Senate BillChaptered/SignedHealth and Safety
SB 655: Dwelling units: indoor temperature.
What SB 655 does, verified December 13, 2025
The bill declares it a state policy to ensure all dwelling units can attain and maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature. The state agencies must consider this policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, programs, and criteria, including grant criteria. The policy applies to regulations relevant to achieving this state policy, starting from January 1, 2027.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
✓Second ChamberComplete
✓GovernorComplete
6ChapteredCurrent
Last action: Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 522, Statutes of 2025. (2025-10-10)Alert me
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions40 total · showing 5
| Oct. 10, 2025 | Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 522, Statutes of 2025. |
| Oct. 10, 2025 | Approved by the Governor. |
| Sep. 22, 2025 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m. |
| Sep. 11, 2025 | Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 31. Noes 8. Page 2874.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. |
| Sep. 09, 2025 | Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 66. Noes 5. Page 3089.) Ordered to the Senate. |
Latest bill textChaptered version, October 10, 2025 · 678 words
Senate Bill No. 655
CHAPTER 522
An act to add Section 17914 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.
[ Approved by Governor October 10, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 10, 2025. ]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 655, Stern. Dwelling units: indoor temperature.
Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission (commission) within the Government Operations Agency. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Existing law requires the commission to publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its entirety every 3 years, and to publish, or cause to be published, supplements as necessary in the intervening period. Existing law requires all state agencies that adopt or propose to adopt a building standard to submit the building standard to the commission for approval and adoption.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development (department) in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Existing law, the State Housing Law, requires the department to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building standards to the commission and to adopt, amend, or repeal rules and regulations for the protection of the health, safety, and general welfare of the occupant and the public relating to specified residential structures, as provided, which apply throughout the state.
This bill would declare it to be the established policy of the state that all dwelling units, as defined, are required to be able to attain and maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature. The bill would require all relevant state agencies to consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, programs, and criteria, including grant criteria, that are relevant to achieving the state policy and, beginning January 1, 2027, when revising, adopting, or establishing regulations that are relevant to achieving this state policy.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States, with heat waves increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity.
(b) The State Department of Public Health in 2023 reported 395 excess deaths in California during a 10-day heat wave in September 2022.
(c) The California Fourth Climate Change Assessment estimates that by 2050 urban heat-related deaths could double or triple due to rising temperatures.
(d) California residential building standards, based on international and uniform model codes, have long specified that residential dwelling units must be able to maintain a minimum indoor air temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 degrees Celsius, yet there is no requirement with respect to a maximum indoor air temperature for residential dwelling units.
(e) Vulnerable and disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected by extreme heat more than other communities.
SEC. 2.
Section 17914 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:17914.
(a) It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that all dwelling units, as defined in Section 1940 of the Civil Code, shall be able to attain and maintain a safe maximum indoor temperature.(b) All relevant state agencies, including but not limited to, the California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Housing and Community Development, Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, Public Utilities Commission, State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, State Air Resources Board, State Department of Health Care Services, State Department of Public Health, and Strategic Growth Council shall consider the state policy identified in subdivision (a) for both of the following:
(1) When revising, adopting, or establishing policies, programs, and criteria, including grant criteria, that are relevant to achieving this state policy.
(2) Beginning January 1, 2027, when revising, adopting, or establishing regulations that are relevant to achieving this state policy.
(c) This section does not expand any obligation of the state to provide a safe maximum indoor temperature or to require the expenditure of additional resources to develop infrastructure beyond the obligations that may exist pursuant to subdivision (b).
Text of SB 655 as chaptered, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions