BOMA California End of Legislature 2026 Update

The 2026 legislative session ended last week, and BOMA California is releasing a report on what it means for the office, retail, and industrial real estate industry, designed as an easy-to-print handout capturing the breadth of the work BOMA California and its eight local associations do to advance and protect the commercial real estate industry.

The most significant win so far is his veto of SB 954 (Blakespear). We strongly opposed the bill because it would have pulled advanced manufacturing projects back into CEQA review after the SB 131 exemption and conditioned CEQA streamlining on a building certification standard that could not be demonstrated at the entitlement stage.

The Governor has signed several BOMA California-supported bills that will reduce time, cost and uncertainty for development.  

• AB 1834 (Patel) allows qualifying mixed-use projects to use a parcel map instead of a tentative and final map, streamlining approvals for projects that combine housing and commercial space.
• AB 2044 (Petrie-Norris) requires a completed cost-of-compliance estimate before new building standards can be approved or adopted, giving owners and developers better visibility into the cost of code changes.
• SB 963 (Laird) sets a 180-day timeline for Coastal Commission action on appealed permits after a substantial-issue finding and complete submittal, bringing a bit more predictability to the de novo review process.
• SB 1008 (Ochoa Bogh) exempts CPUC-ordered closures of unsafe railroad grade crossings from CEQA, allowing those safety actions to proceed without unnecessary delays.

The Governor signed SB 1398 (Rubio), which allows Green Globes as an alternative green building standard for qualifying state building projects.

Finally, he vetoed AB 1383 (McKinnor) a bill that would have rolled back pension reforms and increased costs for cities and counties, putting additional pressure on local budgets funded through property taxes, and impacting services and infrastructure critical to our industry.

Boyle Heights warehouse fire bills signed, with a call for changes next year

BOMA California sought a veto of SB 716 (Durazo), which increases local fines for certain violations involving nonresidential structures of 20,000 square feet or more. The Governor signed it along with AB 817 (González), which establishes contingency-fund requirements for certain large cold storage facilities. CBPA moved to neutral on AB 817 after significant amendments and an agreement to continue working on the measure next year.

In his signing message for both bills, Governor Newsom acknowledged these laws extend well beyond the warehouse fire that prompted them and called for further work next year to ensure the requirements are appropriately tailored and avoid unintended or disproportionate consequences. BOMA California will stay engaged in that work.

Read the Governor's Press Release addressing the Boyle Heights warehouse fire bill signings here and the bill signing messages here.

Data center bill package signed

On September 21, the Governor signed all five data center bills on which BOMA California requested vetoes: SB 886 (tariffs), SB 887 (CEQA review), AB 2383 (Fair Share in Energy Act), AB 1577 (reporting), and AB 2619 (water disclosure). We opposed these measures because of their potential effect on investment and the precedent they could set for other commercial and industrial properties. Read the Governor’s announcement.

The Governor has until September 30 to act on remaining bills, including BOMA California-sponsored AB 2418 (González), our broader nonresidential permit streamlining measure, and AB 1693 (Zbur), a companion measure that streamlines permitting for retail tenant improvements. We have requested his signature on both bills.