California has until Sept. 30 to decide whether two bills — SB 222 and AB 1738 — become law and clear the way for cheaper, faster installation of rooftop solar, home batteries, and heat pumps across roughly 600 local jurisdictions.

The state Legislature passed both measures late last month. SB 222, the Heat Pump Access Act authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), limits jurisdictions to one permit per heat-pump project. AB 1738, the Remote Virtual Inspection Act, gives homeowners the right to request video-based inspections. Gov. Gavin Newsom's office declined to say which way he is leaning.

What would SB 222 require of cities and counties?

Cities of at least 5,000 residents and counties of at least 150,000 would have to offer expedited or instant heat-pump permitting by July 1, 2028. Permit fees would cap at $150 for a heat-pump water heater and $200 for a heat pump, except where jurisdictions document fee-recovery shortfalls. The bill also bars homeowner associations from imposing restrictive rules or outright bans. One HOA delayed a retiree's heat pump by seven months, costing her nearly $6,500 in lost incentives.

"This is something that touches families' pocketbooks directly," said Nick Josefowitz, founder and CEO of energy-affordability nonprofit Permit Power. "We're just thrilled that the legislature in California acknowledged how important that is."

What does AB 1738 change about inspections?

The bill requires cities over 50,000 residents and counties of at least 150,000 to offer remote virtual inspections by Jan. 1, 2028, while preserving in-person authority where necessary. Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning contractors currently wait two to six hours for an inspection that takes just five to 15 minutes, according to nonprofit SPUR. Travel and coordination add $600 to $1,000 per project — costs SPUR estimates total more than $500 million statewide over three years.

Berkeley, Los Angeles County, San Diego, and at least 16 other California jurisdictions already offer remote options. Timothy Wegner, who led the Placer County building department before retiring earlier this year, said the format lets installers schedule morning work and afternoon inspections the same day.

"A thousand bad rules and process bottlenecks that nobody ever bothered to fix caused California's affordability crisis," Brian Hanlon, CEO of pro-housing nonprofit California YIMBY, said in a statement. "AB 1738 fixes one of them by allowing remote inspections. That's how you make California affordable again — fixing one dumb bottleneck at a time."

How do the bills fit California's climate targets?

California has pledged to cut planet-heating emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and to deploy 6 million heat pumps by the same date. Permitting friction has slowed the rollout: SPUR found some jurisdictions require plumbing, electrical, and structural permits for a single heat-pump water heater, generating roughly $400 in unnecessary fees. Independent analyses put household savings from streamlined permitting at several hundred to more than $1,000 per upgrade.

The bills arrive as the federal government has rolled back support. President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress eliminated federal tax credits for residential solar, batteries, heat pumps, and heat-pump water heaters last year, leaving households to absorb some of the highest energy costs in the country.

What milestone decides what happens next?

Newsom's signature by Sept. 30 would activate both compliance clocks. AB 1738 alone is projected to save Californians more than $500 million over three years based on current permit data, SPUR said. Subsequent deadlines — Jan. 1, 2028 for virtual inspections and July 1, 2028 for expedited heat-pump permitting — set the implementation cadence. Six other states (Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, and Virginia) have already automated solar and storage permitting, and Maryland has adopted remote-inspection guidance, positioning California as the testbed for the next wave of streamlining.