Environmental Quality 

Wildfire liability negotiations between the Governor, the Assembly Speaker, and the Senate Pro Tem broke down in the final days of the legislative session. Introduced early on Saturday, SB 492 (Becker) focused on speeding up support to wildfire survivors and developing a statewide wildfire mitigation strategy and data sharing platform. The bill also sought to limit attorney’s fees, outlaw wildfire claim sales by private equity groups, and restrict utility CEO compensation. The bill did not include any limits on public agency recovery, a major win for Cal Cities.

On Tuesday, the Assembly decided not to vote on the bill due in part to pushback from utilities, builders, and electrical workers, who argued that SB 492 didn’t fully address the financial liability risks that utilities face when their equipment causes wildfires. Although the measure stalled, it is clear that the issue will come before lawmakers again. Cal Cities’ advocacy this year laid strong groundwork for future policy conversations about wildfire liability.

Also swirling in the late hours of dealmaking was a second allocation of climate bond funding. Cal Cities testified in support of the budget bill — which contains funding for water supply, wildfire prevention, coastal resilience, extreme heat, and microgrid — before the Assembly budget committee. The measure passed on Tuesday morning.

Also included in the wrap-up budget actions was a partial allocation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The California Air Board earlier this year gave the manufacturing industry more allowances, taking away from the fund. Next year’s budget discussions will likely try to address this shift.   

Two tribal bills also made it to the Governor’s desk. AB 2218 (Kalra) creates a statewide water tribal policy. AB 1881 (Ramos) allows tribes or tribal members to sue the state, as well as sue or veto any state actions on public lands that impact their religious freedom. Cal Cities is urging the Governor to veto both measures; state policy implementation impacts cities that coordinate, receive funding, and are permitted by the state.

Two high-profile data center bills are pending action from the Governor as well. Cal Cities supports AB 1577 (Bauer-Kahan), a bill that provides more energy usage information to cities when siting data centers. AB 2469 (Papan), which Cal Cities opposes, stops cities from approving data centers unless the applicant includes specific water supply information. This information is helpful, but conditioning permits like this will create new challenges for cities.

Other priority bills include: 

  • AB 1642 (Harabedian) Wildfires: contamination standards
    Cal Cities Request: Sign
  • AB 1761 (Rogers) Electricity: calculation methodology: data disclosure
    Cal Cities Request: Sign
  • AB 762 (Irwin) Disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation device: prohibition

    Cal Cities Request: Sign

  • AB 2667 (Hadwick) Vape products: household hazardous waste: advertising

    Cal Cities Request: Sign

  • AB 2739 (Soria) Water: affordability and system stabilization
    Cal Cities Request: Sign
  • SB 1370 (Stern) Covered wildfire mitigation projects: consolidated and expedited review
    Cal Cities Request: Sign

- Melissa Sparks-Kranz, legislative advocate 

Governance, Transparency, and Labor Relations 

Legislators sent several notable labor measures to the Governor for approval, including AB 1383 (McKinnor). The measure rolls back key provisions of the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act. Cal Cities is urging the Governor to veto the measure, citing its potential to increase long-term costs for cities and taxpayers.

The Legislature also passed SB 577 (Laird), a late-breaking bill that seeks to address expensive lawsuits related to childhood sexual assault claims and broader public entity liability reform. While Cal Cities appreciates the Legislature’s efforts to address a complex and sensitive issue, Cal Cities argued that the bill falls short of the meaningful reforms needed to address escalating public agency costs. Cal Cities urged lawmakers to adopt true reforms that ensure long-term fiscal sustainability and emphasized that communities need a framework that both protects survivors and preserves essential services.

Another bill, AB 2656 (Petrie-Norris), requires local agencies to provide unions with at least 45 days’ notice before developing, buying, or requiring the use of generative artificial intelligence to perform work within a represented bargaining unit. Cal Cities and a broad coalition are urging the Governor to veto the measure, arguing that it would create burdensome requirements, duplicate existing obligations, and slow local agencies’ ability to evaluate and implement tools that can improve efficiency and public service delivery.

Cal Cities is asking the Governor to sign two beneficial bills. AB 1821 (Pacheco), a Cal Cities co-sponsored measure, changes the timeline for responding to public records requests from calendar days to business days. This would ensure local agencies have the intended number of working days to conduct thorough searches, review records, and make required redactions. The bill responds to a sharp increase in both the volume and complexity of public records requests.

SB 1187 (Durazo) removes certain Brown Act language-access requirements enacted under SB 707 (Durazo) last year, including agenda translation and certain language-access service requirements for eligible legislative body meetings. The reforms preserve local agencies’ ability to voluntarily provide additional language-access services while addressing implementation challenges and costs.

- Johnnie Piña, legislative advocate 

Housing, Community, and Economic Development 

The Cal Cities-sponsored AB 2296 (Papan) passed the Legislature with unanimous bipartisan support. The measure gives cities an extra six months to complete their housing elements and get them approved by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Due to implementation issues and at the request of several regional planning bodies, cities with a housing element deadline in the 2027, 2028, and 2029 calendar years would not qualify for the additional time during the 7th Regional Housing Needs Allocation Cycle but would benefit in the 8th cycle.

Unfortunately, two bills opposed by Cal Cities also passed with bipartisan support and are on the Governor’s desk. Cal Cities is requesting a veto on AB 1751 (Quirk-Silva), which requires cities to automatically approve townhome development projects that are less than three stories tall in multifamily residential zones and vacant single-family lots. A townhome project could qualify even if the site is planned for higher density in a city’s certified housing element, forcing cities to find new housing sites to maintain compliance with state housing element law.

Cal Cities is also requesting a veto on SB 1117 (Cervantes). The measure dramatically limits the amount of impact fees cities can collect for up to two accessory dwelling units larger than 750 square feet on single-family lots. This could frequently result in a large reduction in local government funding for infrastructure and public services that support livable, equitable, and thriving communities, the need for which does not go away if fees are reduced.

 Other priority bills include: 

  • AB 1621 (Wilson) Planning and Zoning Law: postentitlement phase permits: Housing Accountability Act
    Cal Cities Request: Veto
  • AB 1457 (Bryan) General plan: environmental justice element: disadvantaged communities

    Cal Cities Request: Veto

  • AB 2166 (Carrillo) Multifamily housing development: offsite housing factories: backstop financing
    Cal Cities Request: Sign

- Brady Guertin, legislative advocate 

Community Services 

Cal Cities' sponsored recovery housing bills, SB 329 (Blakespear) and SB 490 (Umberg), unanimously passed out of the Assembly and are headed to the Governor. The measures respond to a state audit that found the state failed to thoroughly investigate complaints against residential alcohol and drug treatment facilities.

This is the third time Cal Cities has sponsored a bill with Sen. Umberg that allows the state to leverage local capacity to respond swiftly to violations, and the first time the legislation has made it all the way to the Governor.

During the legislative process, the state department that oversees these facilities requested amendments that would have removed key components of the proposal — which Cal Cities ultimately decided not to accept. As a result, the Governor could veto SB 490 at the department’s request. Letters from cities demonstrating strong local support can help make the case that these important reforms should be signed into law.

A Cal Cities-supported homelessness prevention bill, AB 1924 (Gabriel), also advanced to the Governor. The measure directs the state to develop California’s first comprehensive homelessness prevention strategy, including model best practices for local agencies. This represents a policy shift from responding to homelessness to preventing it in the first place.

Other priority bills include: 

- Caroline Grinder, legislative advocate 

Public Safety 

Cal Cities helped send several key public safety bills to the Governor, including AB 1941 (Gonzalez, M). Co-sponsored by Cal Cities, the measure increases penalties for organized metal theft. SB 758 (Umberg) — also co-sponsored by Cal Cities — is also pending on the Governor's desk. The bill prohibits the sale of nitrous oxide by retailers that hold a tobacco license, with an exemption for grocery stores. Both houses unanimously approved the measure.

In a win for cities, SB 1013 (Cervantes), which could have prohibited cities from utilizing automatic license plate readers, was held on the Assembly Floor. While the bill was amended to partially address data retention concerns, the measure still could have adversely impacted law enforcement’s ability to conduct criminal investigations. Cal Cities opposed the measure.

Major wildfire mitigation measures and insurance reforms supported by Cal Cities are also now pending on the Governor's desk, including AB 1934 (Bennett), AB 2724 (Bauer-Kahan), SB 877 (Pérez), and SB 1301 (Allen).

 Other priority bills include: 

  • AB 1632 (Johnson) Trespass
    Cal Cities Position: Support (Held)
  • AB 2076 (Lowenthal) The Parent’s Accountability and Child Protection Act: online marketplaces: nitrous oxide    
    Cal Cities Position: Sign
  • SB 747 (Wiener) Civil rights: deprivation of federal constitutional rights, privileges, and immunities  
    Cal Cities Request: Veto
  • SB 907 (Archuleta) Driving under the influence and other driving offenses: comprehensive reform  
    Cal Cities Request: Sign
  • SB 936 (Blakespear) Nitrous oxide: sales. 
    Cal Cities Request: Sign

- Jolena Voorhis, legislative advocate 

Transportation, Communications, and Public Works 

Two key e-bike measures, SB 1167 (Blakespear) and AB 2346 (Wilson), advanced to the Governor’s desk. The bills strengthen e-bike labeling and advertising requirements, update classifications, improve consumer disclosure requirements, and ensure higher-powered vehicles are appropriately regulated. If signed, the Cal Cities-supported measures would join the already-signed AB 1569 (Davies) and AB 1614 (Dixon) — all informed by Cal Cities’ working group, roundtables, and surveys with members.

Cal Cities successfully blocked Gov. Newsom’s proposal to create a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) tax credit of up to $300 million annually. The proposal, which the administration has pushed since last fall, would have redirected revenues intended for local transportation projects to subsidize SAF production despite uncertain climate benefits. Its exclusion protects critical funding for local streets, roads, and other transportation infrastructure.

Other priority bills include: 

- Damon Conklin, legislative advocate 

Revenue and Taxation 

SB 922 (Laird), a measure sponsored by Cal Cities that deals with road repair, is ahead of the curve. The Governor signed the measure late last month. This will give cities the certainty they need to recover the cost of street maintenance and repair caused by public service operations, such as waste hauling, through service-related fees and charges. This bill is a response to the decision issued in Rogers v. City of Redlands, which created significant uncertainty and legal exposure and jeopardized millions in road repair dollars.

Still on the Governor’s desk is AB 2640 (Hadwick). The measure prevents the state from clawing back reimbursement funds from a city while still owing that same city money for other state-mandated costs. This is a common-sense fix that protects local budgets and gives cities more flexibility over how state reimbursement disputes are resolved.

Two other Cal Cities-supported bills are also awaiting the Governor’s signature: SB 1005 (Caballero), a measure that would provide guidance for local agencies impacted by the end of penny production, and SB 1172 (Hurtado), which would place guardrails around consultant compensation in tax-sharing agreements.

- Ben Triffo, legislative advocate 

Next steps 

Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto any legislation on his desk. Cal Cities also maintains a live list of priority bills, sample letters, and their statuses. To learn how you can make your voice heard, contact your regional public affairs manager.