By Jorge Casuso
September 15, 2025 -- A State bill that paves the way for large housing developments in Santa Monica's residential areas by overriding local zoning was approved with back-to-back legislative votes last week.
SB 79 -- which allows buildings of up to 9 stories adjacent to rail stops and 5 stories up to half a mile from major bus lines -- passed the Assembly with a 41 to 17 vote Thursday, followed by a 21 to 8 Senate vote Friday.
The bill, opposed by 131 California cities and supported by only five, including Santa Monica, sailed through the final hurdles after winning key endorsements late last month that included solid backing from the State Democratic Party.
The bill, which was amended to only include counties with more than 14 passenger rail stations and to exclude most bus lines, now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk and must be signed by October 12.
Last week's votes represented a decisive victory for the State's pro-housing advocates and a major blow to cities that have seen the State strip local residents and their elected representatives of control over housing development.
“Decades of overly restrictive policies have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people away from jobs and transit and into long commutes from the suburbs," said Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Fransico, the bill's sponsor, in a statement Friday.
"Many are being forced out of the state entirely. It has been a long road to tackling these decades-old problems, but today’s vote is a dramatic step forward to undo these decades of harm, reduce our most severe costs, and slash traffic congestion and air pollution in our state.”
California YIMBY, which for a decade has pushed for housing density in affluent urban cities with major transit lines, such as Santa Monica, called SB 79's passage the fulfillment of an elusive dream.
"Today, California YIMBY achieved one of its founding goals: legalizing apartments and condos near train stations,” said Brian Hanlon, the group's CEO.
“We won many victories over the past eight years, but the dream of passing a robust, transit-oriented development program has long eluded us, until now.
"My message to YIMBY activists across the country: Keep organizing, keep educating, and keep hustling. Your time will come,” Hanlon said.
Assemblymember Rick Zbur (D-West Hollywood/Santa Monica) led the opposition to SB 79 despite the backing of the City Councils in both cities, arguing that the bill would initially impact lower-priced single-family neighborhoods.
“The neighborhoods most affected by this are not necessarily the ultra-wealthy,” Zbur said. “Instead, lower-priced areas will be the first to feel the impacts because land costs are lower.
"These are places where people have already made incredible sacrifices to live. They are built-out single-family neighborhoods, where homeowners bought with the expectation that they could raise their kids in a stable, safe community they understood.”
Wiener's Office hailed the last-minute support from the Democratic party last month as "a sea change" from five years ago, when SB 50, a broader transit-oriented development (TOD) bill he sponsored met stiff opposition.
This time, the final version of the bill was scaled down to include mainly passenger rail lines, with the tallest buildings -- up to nine stories -- only allowed adjacent to heavy rail lines like BART, Caltrain, and LA Metro’s B & D Lines.
The bill allows buildings of up to 8 stories adjacent to stops on light-rail lines and at stops on major bus-rapid transit lines, up to 6 stories within ¼ mile of those stops and 5 stories between ¼ and ½ mile.
In Santa Monica, SB 79 would apply to the three Expo light rail stations at Bergamot Station, Santa Monica College and Downtown, as well as stops for the 720 Metro Rapid Bus on Wilshire Boulevard and the Big Blue Bus Route 3 on Lincoln Boulevard, according to route info posted online.
It also allows local transit agencies to develop on land they own that will "also provide urgently needed financial support for public transit," according to Wiener's office.
