California Assembly Bill 2097 (2022)

On September 19, 2024, Newsom signed into law AB 2553, which expanded both the definition of "major transit stop" under the California Environmental Quality Act to service frequency of 20 minutes or less, as well as eligibility for reduced traffic impact fees under the Mitigation Fee Act from "transit station" to "major transit stop".^[7] Previously, CEQA defined "major transit stop" as the intersection of two or more major bus routes with service of 15 minutes or less during peak commute periods. By extension, AB 2553 expanded the number of locations prohibited from parking mandates under AB 2097.^[8] The law also impacts the definition of "major transit stop" for several other laws, including the California Density Bonus Law, California HOME Act, CEQA, California Housing Accountability Act, the ADU law, the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act, and the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act of 2023 (SB 4, sometimes referred to as the "Yes in God's Backyard," or "YIGBY" legislation).^[9] In addition, it indirectly affects the definition of a "transit priority area" (TPA) as "an area within one-half mile of a major transit stop that is existing or planned" as per SB 743 (2013).^[10]

On September 22, 2024, Newsom signed AB 2712, also drafted by Friedman, into law, prohibiting the city of Los Angeles from issuing preferential parking permits to residents of new developments which are exempt from parking mandates under AB 2097 unless the city provides a written application for hardship.^[11]

• SB 35 (2017), SB 6 (2022): prohibits local governments from levying parking mandates upon SB 35 projects within a half-mile of either public transit, within an architecturally and historically significant historic district, within one block of a car share vehicle, or when on-street parking permits are required but not offered to the occupants of the development.
• AB 2011 (2022): prohibits most parking mandates, but does not preclude parking mandates for new multifamily residential or nonresidential development to provide bicycle parking, electric vehicle supply equipment installed parking spaces, or parking spaces that are accessible to persons with disabilities.
• California HOME Act (SB 9, 2021), SB 4 (2023): prohibit local governments from levying parking mandates upon SB 9 and SB 4 projects within a half-mile of either a high-quality transit corridor or a major transit stop, or within one block of a car share vehicle.
• AB 1308 (2023): prohibits local governments from increasing the minimum parking requirement that applies to a single-family residence as a condition of approval of a project to remodel, renovate, or add to a single-family residence, except in specified circumstances;^[12]
• AB 1317 (2023): requires the owner of qualifying residential property, as defined, that provides parking with the qualifying residential property to unbundle parking from the price of rent;^[13]
• AB 894 (2023): requires that public agencies allow underutilized parking spaces to be shared with other land uses and the public, and to count shared parking toward meeting parking requirements in specified circumstances.^[14]

Several California cities have passed legislation to repeal parking mandates beyond the scope of AB 2097 and its amendments, both before and after AB 2097's passage:

• San Francisco repealed parking mandates citywide (except for mortuaries) on December 18, 2018.^[15]
• Emeryville repealed parking mandates and instituted parking maximums in 2019.^[16]
• Berkeley, in January 2021, repealed parking mandates for all residential uses except for two hillside neighborhoods which have narrow streets.^[17]
• Alameda repealed parking minimums in November 2021.^[18]
• San Jose repealed parking mandates for all new housing developments in December 2022.^[19][20]
• Mountain View's City Council voted on November 12, 2024 to repeal parking mandates for housing developments in certain other areas slated for housing growth, as well as residential areas of mixed-use developments.^[21]

• Sacramento repealed its remaining parking mandates citywide in January 2021.^[22]
• San Diego removed parking mandates for businesses in transit-priority areas and commercial neighborhoods in November 2021.^[23] A previous reform to parking in 2019, which stopped requiring parking for any housing near transit, density bonus projects and non-density bonus projects alike, was credited with a fivefold increase in the total number of homes permitted through San Diego's density bonus program.^[24]
• Culver City passed an ordinance abolishing parking mandates citywide in October 2022.^[25]

• In June 2025, Los Angeles City Councilmembers Bob Blumenfield and Nithya Raman introduced a motion directing the Department of City Planning to study removing parking mandates citywide.^[26][27]
• On May 5, 2025, West Hollywood city council directed staff to prepare a Zone Text Amendment to eliminate parking mandates citywide. This will potentially be completed within 6 to 9 months.^[28]