Land use: accessory dwelling units.

As proposed by Assembly Members Lowenthal and Rivas, with coauthor Assembly Member Wicks, the measure ties housing recovery to streamlined ADU approvals by advancing two principal changes: an emergency occupancy pathway for accessory dwelling units in disaster-declared counties and a tightened, time-bound framework for coastal development permits related to ADUs. The intent, as written, is to address both post-disaster housing needs and the regulatory pace of ADU development within California’s coastal framework, with immediate effect.

Emergency occupancy would allow a certificate of occupancy for an ADU to be issued even if the primary dwelling has not yet received a CO, but only in counties subject to a Governor’s state of emergency proclaimed on or after February 1, 2025, and only if the primary dwelling was substantially damaged or destroyed by an event cited in the proclamation and the ADU has valid construction permits and has passed required inspections. Attached ADUs are expressly excluded from this exception. Local agencies would face new duties to implement this pathway, recognizing that it operates alongside existing occupancy rules that typically require the primary dwelling’s CO first.

On the coastal permit side, the measure imposes a 60-day decision window for coastal development permit applications tied to ADUs, to be processed concurrently with the ADU permit process, and it deems an application approved if a decision is not reached within that period unless a specific delay applies. If a local government lacks a certified local coastal program, the California Coastal Commission would decide the ADU CDP within 60 days and be notified when a complete application is submitted. A special interdependency rule allows the commission to delay an ADU CDP decision if it is filed together with a CDP for a new single-family or multifamily dwelling on the same lot, and decisions issued under this framework are not subject to appeal under applicable Public Resources Code provisions.

The measure treats housing as a statewide concern affecting all cities, including charter cities, and adopts an urgency designation to take effect immediately. It also states that no state reimbursement is required for the local-mandated costs, leaving local agencies to fund the new processes through existing authorities. Taken together, the proposals seek to accelerate ADU production and disaster housing responses while aligning ADU permitting with coastal regulatory processes, creating concurrent timelines and new occupancy pathways that would influence how local and coastal agencies manage approvals, inspections, and post-disaster housing needs.