Motels, hotels, and short-term lodging: disasters.

Crafted by Assembly Members Gabriel and Rivas, the measure creates a temporary framework for lodging in disaster-affected California that delays when guests in motels, hotels, and qualifying short-term lodgings are treated as tenants for eviction purposes, extending non-tenancy status for up to 270 days after arrival when the stay stems from a disaster. The change is triggered immediately as an urgency statute and would terminate on January 1, 2031.

Key definitions anchor the provision: a disaster includes federal major disaster declarations or Governor‑issued state emergencies, and lodging encompasses motels, hotels, and certain properties meeting local licensing or state short-term lodging definitions on the disaster date. During a disaster, a guest residing in lodging would not be considered a person who hires, nor would their lodging constitute a tenancy for eviction actions, until the guest has resided there for 270 days. Operators must provide at check-in a notice (in clear, 12-point type) explaining the rule and the 270-day threshold, and offer a confirmation form with options: the stay is disaster-related and the guest acknowledges the 270-day rule, or the guest asserts it does not apply. If the guest does not select, operators may rely on other information and may limit stay or refuse accommodations. After more than 30 days of occupancy by a disaster-displaced guest, operators must give at least 72 hours’ notice before requiring vacatur, subject to exceptions for nonpayment, disruption, property damage, or risk of harm.

Scope and timing: the lodging framework references existing arrangements for hotel and motel occupancy that normally exclude stays of 30 days or less from residential tenancy protections, but creates a temporary non-tenancy corridor specifically for disaster-displaced occupants. The provisions are designed to operate only during a disaster that affects the occupant’s prior housing and are repealed automatically at the end of the 2031 date. An urgency clause explains the policy aim related to wildfire response in a California county and justifies immediate effect.

Implementation and stakeholder considerations: lodging operators would need processes to identify qualifying disaster-status stays, prepare notices and confirmation forms, and track occupancy toward the 270-day threshold, while disaster-impacted guests should understand the temporary status and the 72-hour vacate requirement with its listed exceptions. Local regulators would coordinate with current short-term lodging regimes, and enforcement would proceed through the standard eviction framework alongside these new procedural requirements; the measure does not provide new funding or appropriations for implementation.