New California Laws 2026
ation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. SB 398, Umberg. Election crimes: payment based on voting or voter registration. This bill prohibits a person from paying or offering to pay money or other valuable consideration to another person to register to vote or vote. An act to add Section 18107.5 to the Elections Code, relating to elections. SB 621, Grove. Voter registration: military and overseas voters. Allows the vote by mail (VBM) bal- lot of a military or overseas voter to arrive up to three days after the election and still be counted, provided that the ballot is postmarked by the United States Postal Service or the Military Postal Service Agency on or before election day. An act to repeal Section 3108 of the Elections Code, relating to elections. SB 760, Allen. Behested payments: public appeal for payment. This bill exempts from reporting re- quirements any payments that result from an offi- cial’s broad public appeal. An act to amend Section 84224 of the Government Code, relating to the Political Reform Act of 1974. SB 851, Cervantes. Elections. This bill makes changes to state law to protect California’s elections from interference. An act to amend Sections 15371, 15372, 15375, 15400, 18545, 18568, 19006, 19101, 19212, 19215, 19284, and 19290 of, and to add Section 21 to, the Elections Code, relating to elections, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. 2025 Assembly Energy & Utilities Laws AB 365, Schiavo. The Justin Kropp Safety Act: electrical utilities: AED availability at worksites. Requires electric utilities, and their contractors and subcontractors to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) available for emergency use at each worksite where two or more utility workers are performing work on electrical transmission and dis- tribution lines above 601 volts. An act to add Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Sec- tion 8310) to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity. AB 368, Ward. Energy: building standards: pas- sive house standards. Requires the California En- ergy Commission (CEC) to evaluate the cost-effec- tiveness of passive house building energy efficiency standards by climate zone and submit a report to the Legislature on its findings. An act to add Section 25402.17 to the Public Re- sources Code, relating to energy. AB 420, Petrie-Norris. Public utilities: property, franchises, and permits: exemption. Exempts cer- tain sales of large investor-owned utilities (IOU) property valued at $100,000 or less from review by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Authorizes the value threshold to increase with the cost of inflation. An act to amend Section 851 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.
AB 428, Blanca Rubio. Joint powers agreements: water corporations. This bill grants private water corporations the same authority as mutual water companies to enter into a risk-pooling joint powers authority or agreement. An act to amend Sections 990.8 and 6525 of the Government Code, relating to water corporations. AB 523, Irwin. Metropolitan water districts: proxy vote authorizations. This bill allows, until January 1, 2030, certain members of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) board to as- sign a proxy to cast their vote under specified con- ditions. An act to amend, repeal, and add Section 52 of the Metropolitan Water District Act (Chapter 209 of the Statutes of 1969), relating to metropolitan water dis- tricts. AB 531, Rogers. Geothermal powerplants and projects: certification and environmental review. Ex- pands the types of facilities eligible to be certified as environmental leadership development projects by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to include geothermal powerplants and projects that comprise multiple geothermal powerplants on a single site. An act to amend Section 25545 of the Public Re- sources Code, relating to energy. AB 737, Quirk-Silva. Energy: building decarbon- ization: notice and recordation of a decarbonization charge. Adds “gas corporations” to the entities re- quired to provide notification of any utility charges associated with a property – usually for an energy efficiency upgrade – for new tenants or homeowners to review, known in statute as a “decarbonization charge.” These charges would be a financial obliga- tion on the new tenant or homeowner. An act to amend Sections 8375, 8376, and 8377 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy. AB 825, Petrie-Norris. Independent System Op- erator: independent regional organization. This bill authorizes the California Independent System Oper- ator (CAISO) and the electrical corporations whose transmission is operated by the CAISO to use volun- tary energy markets governed by an independent regional organization (RO) if specified requirements are met. An act to amend Section 337 of, to add Sections 345.1, 345.2, 345.6, and 399.16.5 to, to repeal Section 352 of, and to repeal Article 4 (commencing with Sec- tion 355), Article 5 (commencing with Section 359), and Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 359.5) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of, the Public Utili- ties Code, relating to electricity. AB 1017, Boerner. Energy: electrical and gas corporations: general rate cases. This bill requires specified data and information as part of an energy utility’s general rate case (GRC) application filing at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). An act to add Section 740.23 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy. AB 1104, Pellerin. Net energy metering: construc- tion of renewable electrical generation facilities: public works project requirements. Makes changes regarding labor laws governing construction of larg-
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