Carlsbad, CA
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The City Council's Legislative Subcommittee regularly reviews pending legislation affecting Carlsbad to ensure our city's interests are represented. The city takes a formal position on or sponsors certain legislation, based on the City Council's legislative platform.
State legislation
AB 87 Housing development: density bonuses
City Position: Support
Would update California’s Density Bonus Law to ensure that development incentives support long-term residential housing -- requiring that at least 70 percent of an eligible project’s total square footage be designated for residential use, while excluding hotels, motels, bed and breakfast inns, and other visitor-serving uses.
AB 237 Crimes: threats
City Position: Support
Would make it a crime for any individual to willfully issue a threat—via any medium, including digital platforms—against daycare centers, schools, universities, workplaces, houses of worship, and medical facilities, regardless of the individual's intent to carry out the act.
AB 253 California Residential Private Permitting Review Act: residential building permits
City position: Oppose
Would authorize an applicant to contract with a private professional to perform a residential plan check if a city estimates that completing the plan check will exceed 30 days—or fails to complete the review within that timeframe. Upon receiving a third-party report, a city would have 14 days to respond or issue a permit, or the permit would be deemed approved.
AB 259 Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences
City position: Support
Removes the sunset date that allows governing bodies to meet remotely when certain criteria are met.
AB 306 Building regulations: state building standards
City position: Oppose
Would place a six-year moratorium on local governments’ ability to adopt or amend local building standards beyond those contained in the California Building Standards Code (with limited exceptions related to water, fire safety, and human health), thereby limiting the city’s ability to respond to the unique needs and priorities of our community.
AB 379 Crimes: prostitution
City Position: Support
Would increase penalties for those who solicit sex or operate facilities, such as hotels, that knowingly allow sex trafficking activity to occur without intervention. Would reinforce protections for minors, particularly 16- and 17-year-olds, by ensuring that they are treated as victims rather than offenders.
AB 424 Alcohol and other drug programs: complaints
City position: Support
Would increase accountability and transparency into how the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) processes complaints against licensed alcohol and drug treatment facilities.
AB 492 Alcohol and drug programs: licensing
City position: Support
Would require the California Department of Health Care Services to notify local governments upon issuing licenses for residential alcohol or drug recovery facilities located within their jurisdiction.
AB 610 Housing element: governmental constraints: disclosure statement
City position: Oppose
Would require local governments to include a governmental constraints disclosure statement in their housing elements. and prohibit the adoption of new or amended housing and land-use regulations deemed to be "governmental constraints" unless previously disclosed or required by law.
AB 650 Planning and zoning: housing element: regional housing needs allocation
City position: Support
Would allow local governments to begin the housing element update process six months earlier, provide greater certainty and reduce ambiguity in the housing element review process, and ensure that local governments have adequate time to respond to Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) review letters.
AB 996 Public Resources: sea level rise plans
City Position: Support
Would authorize the California Coastal Commission, when approving a local coastal plan or an amendment to a local coastal plan, to deem existing sea level rise information or plans prepared by a local government to satisfy the content requirements for a sea level rise plan. The bill would also create a voluntary early consultation process for cities and counties to consult with the commission to ensure formal submission of sea level rise plan materials are sufficient for a complete review.
AB 1337 Information Practices Act of 1977
City Position: Oppose
Would subject cities, counties, school districts, and other local entities to rigorous notice, disclosure, training, and breach notification obligations, as well as strict limitations on how personal information can be collected, maintained, and used, in accordance with the Information Practices Act of 1977. Would expand the definition of "personal information" to include categories such as biometric identifiers, genetic data, geolocation information, and neural data. Would require local agencies to develop and implement new procedures, systems, and staff training across all departments without financial support from the state.
SB 35 Alcohol and drug programs
City position: Support
Would require the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to act promptly upon receiving allegations of unlicensed alcohol and drug treatment facilities, empower local entities—including city attorneys—to pursue enforcement, and mandate disclosures of financial interests or control over unlicensed recovery residences.
SB 79 Local government land: public transit use: housing development: transit-oriented development
City position: Oppose
Seeks to allow and streamline the approval of taller, higher-density housing near major transit stops by limiting the ability of local jurisdictions to deny certain multi-family housing developments, and exempting certain transit-agency-owned projects from CEQA.
SB 92 Housing development: density bonuses
City Position: Support
Would provide that cities and counties are not required to approve, grant concessions, or waive development standards otherwise applicable to a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other transient lodging, other than a residential hotel, as a part of a housing development subject to California’s Density Bonus Law. Would also provide that a concession or incentive granted under DBL shall not result in a project with a commercial floor area ratio (FAR) that is more than 2.5 times the allowed base zone commercial FAR.
SB 239 Open meetings: teleconferencing: subsidiary body
City position: Support
Would allow remote, on-camera participation in meetings by non-decision-making subsidiary bodies of local agencies, under certain conditions.
SB 315 Quimby Act
City position: Oppose
Would limit the amount of land a local agency can require for parkland dedication to no more than 25% of the total acreage of an infill housing development. It would also cap the acreage used to calculate in-lieu park mitigation fees and prohibit the imposition of those fees entirely if the development is located within one-half mile of an existing park.
SB 329 Alcohol and drug recovery or treatment facilities: investigations
City Position: Support
Would require the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to complete timely investigations into complaints about alcohol or drug treatment facilities. Would require DHCS to assign a complaint to an analyst within 10 days of receipt and provide 60 days for an investigation.
SB 346 Local agencies: transient occupancy taxes: short-term rental facilitator
City position: Support
Would provide cities with the assessor parcel number of each short-term rental listed on a rental facilitator’s website and full audit authority of Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) dollars. These changes would ensure the correct amount of TOT is being collected and remitted and would allow for more efficient enforcement against unlicensed units.
SB 358 Mitigation Fee Act: mitigating vehicular traffic impacts
City position: Oppose
Would require that vehicular traffic impact fees for infill housing and transit-oriented developments be set at a rate at least 50% lower than for other developments, thereby limiting the city’s ability to adequately address the infrastructure demands associated with new housing.
SB 496 Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation: appeals advisory committee: exemptions
City position: Support
Would establish an Appeals Advisory Committee by which local agencies may request a review of exemption request denials in cases where, for reasons beyond their control, fleets cannot meet the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) transition compliance timetables laid out in the state’s Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) regulations.
SB 569 Department of Transportation: homeless encampments
City position: Support
Would require the Department of Transportation to develop district-specific joint action plans in collaboration with local governments, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, allocate funds to support collaborative efforts to address homeless encampments located on department property.
SB 677 Housing development: streamlined approvals
City position: Oppose
Would modify state housing laws to further streamline approvals for duplexes, fourplexes and multi-family developments in certain areas by eliminating cities’ ability to apply design and planning standards that ensure compatibility with existing neighborhoods.
SB 707 Open meetings: meeting and teleconference requirements
City position: Oppose unless amended
Would require all City Council meetings to include real-time public participation via two-way telephonic or audiovisual platforms and halt business during service disruptions.
Would require cities to translate agendas into all languages spoken by 20% or more of the local limited-English proficient population, provide a space for community-submitted translations, even if they are inaccurate or misleading, and create and maintain multi-language webpages with agendas, instructions, and meeting procedures, without providing the resources or flexibility needed to implement these mandates.
SB 741 Coastal resources: coastal development permit: exemption: Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor
City Position: Support
Would expand the emergency exemption from the coastal development permit process to include urgent repair and maintenance of existing railroad infrastructure along the Los Angeles–San Diego–San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor.
Federal legislation
H.R. 973 Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act
City Position: Support
Would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a final consumer product safety rule for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in micromobility devices, such as electric bikes and electric scooters – requiring manufacturers and distributors of such products to comply with the applicable safety standards established by the American National Standards Institute.
H.R. 2786 Resilient Coasts and Estuaries Act of 2025
City Position: Support
Would revitalize federal efforts to strengthen and protect lagoons and estuaries. Would reauthorize and enhance the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) - reviving funding for CELCP at $60 million per year and expanding program eligibility to include nongovernmental organizations.
H.R. 3217 Stop Child Hunger Act
City Position: Support
Would provide families who have children eligible for free and reduced-price school meals with an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card to use when school is not in session, such as during summer or winter break, or when schools are operating remotely or are closed for a natural disaster.
H.R 1267 Water Systems PFAS Liability Protection Act
City Position: Support
Would exempt public water utilities and municipalities with a stormwater discharge permit from liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) for releases of certain perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as PFAS.