Skip to content
Back to Land Use Reform Tracker

State Land Use Enacted Legislation

Bill # State Year Party Topic

AB 1485

CA 2023 D Enforcement, Planning Requirements

Provided by Furman

Summary

  • Expands SB 35 streamlined ministerial approval for Bay Area developments by allowing projects with 10+ units to qualify by dedicating 20% of units to households at or below 120% AMI, with an average income at or below 100% AMI, rather than the standard 10% at or below 80% AMI threshold.
  • Clarifies that a development is consistent with objective planning standards if substantial evidence would allow a reasonable person to reach that conclusion, and excludes underground space from the two-thirds residential square footage calculation.
  • Provides that approvals not meeting the 50% affordability threshold are valid for three years from final action or final judgment, and remain valid while vertical construction is in progress.
  • Expands CEQA exemptions to cover actions by state agencies, local governments, and BART to lease, convey, or encumber land, and to approve improvements on that land, when related to a streamlined affordable housing development.
  • Requires local governments to issue subsequent permits if applications substantially comply with the approved development, and prohibits imposing procedures on those permits that don’t apply to non-streamlined developments.
  • Modifies the definition of “subsidized” for workforce requirement purposes to remove the permanent affordability requirement for very low and lower income households.

Provided by lawmakers

Bill Title

Housing element: enforcement: Attorney General

Related resources