California Legislature passes bill to increase housing near transit stations
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- California Legislature passed Senate Bill 79 to promote dense housing near transit.
- Measure limits city power to block developments within half a mile of transit stops.
- Amendments and bipartisan votes secured passage despite strong local opposition.
The California Legislature Friday passed a controversial measure that could bypass local zoning laws to require communities to approve more housing developments near train and bus stations in many counties across the state.
Senate Bill 79 will make it harder for cities to block projects on properties within one-half mile of transit stops. It now goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The measure had faced strong opposition since it was introduced in January, and its author, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, amended the bill several times to try and secure its passage.
“The bill was contentious and no margin for error, but it just kept moving in a strong form.” Wiener said Friday. “I’m really excited about where we are.”
Republicans ended up providing key votes after many Southern California Democrats in both the Assembly and Senate abstained from voting or opposed it, with State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, cast the deciding vote Friday.
“It shouldn’t matter who the author is,” Grove said after the vote. “If it’s going to benefit people in California, and I really felt like after I read the analysis, and the bill, and I talked to my cities and counties about it, this bill would help build housing. And we need housing.”
Much of the concern about the measure came from local governments -- including the cities of Merced, Modesto, San Luis Obispo and Folsom -- that opposed rolling back control that cities have over developments in their communities.
Desmond Parrington, a planning manager for Folsom, worried the bill could undermine planning work the city spent years on and add more state rules to follow. Beyond that, he feared it could lead to changes in the city’s historic district that may cause a backlash from residents.
Despite that concern Assemblymember Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, voted for the bill and spoke in favor of the measure before it passed the Assembly on Thursday.
“The way that we make housing more affordable is by building more of it,” Hoover said. “We need more housing supply of all types and of all kinds in our state.”
Wiener said the measure would push cities to use their land in a way that supports denser housing and place limits on when they can block housing developments. The bill will force cities in large counties in the state to allow projects on properties within one-half mile of certain transit stops, even on land that is not zoned for residential use, or face a fine for violating state law.
Cities would also generally be prevented from imposing height and density limits based on how close a development is near a transit stop. Local governments will be able to propose alternative development plans, but they must meet minimum density and unit levels and receive state approval.
Wiener pushed the measure as a way to address California’s growing housing affordability crisis and support public transit systems, many of which are struggling with declining ridership and budget issues.
That didn’t persuade many leaders in Los Angeles, where a majority of the City Council last month voted to oppose it.
“This top-down approach, from politicians in Sacramento, coming in, forcing policies that my community does not support, is not a good path forward,” Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Los Angeles said Thursday.
Zbur said he had received more calls on this measure than any other legislative proposal since he was elected to the Assembly in 2022. Most of those calls, he added, were from people against it.
Since Weiner introduced the bill, amendments led the powerful State Building and Construction Trades Council of California to drop its opposition earlier this month.
A Governor’s Office spokesperson declined to say if Newsom had an opinion on the bill.
This story was originally published September 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM.
