republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-2556.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Density bonuses."
description: "The Planning and Zoning Law requires, when an applicant proposes a housing development within the jurisdiction of a local government, that the city, county, or city and county provide the developer with a density bonus and other incentives or concessions for the production of lower income housing units or for the donation of land within the development if the developer, among other things, agrees to construct a specified percentage of units for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or qualifying residents. That law makes an applicant ineligible for a density bonus if the housing development is proposed on property with existing or certain former dwelling units subject to specific affordability requirements, including a form of rent or price control through a public entity's valid exercise of its police power, or on property with existing units occupied by lower or very low income households, unless the proposed housing development replaces those units as prescribed. That law defines \"replace\" for those purposes to mean, among other things, providing the same number of equivalent units to persons or families in the same or lower income categories."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 2556"
citation: "California AB 2556 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Density bonuses."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nazarian"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 39
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2016-02-19"
last_action: "2016-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7ba497b4-3890-4bd9-ac52-c1003edca07c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556"
source_hash: "b0639d8b90922e3c013d1830c57a83d01a584b709a00d1bcb96a64dbe2816d17"
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 2556 (20152016) — Density bonuses.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires, when an applicant proposes a housing development within the jurisdiction of a local government, that the city, county, or city and county provide the developer with a density bonus and other incentives or concessions for the production of lower income housing units or for the donation of land within the development if the developer, among other things, agrees to construct a specified percentage of units for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or qualifying residents. That law makes an applicant ineligible for a density bonus if the housing development is proposed on property with existing or certain former dwelling units subject to specific affordability requirements, including a form of rent or price control through a public entity's valid exercise of its police power, or on property with existing units occupied by lower or very low income households, unless the proposed housing development replaces those units as prescribed. That law defines "replace" for those purposes to mean, among other things, providing the same number of equivalent units to persons or families in the same or lower income categories.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/19/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255699INT)
2. **03/18/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255698AMD)
3. **04/05/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255697AMD)
4. **04/14/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255696AMD)
5. **06/14/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255695AMD)
6. **08/19/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255694AMD)
7. **09/28/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255692CHP)
8. **AB2556** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556)
9. **08/31/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2556&version=20150AB255693ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Local Government] — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 2556 NAZARIAN Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 2556 NAZARIAN Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB2556 Nazarian By Beall — **39–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Nazarian — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2016-02-19** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2016-02-21** From printer. May be heard in committee March 22.
- **2016-02-22** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2016-03-17** Referred to Coms. on H. & C.D. and L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-18** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-03-28** Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-06** Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-07** Assembly Rule 56 suspended. (Page 4218.)
- **2016-04-07** (pending re-refer to Com. on L. GOV.)
- **2016-04-13** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (April 13). Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-18** Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 20). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-11** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (May 11). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-12** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-19** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 4871.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-19** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-26** Referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-08** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2016-06-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-01** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage`
- **2016-08-02** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4874.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 14 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-15** Ordered to the Senate.
- **2016-08-15** In Senate. Held at Desk.
- **2016-08-19** Action rescinded whereby the bill was read third time, passed, and to Assembly. `reading-3, passage`
- **2016-08-19** Ordered to third reading.
- **2016-08-19** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-25** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 5415.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-30** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2016-08-30** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 6474.)
- **2016-08-30** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 1. Page 6487.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 761, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7ba497b4-3890-4bd9-ac52-c1003edca07c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).