2026-09-09 · California · Legislation · Did not pass

The most consequential construction defect bill California has seen in years never drew a single no vote — and it is dead. AB 1903 passed the Assembly 70–0 in May and the Senate 40–0 on the final night of session. It then needed one more Assembly vote to concur in the Senate's amendments, and the clock ran out.¹

The bill's last recorded action, dated September 2, 2026, reads: “In Assembly. Held at Desk.”²

What it would have done

AB 1903, authored by Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks and Lori Wilson with Senator Josh Becker as principal coauthor, would have rewritten the Right to Repair Act — the SB 800 framework at Civil Code sections 895 through 945.5 that governs residential construction defect claims in California.

It would have amended Civil Code sections 895, 896, 897, 910, 930 and 942, added sections 898, 942.2, 945.1 and 945.6 and a new chapter at section 945.9, and repealed and re-added section 926.³

The core of it: homeowners would have had to document defects before filing suit and give the builder an opportunity to repair, and a builder who completed repairs would have been absolved of future liability for them.

The provision associations opposed

One change drew the organized opposition. The bill would have authorized a builder to obtain a release or waiver in exchange for repair work — reversing an existing prohibition.

The Legislative Counsel’s Digest states it plainly: the bill “would repeal the prohibition on, and, instead, authorize, a builder to obtain a release or waiver in exchange for certain repair work, as specified.” The operative language, in an amended section 926, read: “With agreement of the claimant and the builder, the builder may obtain a release or waiver of any kind in exchange for the repair work pursuant to this chapter effective one year after the conclusion of the repair.”

Under current law a builder who repairs a defect cannot demand that the owner sign away claims as the price of the repair. AB 1903 would have permitted exactly that trade.

It also revised the standards themselves: water intrusion at doors, windows, roofs, decks, foundations, stucco, plumbing and showers; structural standards for cracking, vertical displacement and earthquake and wind code compliance; soils and retaining walls; fire code compliance. And it narrowed the catch-all, so that an unaddressed function or component would be actionable only “if it causes damage to another component part.”

An insurance provision, effective July 1, 2027, would have barred insurers from characterizing repairs as voluntary payments or refusing to apply repair costs against deductibles and self-insured retentions.

Who was on which side

Opposed: Consumer Attorneys of California and homeowners associations. Supported: the California Building Industry Association, YIMBY organizations, cities and real estate interests.

1. AB 1903, California Legislature — bill status (Right to Repair Act) ↩
2. AB 1903, California Legislature — complete bill history, showing 'In Assembly. Held at Desk.' on 09/02/26 as the final action ↩
3. AB 1903, California Legislature — bill text and Legislative Counsel's Digest (amending Civil Code §§ 895, 896, 897, 910, 930, 942; adding §§ 898, 942.2, 945.1, 945.6, 945.9) ↩
4. CalMatters, 'Why a bill to juice condo construction died even though California lawmakers voted for it' (September 2026) ↩