---
type: "Bill"
title: "Planning and Zoning Law: housing element: violations."
description: "(1) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires a planning agency, before adopting its housing element or amendment to its housing element, to submit a draft element or draft amendment to the Department of Housing and Community Development."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 215"
citation: "California AB 215 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Planning and Zoning Law: housing element: violations."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chiu"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 31
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2021-01-11"
last_action: "2021-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/aa850d4c-a7c3-4a83-9751-83743775f1b4"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215"
source_hash: "ba1c6168d6c2bb47fd1fdf04c336156b0cde9c359ae0e86173e40fa79d510042"
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 215 (20212022) — Planning and Zoning Law: housing element: violations.

(1) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires a planning agency, before adopting its housing element or amendment to its housing element, to submit a draft element or draft amendment to the Department of Housing and Community Development.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/11/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21599INT)
2. **04/05/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21598AMD)
3. **06/23/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21597AMD)
4. **07/16/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21596AMD)
5. **08/16/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21595AMD)
6. **08/30/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21594AMD)
7. **09/28/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21592CHP)
8. **AB215** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215)
9. **09/15/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB215&version=20210AB21593ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Local Government] — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 215 Chiu Assembly Third Reading — **58–11** (pass) · lower
- AB 215 CHIU Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **60–5** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB215 Chiu By Wiener — **22–9** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **12–4** (pass) · lower
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **4–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Chiu — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-11** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-12** From printer. May be heard in committee February 11.
- **2021-01-28** Referred to Coms. on H. & C.D. and L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-06** Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-12** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 4.) (May 20). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-24** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-01** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 58. Noes 11. Page 1722.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-06-09** Referred to Com. on HOUSING. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on HOUSING. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-12** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2021-07-16** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-16** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2021-08-16** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-08-23** In committee: Referred to suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2021-08-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (August 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-30** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-10** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 22. Noes 9. Page 2631.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-10** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2021-09-10** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 3161.)
- **2021-09-10** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 5. Page 3161.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-22** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2021-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 342, 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/aa850d4c-a7c3-4a83-9751-83743775f1b4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).