The 2025 legislative session got off to a chaotic start. At the midpoint, we’ve moved bills from our watch list to support and oppose positions and added bills created through a process called gut-and-amend, where a bill that isn’t moving forward becomes a vehicle for an entirely new measure. Hang on; it’s a bumpy ride.

Funding measures move forward

SB 63, the bill authorizing a ballot measure for regional transit funding, authored by Senators Scott Wiener and Jesse Arreguin, passed the Senate and is now being considered in the Assembly. We hope to see amendments to the bill, particularly after a recent poll showed stronger voter support for a business gross receipts tax than the sales tax currently proposed as a funding mechanism in the measure.

Two measures, one in the Assembly and its twin in the Senate, would authorize an affordable housing bond for the 2026 ballot. AB 736, introduced by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, passed the Assembly and has moved on to the Senate. SB 417, introduced by Senator Christopher Cabaldon, is parked in the Senate and could move forward if needed; for now, everything rests on AB 736. 

Cap-and-Trade reauthorization

California’s Cap-and-Trade Program (now renamed Cap-and-Invest) is one of Transform’s top legislative priorities. The program, which is set to expire in 2030, is on track to be renewed this year. However, things got tricky when Governor Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision rolled the Cap-and-Invest extension into the budget plan to bail out a budget deficit.

The legislature is more concerned with reforming Cap-and-Invest and will likely take it up again as a policy bill later in the session, separating it more fully from the budget process. 

It’s critical that we get the next iteration of Cap-and-Invest right. The money from carbon auctions should fund successful programs like Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC), which reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions while providing much-needed homes, transit facilities, and active transportation infrastructure. It should also continue to fund public transit and environmental justice priorities. 

Cap-and-Invest shouldn’t continue the loopholes from the original program, which give multinational oil companies a license to pollute in our state and leave $1 billion in potential revenue on the table. Transform and our coalition partners continue to advocate for changes as the program is reauthorized.

Road usage charge becomes a two-year bill

This year marks the start of a two-year legislative session. Some bills will pass this year, some will fail, and a few will become two-year bills. That’s the fate of the Road Usage Charge Study Bill, AB 1421, introduced by Assemblymember Lori Wilson. The bill extends a study initiated in 2014 to examine road usage fees as an alternative to the gas tax. This policy has taken on some urgency, as more Californians drive electric vehicles and gas tax revenue declines. Transform remains focused on replacing the gas tax in a way that advances equity and redirects money to sustainable transportation options rather than more roads.  

Bills we oppose

One of the bills we’re opposing this year has become a two-year bill, and the other passed its first house and is moving forward.

More parking, fewer homes

Senator Aisha Wahab’s SB 381 has become a two-year bill. The original version of the bill reversed a law passed several years ago that unbundled parking spaces and the costs of parking from rental or condo costs, a move that Transform strongly opposes. If this measure is revived next year, we will work to keep a parking unbundling provision from becoming law. 

More highways, fewer birds

Transform opposes most projects to add highway lanes, but the planned widening of State Route 37 is a particularly wasteful project. It will pour millions of dollars into a segment of highway that will soon be underwater because of climate change, so we oppose the Highway Through Sensitive Habitat Bill, AB 697, which clears the way for this short-sighted project by waiving California environmental rules and allowing construction to kill endangered species in the wetlands adjacent to the roadway.

Bills Transform supports

We have a long list of excellent bills we are supporting this legislative session. Most of them are moving forward. One died and one became a two-year bill. 

Bills moving forward

• Slow School Zones (AB 382, Berman): This bill allowing slower speeds around schools passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Transportation Committee.
• Transit Passes for LA Community College Students (AB 861, Solache): So far, so good for the latest attempt to provide free transit passes to students; this bill passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Rules Committee.
• Caltrans Quick-Build Pilot (AB 891, Zbur): This measure, which will allow Caltrans to use quick-build methods more widely to apply rapid fixes to road hazards, passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Rules Committee.
• Bicycle Highways (AB 954, Bennett): The bill to pilot two regional bike highway networks passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Transportation Committee. 
• Lower Speed Limits on State Roadways (AB 1014, Rogers): This bill, which allows more leeway for lowering speed limits on state-controlled roads, passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Transportation Committee.
• Transportation Resilience Assessment (AB 1132, Schiavo): The requirement to assess the climate resilience of our transportation systems has become a two-year bill.
• VMT Mitigation Fund for Affordable Housing Bill (AB 1244, Wicks): This excellent bill, which was a late addition to our support list, would allow developments that need to mitigate added VMT to contribute to a state fund to build affordable, transit-oriented developments (TOD). It passed the Assembly and is in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
• CEQA Exemption for Transit, Bike, and Pedestrian Projects (SB 71, Wiener): This bill makes permanent earlier temporary environmental review exemptions for active transportation projects. It passed the Senate and is in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
• Rent Control Preservation Act (SB 522, Wahab): This bill applies rent control to the units built to replace rent-controlled housing destroyed due to disasters, which is an increasingly frequent occurrence. It passed the Senate and is in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.
• Housing for the People (SB  772, Wahab): This bill, added after our initial legislative priorities list, prohibits corporations from snapping up single-family residences, slowing a process that has contributed to the lack of affordable housing. It passed the Senate and is in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.

Two-year bills

• Transportation Resilience Assessment (AB 1132, Schiavo): The requirement to assess the climate resilience of our transportation systems has become a two-year bill.

One that didn’t make it

• Transit Board Members Ride the Bus (AB 1070, Ward): This bill requiring transit board members to use the systems they govern died in the Assembly.

Legislative watch list

We are still watching a number of bills, without taking an oppose or support position. 

Watch list bills moving forward

• AB 36 (Soria) Housing elements: prohousing designation; passed the Assembly, now in the Senate.
• AB 314 (Arambula) California Environmental Quality Act: major transit stop; two-year bill.
• AB 394 (Wilson, D) Crimes: public transportation providers; passed the Assembly, now in the Senate.
• AB 609 (Wicks) Housing Accountability Act; passed the Assembly, now in the Senate.
• AB 1207 (Irwin) Market-based climate change compliance; passed the Assembly, now in the Senate.
• AB 1223  (Nguyen) Local Transportation Authority and Improvement Act: Sacramento Transportation Authority; passed the Assembly, now in the Senate.
• AB 1275 (Elhawary) Regional housing needs: regional transportation plan; passed the Assembly, now in the Senate.
• AB 1340 (Wicks) Metropolitan Transportation Commission: duties; passed the Assembly, now in the Senate.
• SB 73 (Cervantes) California Environmental Quality Act: exemptions; died in the Senate.
• SB 79 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: housing development: transit-oriented development; passed the Senate, now in the Assembly.
• SB 262 (Wahab) Housing element: prohousing designations: prohousing local policies; passed the Senate, now in the Assembly.
• SB 358 (Becker) Mitigation Fee Act: mitigating vehicular traffic impacts; passed the Senate, now in the Assembly.
• SB 445 (Wiener) Sustainable Transportation Project Permits and Cooperative Agreements; passed the Senate, now in the Assembly.
• SB 695 (Cortese) Preparing transportation systems for climate change; passed the Senate, now in the Assembly.
• SB 840 (Limón) Greenhouse gases impact reporting; passed Senate, now in the Assembly.

Bills that didn’t make the cut

• AB 590 (Lee) Social Housing Bond Act of 2026; died in the Assembly.
• AB 939 (Schultz) The Safe, Sustainable, Traffic-Reducing Transportation Bond Act of 2026; died in the Assembly.
• ACA 4 (Jackson) Homelessness and affordable housing; in the Assembly Appropriations suspense file.
• SB 492 (Menjivar) Youth Housing Bond Act of 2025; died in the Senate.

The legislative landscape is clearer now than it was at the beginning of the session, but there will still be plenty of changes to come. Transform will continue to work to improve the legislation we’re monitoring to ensure the best outcomes for our planet and our people.