AB 2234: a 30-day shot clock on permits
One number — 30 days — is the whole story for anyone who's watched a permit gather dust.
AB 2234 would put cities on a 30-day clock to approve or deny a complete planning application. Miss the deadline, and the rules tilt toward the applicant.
If you've never tried to pull a permit, this sounds procedural. If you have, it's the entire ballgame. The single biggest hidden cost in California housing isn't lumber or labor — it's time: the months a complete application can sit on a desk while carrying costs pile up. A shot clock attacks that cost directly.
Delay is a policy choice dressed up as process. A deadline is how you find out which one a city is using.
For sellers weighing a renovation or an ADU, and for small builders, a predictable timeline changes what's worth starting. The catch, as always, is the word 'complete' — cities still control when an application counts as complete. Read the bill for how it defines that.