SB486 - Regional housing: public postsecondary education: changes in enrollment levels: California Environmental Quality Act.

Senate Bill No. 486 CHAPTER 517 An act to amend Sections 65080, 65584.01, and 65584.04 of the Government Code, and to add Section 21080.091 to the Public Resources Code, relating to land use. [ Approved by Governor October 10, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 10, 2025. ] LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 486, Cabaldon. Regional housing: public postsecondary education: changes in enrollment levels: California Environmental Quality Act. (1) Existing law requires certain transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires each regional transportation plan to include a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization in order to, among other things, identify areas within the region sufficient to house all the population of the region, including all economic segments of the population, over the course of the planning period of the regional transportation plan taking into account net migration into the region, population growth, household formation, and employment growth. This bill would require the sustainable communities strategy, in identifying areas within the region sufficient to house all the population of the region, to also take into account changes in enrollment levels at institutions of public higher education, as defined. By imposing additional duties on metropolitan planning organizations, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, which includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Existing law requires, for the 4th and subsequent revision of the housing element, the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region in a specified manner. Existing law requires the department to meet and consult with the council of governments regarding the assumptions and methodologies to be used to determine each region’s housing needs and requires the council of governments to provide data assumptions from the council of governments’ projections, including specified data for the region, if available. As part of that requirement, existing law directs the council of governments to provide data assumptions regarding anticipated household growth associated with projected population increases. This bill would require the Department of Finance to consider changes in enrollment levels at campuses of the University of California or the California State University in the region, as forecasted by the University of California and California State University pursuant to the provisions described below, when preparing the anticipated household growth associated with projected population increases. Existing law requires each council of governments or delegate subregion, as applicable, to develop a proposed methodology for distributing the existing and projected regional housing need to cities, counties, and cities and counties within the region or within the subregion, as provided. Existing law requires, to the extent that sufficient data is available, each council of governments or delegate subregion, as applicable, in developing the methodology, to consider including several specified factors, including the housing needs generated by the presence of a private university or a campus of the California State University or the University of California within any member jurisdiction. This bill would require each council of governments or delegate subregion, as applicable, in developing the proposed methodology, to also consider including the distribution of students of the above-described universities among jurisdictions within the region, and for a campus of the California State University or the University of California, the optimization of transit, pedestrian, and other nonvehicle trip efficiency by students to the campus, including off-campus facilities. The bill would request the Regents of the University of California, and require the Trustees of the California State University, to provide, no more than 6 months before the development of the proposed methodology for the 7th and each subsequent housing element cycle, except as specified, to each council of governments a forecast of changes in enrollment levels at its campuses, including off-campus facilities, within the region based on specified factors and to provide, upon request, trip and travel data. By imposing additional duties on councils of government, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) CEQA requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that the lead agency proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. Existing law makes the selection of a location for a particular campus of public higher education and the approval of a long-range development plan subject to CEQA and requires preparation of an EIR. Existing law provides that enrollment or changes in enrollment, by themselves, do not constitute a project for purposes of CEQA. CEQA regulations require an EIR to describe a range of reasonable alternatives to the project, or to the location of the project, including a “no project” alternative analysis for the purpose of allowing decisionmakers to compare the impacts of approving the proposed project with the impacts of not approving the proposed project. This bill would specify that the University of California and the California State University are not required to conduct a “no project” alternative analysis in an EIR, a supplemental EIR, or an addendum for a development project, for which the University of California or the California State University, respectively, is the lead agency, if specified conditions are met, including that the University of California or the California State University, respectively, has provided the forecast of changes in enrollment levels for purposes of developing the most recent methodology pursuant to the above-described provisions. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65584.01 of the Government Code proposed by SB 233, AB 650, and AB 1275 to be operative only if this bill and one, two, or all of the other bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would also incorporate additional changes to Section 65584.04 of the Government Code proposed by AB 650 and AB 1275 to be operative only if this bill and one or both of the other bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) According to the Governor’s Council for Post-Secondary Education, “In California, a bachelor’s degree yields higher wages, increased full-time employment, and lower unemployment. Those with a bachelor’s degree are more likely to own a home, less likely to live in poverty, and more likely to be civically engaged. Demand for workers with post-secondary credentials [is] increasing in the vast majority of industries, including those that traditionally have not required post-secondary credentials.” Black and Latino graduates earn a median family income at least twice as high, with median family wealth nearly four times as high, as their counterparts without a university degree. (b) Due to a lack of sufficient classrooms, housing for students, faculty, and staff, lab space, and other academic and service facilities, the number of eligible, qualified California applicants denied admission to the public university campuses with the greatest demonstrated success in accelerating social mobility has climbed steadily, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. (c) Over the past 15 years, student demand and preparation outpaced enrollment forecast models, especially in urban areas home to both impacted universities and large underserved populations. Due in part to state investments in preschool, transitional kindergarten, and the local control funding formula, an increasing percentage of students are graduating from high school having met the rigorous admission requirements of California’s public universities. In 2007, one-third of California high school graduates completed the courses required for university admission. By 2017, nearly one-half did so. (d) The proportion of community college students eligible to transfer to the public universities is growing substantially, due in part to nearly $1,000,000,000 of state investment, the associate degree for transfer program, and developmental education policy reforms. The California Community Colleges intends to increase the number of students who transfer to the University of California or the California State University by 35 percent. The California State University has strengthened year-to-year student persistence and graduation. (e) One-fifth of California’s adult population, beyond the traditional pool of recent high school graduates, plans to go to college in the near future. (f) California Competes projects that California must increase degree production by 10 percent each year, compounded, in order to close the degree gap for more than 2,000,000 Californians. (g) Housing expenses constitute between one-half and two-thirds of students’ cost of attendance at public institutions of higher education. Students who struggle to afford and secure housing, particularly student parents, have poorer grades and experience delayed graduation and workforce entry. Between 2018 and 2022, off-campus housing costs increased by more than 30 percent, exacerbating the financial burden on students, faculty, and staff. (h) Enrolling students at higher densities at campuses with access to high-quality transit and social and public services will reduce vehicle trips and maximize climate, environmental, public health, and economic benefits. In addition, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, “prioritizing the expansion of existing high-demand campuses ... would be the most efficient way of allocating limited resources.” (i) The success of regional sustainable communities strategies and alternative planning strategies in achieving necessary reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and vehicle miles traveled depends on coordination with, and compliance by, public universities with those plans. (j) A legacy of redlining and exclusionary zoning has resulted in many of the public university campuses constrained by the most severe capacity limitation being located in communities that block expanding access to the universities they host. (k) The longstanding policy of the State of California, as set forth in Section 66201 of the Education Code, is that “each resident of California who has the capacity and motivation to benefit from higher education should have the opportunity to enroll in an institution of higher education. Once enrolled, each individual should have the opportunity to continue as long and as far as [their] capacity and motivation, as indicated by academic performance and commitment to educational advancement, will lead [them] to meet academic standards and institutional requirements.” (l) The number of seats open for admission or transfer to California’s institutions of public higher education is a matter of statewide concern and is not a discretionary action by individual campuses or local jurisdictions. Section 66202.5 of the Education Code directs the University of California and the California State University to plan so that “adequate spaces are available to accommodate all California resident students who are eligible and likely to apply” and requires the State of California to commit resources to accommodate those students. (m) Coordination and consistency between long-range development plans of institutions of public higher education and the sustainable communities strategies and alternative planning strategies of the regions in which they are located maximizes environmental, climate, public health, housing, workforce, and economic benefits. SEC. 2. Section 65080 of the Government Code is amended to read: 65080. (a) Each transportation planning agency designated under Section 29532 or 29532.1 shall prepare and adopt a regional transportation plan directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system, including, but not limited to, mass transportation, highway, railroad, maritime, bicycle, pedestrian, goods movement, and aviation facilities and services. The plan shall be action-oriented and pragmatic, considering both the short-term and long-term future, and shall present clear, concise policy guidance to local and state officials. The regional transportation plan shall consider factors specified in Section 134 of Title 23 of the United States Code. Each transportation planning agency shall consider and incorporate, as appropriate, the transportation plans of cities, counties, districts, private organizations, and state and federal agencies. (b) The regional transportation plan shall be an internally consistent document and shall include all of the following: (1) A policy element that describes the transportation issues in the region, identifies and quantifies regional needs, and describes the desired short-range and long-range transportation goals, and pragmatic objective and policy statements. The objective and policy statements shall be consistent with the funding estimates of the financial element. The policy element of transportation planning agencies with populations that exceed 200,000 persons may quantify a set of indicators, incl [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]