CalChamber Status Report

Infeasible Mandates on Nitrogen Fertilizer Application. AB 2447 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Imposes scientifically unsupported, legislatively mandated deadlines on California farmers before the State’s own expert panel has finished determining what is even achievable — threatening thousands of agricultural jobs, driving up food costs for California families, and dismantling the very programs currently providing safe drinking water to affected communities. Oppose/Cost Driver 2026.

• Held in Assembly Appropriations 5/14/26; Failed Deadline

Golden Mussels. AB 2032 (Ransom; D-Stockton) Strengthens California’s ability to rapidly prevent, mitigate, and control invasive golden mussels in water supply systems and public waterways. Support.

• Signed—Chapter 817

Grants California Air Resources Board (CARB) Sweeping New Authority to Regulate Indirect Sources Statewide. AB 1777 (Garcia; D-Rancho Cucamonga) Authorizes broad, undefined statewide regulation of facilities that attract mobile sources of emissions, driving new compliance costs across key sectors and increasing prices for goods and services. Oppose/Cost Driver 2026.

• Assembly Inactive File 5/28/26

New Permitting Barriers for Job-Creating Projects in Disadvantaged Communities. SB 1075 (Reyes; D-San Bernardino) Creates new permitting barriers and opportunities for frivolous California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) litigation for commercial and industrial projects in disadvantaged communities, increasing uncertainty for job creation and risking tax-base erosion. Oppose/Cost Driver 2026.

• Held in Assembly Appropriations 8/13/26; Failed Deadline

Increases Consumer Fuel Choice and Lowers Transportation Costs. AB 2046 (Ransom; D-Stockton) Creates a clear pathway for E85 conversion kits, enabling drivers to access lower-cost fuel options and reduce exposure to gasoline price volatility. Support

• Held in Senate Appropriations 8/13/26; Failed Deadline

Significant Expansion of Antitrust Law. AB 1776 (Aguiar-Curry; D-Winters) As introduced, created an unprecedented expansion of antitrust law, leaving every business of every size in California vulnerable to massive legal liability. Cost Driver status removed with amendments removing the bill’s most damaging components, but CalChamber remained opposed due to concerns about the new liability standards and the bill’s incompatibility with federal antitrust law. Oppose/Former Cost Driver 2026.

• Signed—Chapter 826

Sweeping Change to State’s Antitrust Law. SB 1074 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Would have a chilling effect on the development of digital tools used by California consumers and small businesses. Oppose/Cost Driver 2026.

• Failed passage in Senate Privacy, Digital Technologies and Consumer Protection 4/20/26; Failed Deadline

CEQA Expansion. AB 2170 (Boerner; D-Encinitas) Proposes to eliminate CEQA exemptions and ministerial review processes if certain types of projects are sited near “overburdened communities” and forces all environmental review documents to be translated into other languages, thereby exposing lead agencies and project applicants to new litigation liability. Oppose/Cost Driver 2026.

• Held in Assembly Appropriations 5/14/26; Failed Deadline

CEQA Expansion. AB 2569 (Hart; D-Santa Barbara) Significantly expands CEQA environmental impact report requirements, which will increase litigation exposure and costs for a permitting process that already causes some of the longest and most costly project delays in the country. Oppose/Cost Driver 2026.

• Held in Assembly Appropriations 5/14/26; Failed Deadline

Accelerated Building Plan Approval. Tenant Improvements. AB 1693 (Zbur; D-Hollywood) Streamlines permitting for tenant improvements at retail locations, while ensuring compliance with all applicable building, health, and safety requirements. Support/ Cost Cutter 2026.

• Signed—Chapter 827

CEQA Expansion. AB 40 (Bonta; D-Alameda) Substantially expands CEQA with new substantive environmental impact report (EIR) requirements for certain types of land uses, including ports, rail, warehouses, and the broader goods-movement infrastructure. The bill also bars EIR certification over significant air quality impacts unless enforceable mitigation is demonstrated, without defining the threshold, geographic scope, or how transportation-related impacts would be measured. Oppose.

• Signed—Chapter 864

Local Hospital Projects. AB 2231 (Ahrens; D-Sunnyvale) Ensures access to critical care through a narrow CEQA exemption for two hospital projects. Support.

• Signed—Chapter 926

Vehicles Miles Traveled (VMT) Mitigation Program Certainty. AB 2552 (Ávila Farías; D-Martinez) Affirms that a contribution to the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Implementation Fund constitutes full and complete mitigation for the transportation impacts addressed by that contribution. Support.

• Assembly Appropriations 4/29/26; Failed Deadline

Permit Streamlining for Data Centers. SB 887 (Padilla; D-Chula Vista) Sets onerous requirements that data centers must meet in order to qualify for permit streamlining, and prohibits them from receiving a categorical CEQA exemption. Oppose.

• Signed—Chapter 439

Advanced Manufacturing Facilities. SB 954 (Blakespear; D-Encinitas) Contained provisions that would have made CEQA exemptions more difficult to obtain for advanced manufacturing facilities. Masked as a clean-up of CEQA exemptions, the bill included a revision to advanced manufacturing projects to limit the exemption to “final tier” advanced manufacturing only and would have required proponents to significantly reduce air emissions including using 50% zero-emission back up generation as well as required enhanced wages and labor protections. This revision would have made the advanced manufacturing exemption likely unusable. Oppose.

• Vetoed