State Legislative Priorities for the Cities Association
April 20, 2026
Dear Mayor Ramos and Council Members, Mountain View YIMBY would like to offer our bill priorities to the City and the bodies the city participates in, including the Cities Association and League of California Cities. AB 2252 (Lee) on Single-Stair Reform AB 2252 directs the state to allow single-stair projects in buildings of up to six stories in the building code by 2028; it would also allow local governments to do so earlier.
Dear Mayor Ramos and Council Members,
Mountain View YIMBY would like to offer our bill priorities to the City and the bodies the city participates in, including the Cities Association and League of California Cities.
AB 2252 (Lee) on Single-Stair Reform
AB 2252 directs the state to allow single-stair projects in buildings of up to six stories in the building code by 2028; it would also allow local governments to do so earlier.
Single-stair construction is standard in Seattle, New York, and essentially all of the developed world outside the US. Imposing multiple stairs adds about 6 to 13% to the cost of a mid-rise apartment, with no demonstrated safety benefit given other protections like sprinklers. It also forces nearly every mid-rise project into a double-loaded corridor layout, producing the boxy, repetitive buildings residents complain about. Single-stair designs allow units with windows on multiple sides, more varied floor plans, and better-looking buildings overall. Single-stair designs allow for more small-scale development (such as on small R3 lots).
Single-stair reform was specifically added by Council to the Legislative Platform in February, under C.37.
Other priority asks
Other bills on which we think the city should take a support position.
SB 1216 (Cabaldon): Creates a state Housing Leadership Designation for cities with measurable housing production. Mountain View is one of four Santa Clara County cities on HCD’s Pro-Housing designation list; a bill that rewards cities for actually building has our direct support.
AB 1406 (Ward): Raises the damages cap on condo deposits in new projects, addressing financial risks at no cost to the city. (C.36 - Incentivize Condos)
SB 1014 (Grayson): Sets transparency requirements regarding what improvements the city wants from a project. (C.8 Housing Production)
SB 1116 (Caballero): Further streamlines small homeownership projects. (C.10 Homeownership Opportunities)
SB 1117 (Cervantes): Clarifies ADU fees so applicants aren’t disincentivized from building multibedroom units. (C.8 Housing Production)
We also thank the City and Council for proactively supporting condo construction defect reform in .
