Bill > SB904

This bill, in response to wildfires, aims to streamline disaster recovery by requiring the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to report on state permitting requirements that hinder rebuilding efforts and to recommend suspensions of specific provisions within the California Building Standards Code (Title 24) to facilitate rapid, safe, and cost-effective reconstruction of properties damaged or destroyed by wildfires. Additionally, HCD will collaborate with local governments to develop procedures for expedited permitting and approval processes for residential properties, with the goal of issuing necessary permits within 30 days. A key provision mandates that, upon a wildfire-related state of emergency, all state agencies and local government entities involved in disaster response, debris removal, reconstruction, housing, or land-use permitting must accept electronic submissions for all related applications and requests, unless in-person filing is technically infeasible, and must publish information on their websites about electronic filing methods. This requirement, however, exempts counties with populations under 100,000 and cities within those counties. The bill also includes a clause stating that if the Commission on State Mandates determines the bill imposes state-mandated costs on local agencies, reimbursement will be provided according to existing statutory procedures.

Housing and Urban Affairs

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB904