Thursday, July 2, 2026

Altadena Rebuilding-Protection Bill Advances Out of Assembly Housing Committee

Multi-year pause on state density laws in ZIP codes 91001 and 91003 draws support from fire survivors and opposition from a pro-housing group

A state bill that would shield fire-scarred Altadena neighborhoods from post-disaster real estate speculation cleared its first Assembly committee Wednesday, advancing legislation that Eaton Fire survivors have pressed lawmakers to pass before out-of-town investors reshape the community.

SB 1090 cleared the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee and is expected to move next to the Assembly Committee on Local Government.

The measure, authored by Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, could impose a five-year pause on two statewide housing-density laws in Altadena’s 91001 and 91003 ZIP codes, blocking the lot splits and added units that fire survivors say speculators are using to acquire burned parcels.

The committee advanced the bill on an 11-1 vote, according to the Legislature’s official record. The moratorium would apply to applications filed between Jan. 7, 2025, and Jan. 7, 2030, suspending SB 9 and SB 1123 — laws that let homeowners split single-family lots or add units.

Pérez and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose 5th District includes Altadena and who is sponsoring the bill, cast it as protection for survivors of the January 2025 fire, which Pérez has said destroyed as many as 6,000 Altadena homes. Pérez has cited a Strategic Actions for a Just Economy report finding that investors bought about 49% of Altadena-area properties sold between February and July 2025.

“This is important community-driven legislation,” Pérez said at a press conference in Sacramento on Wednesday morning. It would, she said, protect survivors “without the overpowering influence of predatory developers looking to take advantage of the devastation and suffering caused by the Eaton fire.”

Not everyone at the Capitol backed the bill. Azeen Khanmalek, executive director of Abundant Housing LA, testified in opposition, telling the Committee the legislation would strip survivors of tools they need to rebuild. Lot splits and added units, she said, “can be a financial lifeline for folks that require additional equity to pay for the cost of rebuilding.”

Supporters frame SB 1090 as closing a gap left by a 2025 executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom that suspended density laws in Pacific Palisades and Malibu but left out most of Altadena. The bill would also bar entities that own 75 or more single-family homes from making unsolicited purchase offers in declared wildfire-disaster areas for five years.

SB 1090 cleared the Senate earlier this year. If it advances through the Local Government Committee, it would face further votes before reaching the Assembly floor.