An act to amend Section 65582.1 of add Section 11011.9.5 to the Government Code, relating to housing. state government.
Summary
AB 1353 would require the Department of General Services to conduct an annual audit of state office buildings beginning January 1, 2027, focusing on suite-, floor-, and building-level utilization. Based on those audits, the department would be authorized and directed to consolidate state office space where possible, with the goal of reducing unused or underused square footage without reducing the number of employees in the affected department. The bill is framed as a response to changing remote-work patterns and the state’s need to better use office space that is not being considered for disposal or conversion to housing.
The bill also requires that any space freed up through consolidation be reserved for the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges. In addition, AB 1353 makes a nonsubstantive update to Government Code Section 65582.1, which is a legislative findings section listing existing state housing reforms and incentives. That amendment does not change substantive housing law, but it keeps the statutory findings current alongside the new state office-space consolidation policy.
Impact
AB 1353 would add a new Government Code section directing the Department of General Services to evaluate and consolidate state office space on an ongoing basis, creating a new administrative duty and a new framework for reallocating unused state-owned office space. It would affect state agencies occupying office buildings by potentially reducing their assigned square footage, while preserving staffing levels, and it would reserve any resulting available space for the state’s public higher education systems. The bill does not create a fiscal appropriation and is described as having no local program impact.
Sentiment
The available bill materials suggest generally favorable or at least noncontroversial treatment. The bill’s stated purpose is to improve efficiency in state property use and support higher education space needs, and there are no recorded committee transcripts or roll-call votes indicating opposition in the provided record. Its movement to filing with the Chief Clerk under Joint Rule 56 suggests it did not advance through the normal committee process in the available history, but the record provided does not show substantive debate or organized resistance.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided transcripts or votes. Potential areas of concern implied by the bill’s structure include whether the Department of General Services should be required to consolidate office space annually, how consolidation decisions would affect individual state agencies’ space allocations, and whether reserving freed-up space exclusively for UC, CSU, and community colleges is the best use of those assets. However, the supplied record does not identify any named opponents or supporters raising those issues.
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An act to amend Section 51178 of the Government Code, and to amend Section Sections 4202 and 4204 of the Public Resources Code, relating to fire safety.