Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) and Senate Bill 131 (SB 131): Housing and Public Resources Budget Bills

Overview

On June 30, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two budget trailer bills—Assembly Bill (AB) 130 and Senate Bill (SB) 131—enacting significant reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), along with a broad range of additional changes to land use and housing law. These provisions took effect immediately on July 1, 2025. On October 11, 2025, the Governor signed SB 158, which amended several sections enacted by AB 130 and SB 131. The California Legislative Information site includes a complete statement of AB 130, SB 131, and SB 158.

Eligibility Requirements

The changes include but are not limited to:

CEQA exemption for certain urban infill housing development projects (Public Resources Code Section 21080.66), with additional tribal consultation requirements.
Narrowed CEQA analysis for projects that would be otherwise exempt “but for a single condition,” CEQA review is limited solely to the effects caused by that single condition (Public Resources Code Section 21080.1).
CEQA exemptions for certain community-serving and infrastructure projects, including but not limited to qualifying day care centers, nonprofit food bank or pantry, agricultural employee housing, public park/non motorized trail facilities, and others.
Amendments to the Permit Streamlining Act, including agency approval or disapproval within 60 days of receiving a complete application for ministerial projects.
New mitigation strategies to be developed by the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to address significant vehicle miles traveled (VMT) impacts.

Removal of several sunset dates of the Housing Accountability Act and Housing Crisis Act (SB 330) (add ink).

Implementation

Applicants should review the County’s Urban Infill Housing CEQA Exemption Project Eligibility Checklist in the “Related Documents” section below. The proposed project must meet all provisions in the “Eligibility Requirement” column.

Qualifying projects will be subject to standard conditions of approval (see Related Documents), per the State legislation and must comply with processing requirements, including tribal consultation.

Tribal consultation includes:

Tribal notification via certified mail and email with relevant project information
Tribal consultation period, which allows for a 60-day period where tribes may notify the County for a request for consultation. The consultation must be completed in 45 days, with one 15-day extension.

Certain conditions of approval must be applied to the project, unless both the tribe and applicant agree they need not be applied.

Resources

Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Technical Assistance Page for AB 130 and SB 131.