California's New EV Charger Laws: What AB 1820, SB 1267, SB 969, and SB 1283 Change, and When

On September 20, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed six EV bills, and four of them change the rules for installing and running chargers in California. Coverage described the package as cutting red tape for chargers, and for apartment owners and charging operators that is a fair description. For homeowners in an HOA, the story is smaller than the coverage suggests: the HOA bill, SB 1267, mostly moves liability for common-area chargers off the association and onto the owner and the installer. The right to install a charger that California homeowners already had does not change.

Timing matters as much as content. None of these laws applies today. They carry no urgency clause, so under California's default rule they take effect January 1, 2027, and the permit fee cap waits even longer: July 1, 2027 in cities and counties of 200,000 or more residents, and January 1, 2028 everywhere else.

What follows is read from the chaptered bill text on the Legislature's official site, not from press summaries.

The four bills at a glance

The other two bills in the package do not touch charger installation. SB 615 (Allen, Ch. 351) sets labeling rules for vehicle traction batteries starting July 1, 2028, plus registration and fee requirements for battery suppliers, and SB 1213 (Reyes, Ch. 349) adds transparency requirements to the state's zero-emission truck incentives, according to the Governor's office.

AB 1820: a hard cap on permit fees for apartment and condo charging

AB 1820 adds a new Government Code section, 66015.5, that does two things.

First, it says no city or county, including a charter city, may charge a permit fee for an EV charging station that exceeds the estimated reasonable cost of issuing it. That part is not new in substance. Government Code section 66014 already limits building permit fees to the reasonable cost of the service, so a site host outside multifamily housing gets no new protection here.

Second, and this is the real change, it sets a dollar ceiling for one kind of project: a Level 2 charging station at a new or existing multifamily housing development. That fee may not exceed $500, plus $5 per kilowatt for each kilowatt between 51 and 250 kW, plus $2 for every kilowatt above 250 kW. "Permit fee" is defined as the sum of everything the city or county charges in connection with the application, so a jurisdiction cannot split the cost into a plan review line and an inspection line to get around it.

Read literally, a multifamily Level 2 project of 50 kW or less tops out at $500. The statute does not say how the kilowatts are counted, whether as the combined output of every charger or as the load the site is designed to draw. It borrows its definition of a charging station from the permit streamlining law, which SB 1283 (below) redefines as the whole site, and that points toward a site total. "Multifamily housing development" is not defined in the section either; apartments are clearly in, and condo buildings are in under the ordinary reading. Confirm both with the building department before you budget to the cap.

The cap is not absolute. A jurisdiction can charge more if it adopts a written finding, by resolution or ordinance, with substantial evidence of its reasonable cost. That finding has to show the jurisdiction already runs a streamlined EV permit process, lay out the cost calculation, and explain how the higher fee buys a faster approval. Expect some large cities to go this route. Even so, the finding requirement puts the burden on the city to justify its number rather than on the applicant to challenge it.

The whole section sunsets on January 1, 2036. It mirrors the solar permit fee caps California has had since 2012, which the bill cites as its model.

What AB 1820 does not do: it sets no dollar cap for DC fast charging, for Level 2 at a single-family home, or for commercial sites like retail and workplaces. It does not touch utility fees, service upgrade costs, or anything your utility bills for new service. And it does not apply until mid-2027 at the earliest. If a city quotes you a high fee today, the reasonable-cost rule in section 66014 is the tool you have now.

SB 1283: streamlined permits now cover the canopy and the battery

Since AB 1236 in 2015, California has required cities and counties to approve EV charger permits administratively, through a building permit rather than a discretionary hearing, under an expedited local process. AB 970 in 2021 added the clock: an application is deemed complete if the building official does not act within 5 business days (10 for larger projects), and deemed approved 20 business days after it is complete (40 for larger projects). SB 1283 keeps those thresholds but counts chargers instead of "stations," because it redefines a charging station as the whole site where the chargers sit.

SB 1283 amends Government Code sections 65850.7 and 65850.71 to close the gap that slowed many commercial projects: the charger got the fast track, but the work around it did not. Starting January 1, 2027:

• Administrative approval explicitly covers charging stations with a canopy or with on-site energy storage sized to support charging. A qualifying canopy has at most 17 feet of clearance, a fascia no wider than 4 feet, and no more than 5,000 square feet of coverage.
• Each local streamlining ordinance must cover supporting infrastructure, which the statute lists as including paving, concrete pads, utility trenches, canopies, and on-site storage. Cities and counties must amend their ordinances and checklists by December 31, 2027.
• If a jurisdiction has not adopted or updated its checklist, the statute itself lists what an application must contain (site location, number of chargers, voltages, charger output in kW, panel and circuit ratings, load calculations, canopy dimensions, battery capacity, and so on). The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development must publish a standard form applicants can use.
• When an application is deemed approved because the city missed its deadline, the city has 30 days to send written notice of the approval date and the permits granted, and the applicant may start construction before that letter arrives.

What stays: the building official can still require plans needed to confirm the project meets health and safety codes, still inspects the finished work, and can still require a use permit on a finding, backed by substantial evidence, of a specific adverse impact on public health or safety. The deemed-complete and deemed-approved timelines themselves do not change. The process is walked through in our guide to commercial permitting and plan check, and the residential side in EV charger permits, inspections, and timelines.

SB 969: paid chargers can come online without a field accuracy test

This is the bill the coverage described as faster charger inspection. What it actually changes is how a pay-to-charge station is placed into service under California's weights and measures law.

It applies only to chargers used for "commercial purposes," which the Business and Professions Code defines as measuring something that is then the basis of a sale or a charge for service, and it names timing devices alongside meters. In practice that means any charger where the measured energy or time sets what the driver pays, public or private: a fast-charging plaza, but also an apartment garage or workplace that bills its users. A home charger is not covered.

Under existing law, a commercial measuring device can be placed in service only by the county sealer (the county's weights and measures official) or a registered service agency, which for a charger has meant a field accuracy test at installation. SB 969 adds Business and Professions Code sections 12107.2, 12210.1, and 12210.2. Starting January 1, 2027:

• A charger model that meets type approval and is factory tested and certified for accuracy by a factory registered service agency skips the field placement and the field accuracy test.
• The operator must file a placed-in-service report with the county sealer within 72 hours of installation and register the charger with the county. The sealer cannot demand an accuracy test or a service agency visit as a condition of accepting that report.
• Repairs that affect the meter or its accuracy still require a registered service agency or agent. Other repairs can be done by any competent person, with written notice to the sealer within a week.

The bill also changes routine enforcement. State regulations must let each county sealer choose between the existing inspection schedule and a risk-based statistical sample of chargers, and a sealer can still inspect any charger at any time in response to a driver's complaint. A charger that fails type approval or accuracy tolerance comes out of service immediately. For other deficiencies, the sealer sends written notice and can tag the charger "out of order" only if the owner does not acknowledge the notice within 30 days and does not fix the problem within 45 days, unless the sealer grants more time. Sealers report inspection results monthly to the state Division of Measurement Standards, which passes them to the California Energy Commission at least twice a year.

The Department of Food and Agriculture has until July 1, 2028 to bring its charger regulations in line with the new sections, so expect county procedures to settle over 2027 and 2028. Operators should confirm with each county sealer how it will accept the 72-hour report.

SB 1267: the HOA bill is mostly about who pays when something goes wrong

California already has one of the stronger right-to-charge laws in the country. Civil Code section 4745 voids any HOA rule that effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts a charger in an owner's unit or designated parking space, requires the board to decide in writing, deems an application approved if it is not denied in writing within 60 days (unless the delay comes from a reasonable request for more information), and makes an association that willfully violates the section liable for actual damages plus a civil penalty of up to $1,000, with attorney's fees to a homeowner who wins in court. SB 770, effective January 1, 2026, removed the requirement to name the association as an additional insured on the owner's policy.

SB 1267 amends section 4745 in three places, and none of them adds to the homeowner's right to install:

• Damage from use. The owner, and each later owner, of a charger in a common area or exclusive use common area was already responsible for damage caused by its installation, maintenance, repair, removal, or replacement. The bill adds damage caused by its use.
• Installer indemnity. The installer must indemnify or reimburse the association or its members for loss or damage caused by the installation.
• Liability intent for the association. The bill states the Legislature's intent to give an association that complies with section 4745 civil liability protection for injuries and damages from a charger it does not own, except in cases of the association's gross negligence.

The Governor's office framed SB 1267 as helping Californians in HOAs "access EV charging." The mechanism is indirect: boards that stall charger requests often cite liability, and this bill answers that concern by putting the cost of damage on the owner and the installer. Whether that speeds approvals depends on the board.

Three practical points. The new owner and installer obligations sit in the part of the statute that governs chargers placed in a common area or exclusive use common area, which in many condos includes an assigned parking stall; a charger in the garage on your own lot is outside that subdivision. The liability language is a statement of intent, not a standalone immunity clause, so how much weight a court gives it is untested. And because the installer now owes the association an indemnity by statute, expect boards to ask for your electrician's insurance certificate along with your own.

For how California's law compares with the other states that have one, see HOA right-to-charge laws by state, and for the California statute in context, the California state guide.

What these laws do not change

• Your right to install in an HOA. The void-and-unenforceable rule, the 60-day deemed approval, the licensed-contractor and insurance requirements, and the attorney's fees provision all read the same before and after SB 1267.
• The permit clock. SB 1283 widens what the fast track covers. It does not shorten the 5 and 10 business day completeness windows or the 20 and 40 business day approval windows.
• Fees outside multifamily Level 2. AB 1820's dollar cap does not reach single-family homes, DC fast charging, or commercial sites. They keep the general reasonable-cost limit that already applied.
• Code and safety requirements. Nothing here relaxes the California Electrical Code, the building official's inspection, or the listing and safety standards chargers must meet. SB 1283 adds an explicit requirement that every charger at a station meet them.
• Anything before 2027. All four laws take effect January 1, 2027 or later. A permit, HOA application, or charger commissioning you handle this fall runs under current law.

What to do now

If you own a condo or live in an HOA and plan to put a charger in a common area or your assigned stall, the existing law already gives you what you need to get a yes: put the request in writing, offer the licensed contractor and the insurance certificate, and note the date the 60-day clock started. After January 1, 2027, add your installer's insurance to the packet, since the installer now carries a statutory indemnity to the association.

If you own or manage apartments or a condo building and are planning Level 2 charging, the fee cap is worth timing for if your project is not urgent and your jurisdiction's fees are high. Ask the building department now whether it intends to adopt a cost finding to exceed the cap, because that tells you whether waiting saves anything.

If you host or operate commercial chargers, or bill residents or employees for charging, SB 1283 and SB 969 are the ones to plan around. For a canopy or battery project filing in 2027, check whether your city has amended its streamlining checklist; if it has not, the statute's own list of application contents applies and the state's standard form is an option. For pay-to-charge stations, ask your hardware supplier whether its units will be factory certified by a factory registered service agency, and ask the county sealer how it will take the 72-hour placed-in-service report.

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Last factually verified: September 30, 2026, against the chaptered text of AB 1820 (Chapter 348), SB 1283 (Chapter 347), SB 969 (Chapter 346), and SB 1267 (Chapter 350), each approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on September 20, 2026, on the California Legislature's official site (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov); the current text of Civil Code section 4745 (as amended by SB 770, Stats. 2025, Ch. 525), Government Code sections 65850.71 and 66014, and Business and Professions Code section 12500 on the same site; the chaptered text of SB 615 (Chapter 351) and SB 1213 (Chapter 349); and the Governor's office release of September 20, 2026 listing the six signed bills. Effective dates follow California's default January 1 rule for bills without an urgency clause; the dates each bill sets for itself are quoted from its text. evcharginghelp.com is editorially independent and receives no compensation from any company mentioned.