What are the ‘Housing Killer’ bills in California? Here’s what home builders say
The California Building Industry Association recently released its list of “Housing Killer” bills.
“These are the ones that make it the most profoundly more difficult than any other concepts that are floating through the legislative process,” said Dan Dunmoyer, the group’s CEO.
But California legislators who introduced them are pushing back.
Here are the bills:
Assembly Bill 1881
The measure would require government agencies to allow California Indians to access sacred sites that are on state public lands. Previously, it also applied to local governments and would have required them to consult with tribes before approving projects. Before its author, Assemblymember James Ramos, D-Highland, amended the bill the trade group said the proposal threatened “to slow or stop critical housing development by imposing new, onerous regulatory constraints, making it more difficult for families to find a place to call home.”
Ramos said he tried to narrow the bill focus to address the group’s concern, but Morgan Morales, a California Building Industry Association spokesperson, said the group still viewed it as a “Housing Killer.”
“This is truly about a voice that was taken, stolen from the Native American people from the state of California,” Ramos said. “One has to question why there is so much opposition to giving that voice back to Californian’s first people?”
Assembly Bill 2569
Under this bill. California Environmental Quality Act reviews would need to consider the effects proposed developments would have on the health and safety of people who use or live in them in the future. A 2015 California Supreme Court ruling said agencies only needed to include those factors for review in limited circumstances.
The building industry said the measure “would create sweeping new grounds for litigation against proposed projects seeking to create more housing for California’s working families.”
Assemblymember Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, who authored the bill, said he welcomed the designation by the building group.
“I appreciate the attention,” he said. “The point of my bill is to raise this issue and have us talk about it.”
Senate Bill 1075
State Sen. Eloise Reyes, D-Colton, wants to require that community plans to reduce emissions are enforced at the local or state level. The measure would also force local governments to make sure long-term plans support the goals of the state’s emission reduction goals. If not, the California attorney general could require those local governments take certain actions.
The building industry group said the bill would add a “layer of regulatory compliance risks compounding existing barriers to housing under CEQA and other environmental laws, making it more difficult to build homes for working families.”
Allison Wescott, a spokesperson for Reyes, in a statement said: “This attempt by developers to lump SB 1075 into a category of bills that will exacerbate the state’s housing crisis are disingenuous. The goal of SB 1075 is to protect public health — period.”
Senate Bill 1182
Developers would be required to try and find insurance for properties before they seek approvals needed for a building permit, under the measure. If they can’t find coverage quotes, the projects in areas with high wildfire risks will need to meet certain building requirements and standards after June 2031.
The trade group said the measure, authored by state Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, could force homebuilders to find insurance decades before construction begins.
“SB 1182 will stifle housing development for working families by imposing new regulatory barriers that are not based in reality.”
Allen, in a statement, countered: “developers who build developments in very high fire risk zones that are not built up to the highest fire safety standards are basically freeloading off the rest of us, making their money while letting the public cover the costs of the increased risk.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 2:13 PM with the headline "What are the ‘Housing Killer’ bills in California? Here’s what home builders say."
