Gov. Code, § 65950 · Article 5. Approval of Development Permits
Gov. Code, § 65950
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A public agency that is the lead agency for a development project shall approve or disapprove the project within whichever of the following periods is applicable:
(1) One hundred eighty days from the date of certification by the lead agency of the environmental impact report, if an environmental impact report is prepared pursuant to Section 21100 or 21151 of the Public Resources Code for the development project.
(2) Ninety days from the date of certification by the lead agency of the environmental impact report, if an environmental impact report is prepared pursuant to Section 21100 or 21151 of the Public Resources Code for a development project defined in subdivision (c).
(3) Sixty days from the date of certification by the lead agency of the environmental impact report, if an environmental impact report is prepared pursuant to Section 21100 or 21151 of the Public Resources Code for a development project defined in subdivision (c) and all of the following conditions are met:
(A) At least 49 percent of the units in the development project are affordable to very low or low-income households, as defined by Sections 50105 and 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code, respectively. Rents for the lower income units shall be set at an affordable rent, as that term is defined in Section 50053 of the Health and Safety Code, for at least 30 years. Owner-occupied units shall be available at an affordable housing cost, as that term is defined in Section 50052.5 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B) Prior to the application being deemed complete for the development project pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 65940), the lead agency received written notice from the project applicant that an application has been made or will be made for an allocation or commitment of financing, tax credits, bond authority, or other financial assistance from a public agency or federal agency, and the notice specifies the financial assistance that has been applied for or will be applied for and the deadline for application for that assistance, the requirement that one of the approvals of the development project by the lead agency is a prerequisite to the application for or approval of the application for financial assistance, and that the financial assistance is necessary for the project to be affordable as required pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(C) There is confirmation that the application has been made to the public agency or federal agency prior to certification of the environmental impact report.
(4) Sixty days from the date of adoption by the lead agency of the negative declaration, if a negative declaration is completed and adopted for the development project.
(5) Sixty days from the determination by the lead agency that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), if the project is exempt from that act.
(6) Except as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 65912.114 and subdivision (a) of Section 65912.124, sixty days from the date of receipt of a complete application if the project is subject to ministerial review by the public agency.
(7) If a development project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) pursuant to Section 21080.66 of the Public Resources Code, 30 days from the later of the following dates:
(A) The conclusion of the process outlined in subdivision (b) of Section 21080.66 of the Public Resources Code.
(B) The expiration of the applicable time limit in paragraph (2) of subdivision (j) of Section 65589.5.
(b) This section does not preclude a project applicant and a public agency from mutually agreeing in writing to an extension of any time limit provided by this section pursuant to Section 65957.
(c) For purposes of paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) and Section 65952, “development project” means a housing development project, as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 65905.5.
(d) For purposes of this section, “lead agency” and “negative declaration” have the same meaning as defined in Sections 21067 and 21064 of the Public Resources Code, respectively.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 650, Sec. 4. (SB 158) Effective October 11, 2025.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=65950.
- Text hash
- sha256 ef1fbec90355d5246c57f8e3a9952a8c2c2527efba041a20962037fa31d23684
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 65589.5Printed as Section 65589.5
- Gov. Code, § 65905.5Printed as Section 65905.5
- Gov. Code, § 65912.114Printed as Section 65912.114
- Gov. Code, § 65912.124Printed as Section 65912.124
- Gov. Code, tit. 7, div. 1, ch. 4.5, art. 3Applications for Development ProjectsPrinted as Article 3 (commencing with Section 65940)
- Gov. Code, § 65952Printed as Section 65952
- Gov. Code, § 65957Printed as Section 65957
Health and Safety Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 50052.5Printed as Section 50052.5 of the Health and Safety Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 50053Printed as Section 50053 of the Health and Safety Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 50079.5Printed as Sections 50105 and 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 50105Printed as Sections 50105 and 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code
Public Resources Code
- Pub. Resources Code, div. 13ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITYPrinted as Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code
- Pub. Resources Code, § 21064Printed as Sections 21067 and 21064 of the Public Resources Code
- Pub. Resources Code, § 21067Printed as Sections 21067 and 21064 of the Public Resources Code
- Pub. Resources Code, § 21080.66Printed as Section 21080.66 of the Public Resources Code
- Pub. Resources Code, § 21100Printed as Section 21100 or 21151 of the Public Resources Code
- Pub. Resources Code, § 21151Printed as Section 21100 or 21151 of the Public Resources Code
Cited by 13 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Gov. Code, § 65950. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 65470Printed as Section 65950
- Gov. Code, § 65589.5Printed as Section 65950
- Gov. Code, § 65950.1Printed as Section 65950
- Gov. Code, § 65952Printed as Section 65950
- Gov. Code, § 65952.1Printed as Sections 65950 and 65952
- Gov. Code, § 65956Printed as Sections 65950 and 65952
- Gov. Code, § 65957Printed as Sections 65950, 65950.1, 65951, and 65952
- Gov. Code, § 65957.1Printed as Sections 65950 and 65952
Health and Safety Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 25199.6Printed as Sections 65950 and 65952 of the Government Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 42301.3Printed as Sections 65944, 65950, and 65952 of the Government Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 42314.2Printed as Sections 65950, 65950.1, and 65952 of the Government Code
- Health & Saf. Code, § 57053.1Printed as Sections 65950 and 65952 of the Government Code
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