During its annual Advocacy Trip to Sacramento on April 7–8, 2026, NAIOP SoCal’s diverse delegation of developers, commercial brokers, services providers and staff met with influential state legislators and senior staff members to advance key priorities affecting commercial real estate, investment and job creation in California.
A central focus of the trip was Assembly Bill 2418 (Asm. Mark Gonzalez), the California Nonresidential Private Permitting Review Act, which will be heard in the Assembly Local Government Committee on April 15, 2026. The bill establishes mandatory timelines and accountability standards for local agency plan-check review of nonresidential construction projects, giving developers a more predictable and expedited path through the permitting process. The NAIOP SoCal delegation urged lawmakers to support the bill as a practical step towards a streamlined, expedited, and more predictable plan-check process for nonresidential projects. Several Assemblymembers committed to co-authoring the bill. NAIOP SoCal Legislative Affairs Committee Co-Chair TJ Bard testified in support of the bill at an April 15th hearing in the State Capitol where it passed unanimously with a 10-0 vote.
The NAIOP SoCal delegation lobbied strongly against Assembly Bill 1777 (Garcia), which would expand the California Air Resources Board’s authority through a statewide indirect source rule. In meetings, including with the influential Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, Asm. Buffy Wicks, delegates emphasized that the bill would create heightened regulatory risk for commercial real estate, logistics and goods movement without seriously reducing emissions. The Committee’s own fiscal analysis estimated multi-million-dollar costs. When the Assembly Appropriations Committee met on April 8, with NAIOP SoCal Legislative Affairs Committee Co-Chair Courtney Wing in attendance, AB 1777 was placed on the suspense file.
On the evening of April 7, NAIOP SoCal hosted an intimate dinner for delegates and special guests Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur and Juan Carrillo, creating an additional opportunity for direct dialogue on legislative priorities important to Southern California’s commercial real estate sector.
“NAIOP SoCal came to Sacramento with a clear message: California must make it easier to invest, build and create jobs,” said Tim Jemal, CEO, NAIOP SoCal. “AB 2418 is a smart and practical plan-check reform bill, while AB 1777 would move the state in the wrong direction by adding broad new regulatory uncertainty for the industries that keep our economy moving. I applaud our delegates and our Sacramento-based Senior Government Relations Advisor, Adam Regele, for articulating effectively on both bills.
NAIOP SoCal will be back in Sacramento on August 11-12 to advocate on priority legislation during the annual California Commercial Real Estate Summit (CCRES). If you’d like to be part of NAIOP SoCal’s delegation at the CCRES Summit, please contact Mihran Toumajan (mtoumajan@naiopsocal.org).
