Assembly committee advances package on housing, solar and permitting; San Diego SANDAG board change held

In a hearing of the California State Assembly Government Committee, members voted to advance a group of bills targeting permitting, housing production and renewable energy while declining to move a measure that would change how San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) board seats are selected.

The package included measures to speed restaurant openings (AB 671), expand a solar easement program for water-constrained farmland (AB 1156), require centralized permit-tracking portals in larger cities (AB 920), allow limited SB 9-type development in historic districts with design limits (AB 1061), create temporary-permitted manufactured-housing pathways after disasters (AB 818), clarify post-entitlement permit timelines (AB 660), authorize third-party inspections for small residential projects (AB 1308 / AB 13 08), and allow downtown revitalization financing districts statewide (AB 1445). Committee members approved most of those bills as amended and referred them to the next committee(s) listed below.

Why it matters: Committee members and industry witnesses said the bills aim to reduce predictable, administrative delays that increase costs and deter housing and business investment, and to modernize an underused solar easement program so lands with severe water limits can be repurposed for permitted renewable energy projects. Supporters characterized the package as part of a broader “fast‑track” effort to accelerate permitting timelines and downtown recovery after the pandemic. Opponents urged more local input on several items and raised equity and farmland-preservation concerns on others.

What the committee did

Votes at a glance: - AB 24 (DiMaio) — SANDAG board composition: held in committee without recommendation after failing to receive a second. The author sought to allocate one of the two county-appointed SANDAG seats to an Association of Planning Groups representative to give unincorporated, rural communities a guaranteed voice; committee members requested more local input. (Status at hearing: held/left open.)

- AB 671 (Wicks) — Restaurant permitting: passed as amended to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. The bill creates an optional front-end plan-review pathway that lets qualified architects and engineers self-certify conversions of existing facilities to restaurants, with randomized audits and remaining inspection requirements. Support: California Restaurant…