--- type: "Bill" title: "Planning and zoning: electric vehicle charging stations: permit application: approval." description: "Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county to administratively approve an application to install an electric vehicle charging station through the issuance of a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit subject to a limited review by the building official of that city, county, or city and county. Existing law allows the building official to require the applicant to apply for a use permit if the official finds that the station could have a specific adverse impact upon the public health or safety and prohibits the city, county, or city and county from denying the application for a use permit to install an electric vehicle charging station unless it makes written findings that the proposed installation would have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety, and there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific, adverse impact." jurisdiction: "us/states/ca" legislature: "California Legislature" session: "20212022" identifier: "AB 970" citation: "California AB 970 (20212022)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Planning and zoning: electric vehicle charging stations: permit application: approval."] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["McCarty"] version_count: 7 action_count: 19 vote_count: 5 first_action: "2021-02-18" last_action: "2021-10-08" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4a7bdacf-1496-4d6c-9a73-287e602f4d65" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970" source_hash: "334b371ab1883e2c2172962fe3c9c88e02a9f1295bc3a3f3754a8fa4cfe5f4bf" vintage: "2026-07-01" source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump" retrieved_at: "2026-07-06" confidence: "reported" tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"] --- # California AB 970 (20212022) — Planning and zoning: electric vehicle charging stations: permit application: approval. Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county to administratively approve an application to install an electric vehicle charging station through the issuance of a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit subject to a limited review by the building official of that city, county, or city and county. Existing law allows the building official to require the applicant to apply for a use permit if the official finds that the station could have a specific adverse impact upon the public health or safety and prohibits the city, county, or city and county from denying the application for a use permit to install an electric vehicle charging station unless it makes written findings that the proposed installation would have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety, and there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific, adverse impact. ## Version chain The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment. 1. **02/18/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970&version=20210AB97099INT) 2. **04/27/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970&version=20210AB97098AMD) 3. **05/10/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970&version=20210AB97097AMD) 4. **07/13/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970&version=20210AB97096AMD) 5. **10/08/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970&version=20210AB97094CHP) 6. **AB970** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970) 7. **09/09/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB970&version=20210AB97095ENR) ## Votes - AB 970 McCarty Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **59–11** (pass) · lower - 3rd Reading AB970 McCarty et al. By Gonzalez — **30–9** (pass) · upper - Do pass as amended — **4–1** (pass) · upper - AB 970 McCarty Assembly Third Reading — **66–8** (pass) · lower - Do pass as amended. — **8–0** (pass) · lower ## Sponsors - McCarty — primary (person) - Chiu — author (person) - Ting — coauthor (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2021-02-18** Read first time. To print. `reading-1` - **2021-02-19** From printer. May be heard in committee March 21. - **2021-03-04** Referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee` - **2021-04-27** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-04-28** Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee` - **2021-05-06** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (May 5). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage` - **2021-05-10** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-05-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 8. Page 1711.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1` - **2021-06-16** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee` - **2021-07-12** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (July 8). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage` - **2021-07-13** Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-09-02** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 30. Noes 9. Page 2359.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-09-02** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 4 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77. - **2021-09-07** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 59. Noes 11. Page 2832.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2021-09-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m. - **2021-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2021-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 710, Statutes of 2021. `became-law` ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4a7bdacf-1496-4d6c-9a73-287e602f4d65`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).