By the Numbers – Broad Engagement Across Office, Industrial, and Retail Real Estate
- Legislative volume: More than 2,700 bills introduced this year.
- CBPA tracking: Monitored 400+ bills, directly engaged on more than 200.
- Results: Successfully killed or amended 50+ bills and helped move several to the Governor’s desk.
- Sponsored bills: Three introduced—one currently on the Governor’s desk.
- Targeted threats: Engaged on over a dozen bills aimed squarely at commercial property owners, including:
- Commercial and rent control proposals
- Price control measures
- Leasing mandates that could trigger costly lawsuits and new liabilities
- A statewide vacancy tax proposal
- Negotiated outcomes: Secured a deal to narrow emergency leasing price controls.
- Building code reform: Achieved a pause in the update cycle as part of CEQA reform, saving members millions.
- Warehouse/AB 98 fix: Saw 16 of 19 issues raised last year addressed in cleanup bills.
- Overall impact: CBPA engaged on every threat, ensuring commercial real estate was carved out or harmful measures were stopped outright.
Big Picture: Defending Commercial Real Estate
This year, CBPA spearheaded multiple coalitions to protect and strengthen the commercial real estate industry. We led the Warehouse/AB 98 cleanup effort, securing 16 critical fixes now on the Governor’s desk. We mounted a successful opposition campaign against AB 380, commercial rent control, negotiating key amendments and stopping it from advancing, and built a broad coalition to defeat SB 789, the proposed statewide vacancy tax, in its first policy committee.
CBPA also helped block AB 1147, a sweeping rent control expansion, and removed commercial property provisions from five separate leasing bills.
On the proactive side, CBPA successfully advanced AB 1384 (Nguyen; D–Elk Grove), clarifying unlawful detainer timelines, to the Governor’s desk. We also championed the building code pause included in the CEQA reform package, delivering significant cost savings and predictability for our members. Together, these actions underscore CBPA’s role as both a strong defender against harmful policies and a constructive leader advancing real solutions.
Leading With Solutions
CBPA showed proactive leadership by sponsoring three bills—proving we don’t just oppose bad policy, we also champion good ideas:
- AB 1384 (Nguyen; D-Elk Grove): Clarifies unlawful detainer law so “good cause” delays apply only to residential cases, keeping commercial cases on the 5-7 day track. Passed Legislature, now on Governor’s desk.
- AB 588 (Patel; D-San Diego): Established lithium battery safety standards for EV infrastructure to create uniform guidelines and reduce jurisdictional conflicts. Failed to advance
- AB 1435 (Nguyen; D-Elk Grove): Proposed tax credits to spur redevelopment of vacant retail centers. Generated significant earned media, positioning CBPA as a constructive policy leader. Two-year bill.
While AB 588 and AB 1435 ultimately stalled, sponsoring these measures was a deliberate strategy to strengthen relationships with legislators, elevate CBPA’s role in policy discussions, and highlight our industry as a source of practical solutions.
Warehouse / AB 98 Fix
Two identical cleanup bills remained at the end of session: AB 735 (Carrillo; D-Palmdale) stalled at the Senate Desk, while SB 415 (Reyes; D-San Bernardino) advanced to the Governor.
Since last October, CBPA drove the push to fix AB 98—spotting flaws, drafting a detailed redline, and coordinating industry lobbying. The result: 16 key fixes secured and fully adopted into the final bills.
Even with these improvements, AB 98 remains overly prescriptive, creates litigation risks, and makes warehouse development—and the jobs and economic growth it supports—more difficult. This bill stands as a cautionary tale of last-minute gut-and-amend policymaking. More reform will be needed in 2026 and beyond.
Final Weeks of Session – Navigating Deals and the 72-Hour Rule
In the closing weeks, CBPA remained fully engaged in high-profile negotiations, often with little time to respond:
- SB 352 (Reyes): Last-minute gut-and-amend creating a DOJ “Environmental Justice Bureau.” CBPA built a 30+ group coalition in under 24 hours; bill failed to advance.
- SB 522 (Wahab): Eliminated the 15-year just-cause exemption for rebuilt units. Pushed to a two-year bill.
- SB 36 (Umberg): Expanded emergency price-gouging to neighboring counties. Harmful provisions struck; coalition moved neutral.
- AB 446 (Ward): “Surveillance pricing” restrictions risking litigation over lawful discounts. Held as a two-year bill.
- SB 79 (Wiener): Allowed residential development on transit-agency parcels in industrial areas, conflicting with AB 98. CBPA opposed due to industrial land impacts.
- VMT fix (budget trailer): Supported CBIA’s effort to correct VMT flaws; stalled but remains a shared priority. CBIA was the only business group to get a 2-year vehicle in play.
- SB 423 (Gonzalez): Attempted rewrite of transfer tax statute as a Measure ULA “fix.” CBPA opposed due to flawed drafting, exclusion of commercial protections, and heightened litigation risks.
Defending Against Direct Threats to Members
This year, CBPA responded decisively to some of the most aggressive proposals targeting commercial real estate—and protected the industry from costly new burdens:
- AB 380 (Gonzalez): Initially imposed sweeping emergency rent caps on commercial leases. Narrowed to only month-to-month leases, harmful provisions removed and ultimately stopped in Senate Appropriations after CBPA highlighted risks to the economy and state facilities.
- SB 789 (Menjivar): Proposed a statewide vacancy tax. Amended down to a study, then blocked in Senate Appropriations.
- AB 1147 (Wicks): Expanded residential rent control. As part of a coalition, CBPA helped halt the measure outright.
- SB 667 (Archuleta) Limited train length from operating in California. As part of a coalition, CBPA helped halt the measure outright.
Protected Against New Commercial Leasing Mandates and Taxes
In total, seven major leasing threats were neutralized before they could impact our industry:
- SB 789 (Menjivar): Vacancy tax gutted, bill stopped.
- AB 747 (Kalra): Commercial provisions removed.
- AB 863 (Kalra): Commercial provisions removed.
- AB 1248 (Haney): Commercial provisions removed.
- SB 436 (Wahab): Commercial provisions removed.
- SB 262 (Wahab): Commercial provisions removed.
- SB 522 (Durazo): Amended to remove commercial impact.
By keeping commercial real estate out of scope, CBPA shielded members from costly new mandates and litigation risks.
Backed Homebuilders in CEQA Reform / VMT Issue / Building Code Pause
This year brought the most significant CEQA reforms in decades—a game-changing win for both residential and commercial real estate. Thanks to CBIA’s leadership, CBPA was able to help ensure commercial provisions were included, despite a Legislature reluctant to provide benefits to landlords.
- AB 130: Full CEQA exemptions for large categories of mixed-use infill projects, cutting timelines by up to two years and requiring 30-day decisions.
- SB 131: Limits CEQA review for “near miss” projects to the specific issue at hand, cutting litigation risk by 25–30%.
- Cost savings: Together, AB 130 and SB 131 are projected to reduce compliance costs by 10–20% and create 50,000+ new jobs by 2030.
- Urban revitalization: Less red tape for mixed-use projects with retail/office, boosting investment in commercial corridors.
One drawback to this package is that New Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) language created uncertainty and costs. In a late-session fix, CBIA was the only group to get a budget item placed into a two-year bill, which the Governor and legislative leaders pledged to revisit next year. CBPA will continue to support CBIA and our homebuilder members in this fight.
Major Win for Commercial – Building Code Pause – AB 130
A long-standing CBPA priority. The CEQA package contains a new three-year commercial; and six-year for housing; code cycle pause that will save owners 3–6% in compliance costs immediately, growing more over time, and provide more predictability and protections from major jumps in code compliance.
Goods Movement and Independent Source Rules (ISR)
Due to the major impact on our members by limiting the ability to expand or modernize properties if doing so would increase emissions, regardless of whether cleaner or offsetting measures are available, we have worked with other stakeholders to stop ISR proliferation in the legislature and at regulatory agencies as well as other bills that would impact industrial development. We opposed all the following:
- AB 914 (Garcia) Indirect source rule expansion. Bill failed to advance.
- SB 318 (Becker) CARB centralized permitting. Bill failed to advance.
- SB 526 (Menjivar) Aggregate facility mandates. Bill failed to advance.
- SB 667 (Archuleta) Freight train restrictions. Bill failed to advance.
- AB 1305 (Arambula) Air-permit data mandates. Bill failed to advance.
- AB 1409 (Gipson) Port chassis inspections. Bill failed to advance.
- SB 79 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Late amendment that would allow residential encroachment into land zoned industrial and trigger AB 98 setback issues. Bill is on Governor’s desk.
Price Caps / Rent Control
In addition to the leasing bills mentioned above, 2025 saw several bills that targeted residential and commercial real estate through rent caps and price controls. CBPA spent significant time working on all these measures:
- AB 380 (Gonzalez) Commercial rent control. Amended, then killed in Senate Appropriations.
- SB 709 (Menjivar) Self-storage rent caps. Amended to disclosure only; only after promise by author to not pursue further next year, we went Neutral.
- AB 1157 (Kalra) Permanent rent control expansion. Bill failed to advance.
- AB 246 (Bryan) L.A. rent freeze mandate. Concerns addressed; Neutral.
- AB 1147 (Wicks) Residential rent control. Bill failed to advance.
Water / CEQA / Liability
Several bills that would have directly impacted CBPA members as well as the great business community, we worked with allied groups to stop or fix the following bills:
- SB 601 (Allen) Water discharge liability expansion. Bill failed to advance.
- SB 222 (Wiener) Climate disaster civil actions. Bill failed to advance.
- AB 52 (Aguiar-Curry) CEQA tribal veto expansion. Bill failed to advance.
- AB 1313 (Papan) Stormwater expansion. Bill failed to advance.
- SB 682 (Allen) PFAS product ban. Significantly amended; Neutral.
These are just the major highlights of the 2025 Session. CBPA represents a coalition of every major commercial real estate organization in the nation and works to coordinate the activity of these federated groups – and individual members of CBPA – to cover the many issues introduced each year in the California State Legislature and Regulatory agencies.