Assembly passes package of bills on police oversight, housing, energy and consumer protections

SACRAMENTO — The California State Assembly on May 20, 2025, passed a broad slate of bills on topics ranging from law‑enforcement oversight to housing, energy and consumer protections, moving dozens of measures out of the House of Origin with largely bipartisan votes.

The session’s most contested debate centered on Assembly Bill 847, which clarifies that local law‑enforcement oversight commissions may review police personnel files as part of their investigatory powers. Assemblymember Sharice Sharp Collins, the bill’s author, said the measure ‘‘clarifies existing law that law enforcement oversight commissions, which are already given subpoena power, can in fact review police personnel records to determine if law enforcement behaved appropriately and where discipline is required.’’ She told colleagues the bill also ‘‘adds an additional layer of protection by approving the commissions for closed sessions to further protect the confidentiality of any records.’’ The Assembly approved AB 847, 41‑13.

Why it matters: supporters framed AB 847 as a transparency measure to help civilian oversight bodies do investigations; labor groups representing officers raised privacy and due‑process concerns during debate.

Other notable measures the Assembly passed include:

- AB 1 (Connolly) — Insurance wildfire programs: requires the Department of Insurance to review the Safer from Wildfires regulations every five years beginning Jan. 1, 2030. Debate focused on the start date; Assemblymember DeMaio warned the 2030 start ‘‘delays relief’’ for homeowners facing rising premiums. Vote: 61‑0.

- AB 6 (Ward) — Missing‑middle housing code: directs the Department of Housing to allow small, three‑to‑ten‑unit ‘‘missing middle’’ projects to use residential building standards rather than the more burdensome commercial code, a change the author said could lower construction costs by as much as 30%. Vote: 61‑0.

- AB 325 / AB 3 25 (Madam Majority Leader Agriya Curry) — Antitrust and algorithmic price fixing: modernizes state…