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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

95

Introduced by Senator Jones

February 19, 2026

An act to add and repeal Section 66499.39 to of the Government Code, relating to land use.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: no   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires that an action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul specified acts or decisions of a public agency on the grounds of noncompliance with CEQA be commenced in accordance with specified timeframes.

Existing law, the Subdivision Map Act, vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency and sets forth procedures governing the local agency’s processing, approval, conditional approval or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps, and the modification thereof. The act requires an action or proceeding against a decision of a local agency taken pursuant to that act to be commenced within a certain time period, as specified.

This bill would prohibit an action or proceeding to enforce the Subdivision Map Act from being maintained, maintained if certain criteria exist, including that the action or proceeding to enforce the Subdivision Map Act includes substantially similar claims or issues to claims or issues raised in an action or proceeding to enforce CEQA and the defendant in the action or proceeding to enforce the Subdivision Map Act was the defendant in the action or proceeding to enforce CEQA. The bill would provide that its provisions do not prohibit or abrogate specified actions, including the filing of timely objections to an agency’s return to a writ seeking to enforce its specific mandates or timely filing of a separate action relating to the same project, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 66499.39 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 66499.38, to read:

66499.39.

(a) Any action or proceeding to enforce the Subdivision Map Act shall not be maintained, maintained if all of the following criteria exist:

(1) The action or proceeding to enforce the Subdivision Map Act includes substantially similar claims or issues to claims or issues raised in an action or proceeding to enforce the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).

(2) The defendant in the action or proceeding to enforce the Subdivision Map Act was the defendant in the action or proceeding to enforce the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).

(3) The action or proceeding to enforce the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), was commenced prior to January 1, 2019, and has been fully adjudicated.

(4) The project that is the subject of the action or proceeding to enforce the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) meets all of the following requirements:

(A) The project proposes at least 400 units of mixed-income housing.

(B) The project includes a project labor agreement.

(C) The project is located within the unincorporated area of a county that has a population of at least 3,000,000 and no greater than 4,000,000 residents.

(D) The project has been approved by the lead agency.

(5) The plaintiffs or petitioners plaintiffs, petitioners, or real parties in interest in the action or proceeding to enforce the Subdivision Map Act are the same or in privity with the plaintiffs or petitioners plaintiffs, petitioners, or real parties in interest in the action or proceeding to enforce the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).

(b) Nothing in this section shall This section shall not be construed to do either any of the following:

(1) Prohibit the filing of timely objections to an agency’s return to a writ seeking to enforce its specific mandates.

(2) Prohibit the timely filing of a separate action relating to the same project.