SB 379 · Housing Laws Navigator
Bills · 2021-2022 Session

SB 379

Residential solar energy systems: permitting.Ch. 356, Stats. 2022 · chaptered 2022-09-16 · Later amended

Key provisions · Claude summary of the digest, not bill text

Required cities and counties to implement online, automated permitting platforms for residential solar and paired battery storage systems, on a population-based compliance schedule.

  • Automated permitting. Required every city, county, or city and county to implement an online, automated platform that verifies code compliance and issues permits in real time (or allows real-time issuance) for residential solar systems no larger than 38.4 kW AC and paired residential energy storage systems.
  • Small-jurisdiction exemption. Exempted cities with populations under 5,000 and counties under 150,000, including each city within such a county.
  • Compliance deadlines. Required non-exempt jurisdictions over 50,000 population to comply by September 30, 2023, and cities of 50,000 or fewer by September 30, 2024.
  • Energy Commission reporting. Required jurisdictions to report compliance to the Energy Commission and to self-certify compliance when applying for specified Energy Commission funds.
  • Permit data guidelines. Required the Energy Commission to set guidelines, exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act, for reporting the number and characteristics of permitted residential solar and storage systems.
  • Charter cities. Expressly applied to charter cities as a matter of statewide concern.

Paraphrased from the Legislative Counsel’s Digest. Check the bill text before relying on it.

ClaudeGreen text is a summary heading written by Claude to help navigate. It is not statute text; the statute text is in black.

Preamble

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Permitting fees or soft costs to solar and storage projects can add substantial time and money to the adoption of additional solar and storage projects.

(b) To meet its clean energy goals, California may need up to six gigawatts of new renewable and storage resources annually, including additional rooftop solar and storage projects.

(c) Per the 2021 Senate Bill 100 Joint Agency Report, Achieving 100% Clean Electricity in California, development of rooftop solar must increase dramatically.

(d) Because the 2021 budget included a $20 million appropriation to the Energy Commission for grants to all jurisdictions that adopt the SolarAPP+ or a similar program in order to expedite permitting, local permitting jurisdictions can and should be required to adopt SolarAPP+ or a similar program for automated permitting in order to promote the development of solar and storage to help meet the state’s clean energy needs.

SEC. 2In the navigator:§ 65850.52changes

Section 65850.52 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 65850.5, to read:

SEC. 3

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.

SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of this act adding Section 65850.5 of the Government Code address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, Section 2 of this act applies to all cities, including charter cities.

Source: LegiScan API, chaptered text of SB 379 (2021-2022 Session).

Bill text is the chaptered version from LegiScan (California Legislature); spacing is normalized. Code section text in a bill is the text that bill chaptered, not necessarily the law in effect today. Not legal advice.