Natural Gas Bills Advance in Sacramento

California lawmakers are advancing legislation to accelerate the state’s transition away from natural gas, including SB 1359, which recently cleared its first committee on a narrow vote.

This matters for our members because these proposals could directly impact building operations, costs, and long-term investment decisions across commercial real estate.

What You Need to Know

SB 1359 passed the Senate Energy Committee on a narrow vote, showing that significant concerns remain about the bill’s impacts.

Supporters position SB 1359 as a planning and cost-containment measure to discourage expansion of natural gas infrastructure and accelerate the shift to electrification.

We joined a coalition letter in opposition because of serious concerns raised by our members and industry partners:

Safety & reliability concerns: Additional layers of approval could slow down or complicate essential infrastructure improvements needed to keep systems safe and running effectively.

Regulatory uncertainty: Changing the rules midstream creates unpredictability for building operations and long-term investment planning.

Cost shifts: The bill could push infrastructure and transition costs onto remaining customers—including commercial buildings.

Premature action: It moves ahead of ongoing California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) planning and pilot programs already evaluating a long-term transition.

The bill heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where these fiscal and real-world impacts will be front and center.

How It Impacts You

For commercial real estate, this isn’t just an energy policy conversation, it’s an operations and cost issue.

• Increased operating costs
  • Transition-related expenses and infrastructure changes could raise costs for building owners, which often flow down to tenants.
• Unclear capital planning
  • Sudden policy shifts make it harder to plan major building upgrades or long-term investments with confidence.
• Costly retrofits
  • Accelerated electrification without proven infrastructure or completed pilot programs could force expensive upgrades on buildings that aren’t ready.
• One-size-fits-all challenges
  • Broad mandates don’t account for differences in building age, design, or tenant needs—making compliance impractical for many properties.
• Tenant and small business impacts
  • Higher costs and operational disruptions ultimately affect occupancy, leasing decisions, and tenant retention.

Stay Connected

Having sustainability goals is important, but policies like SB 1359 must be workable in the real world.

That means prioritizing reliability, affordability, and infrastructure readiness—not unfunded mandates that create new challenges for building operations.

We will continue pushing that message forward and keep you updated here on BOMA on the Frontline.