Dwelling units: indoor temperature.

Senator Stern, working with Assembly Members Calderón and Haney, advances a state policy that all dwelling units must be able to attain and maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature, directing major state agencies to consider this objective as they revise, adopt, or establish policies, programs, and criteria—and, beginning January 1, 2027, when they revise or establish regulations relevant to achieving it. The measure clarifies that the policy does not expand the state’s obligations to provide a safe maximum indoor temperature or require additional expenditures for infrastructure beyond the obligations that may already exist.

The proposed addition to the Health and Safety Code creates a two-part mechanism. First, it declares the policy and anchors it to the broader concept of dwelling units as defined in state civil code for residential housing. Second, it enumerates a cross-agency set of authorities—including environmental, housing, energy, land use, and health agencies—that must consider the policy in two contexts: general policy, program, and criteria development (including grant criteria), and, starting in 2027, when revising or establishing regulations relevant to achieving the policy. The text does not specify a numeric maximum indoor temperature or a measurement method, nor does it amend existing numeric standards directly.

Implementation and timeline are central to the bill’s design. Agencies are tasked with integrating the policy into policy development and grant criteria now, with a formal regulatory consideration requirement beginning in 2027. There is no explicit appropriation tied to the measure, though the legislation requires a Fiscal Committee review, signaling a formal fiscal analysis. The proposal relies on existing regulatory frameworks, including building standards processes, while signaling that future rulemaking could translate the policy into concrete standards or guidance without immediate, codified targets.

In context, the measure aims to elevate thermal resilience and heat mitigation within state housing and climate policy without creating immediate new implementation mandates or cost obligations. By prompting cross‑agency coordination and future regulation, the bill positions thermal comfort and climate adaptation as a consideration in regulatory design and grantmaking, potentially influencing housing, energy, and public health programs over time. Oversight and implementation questions likely focus on how “safe maximum indoor temperature” will be defined, measured, and operationalized in future regulations, and how disparities in vulnerable communities will be addressed through forthcoming guidance or rulemaking.