From disaster recovery and natural resource protection to consumer protection, Senator Allen successfully carried bills covering an array of policy issues in 2025.
Senator Allen stands at his desk on the Senate Floor to present a bill.
SB 766, or the California CARS Act, provides increased transparency and consumer protection measures for car shoppers. The Act requires dealers to disclose the total price of a vehicle up front and in advertising, and prohibits dealers from selling worthless add-on products and services that fail to provide any benefit to the car-buyer, such as lifetime oil changes for an electric vehicle. It also requires dealers to detail which add-on features are optional for purchase rather than a mandatory feature.
Notably, the CARS Act provides a first-in-the-nation 3-day return period for all used car shoppers. Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, a leading nonprofit consumer protection organization, has heralded the bill as “the most sweeping reform of protections for car buyers” in 20 years.
Senator Allen speaks to a crowd on a film set while celebrating the signing of AB 1138.
AB 1138 (Allen and Zbur), or the California Film and Television Jobs Act, modernized the California Film & TV Tax Credit Program, making our state more competitive by more than doubling the annual credit limit and providing greater flexibility to the program so more productions can utilize the credit.
SB 663, one of two disaster recovery bills authored by Senator Allen, helps property owners rebuilding from the recent LA Fires, as well as the 2024 Mountain and Franklin Fires, by extending timelines for property owners to transfer the base property tax year onto the new construction.
It additionally allows religious, charitable, and hospital facilities, as well as low-income veterans, to continue receiving special property tax exemptions while the property is unable to be used for its tax-exempt purpose.
Senator Allen hosts 100 Days After: LA’s Comeback to preview local and state efforts to support the rebuild.
SB 495, or the Limit the List Act, increases the amount insurers are required to pay out upfront for personal property coverage, from 30% to 60%.
This bill was a direct response to one of the leading complaints from survivors of the recent LA Fires who have had to go through the excruciatingly painful process of inventorying each and every item lost to the fire. It was originally introduced to require insurers provide the full 100% of a policyholder’s personal property coverage limit upfront in order to entirely eliminate the need to itemize contents lost, but the bill was required to be amended back by the Assembly Insurance Committee.
Senator Allen speaks from committee dias while chairing a joint information hearing.
SB 394 raises the penalty fines for commercial water theft from a fire hydrant. These acts of theft can lead to estimated losses of 22 to 45 million gallons of water annually for a single water district. They can also damage the fire hydrant and water infrastructure, contaminate the water supply, and lead to unexpected loss of water pressure. Ratepayers end up on the hook to cover the cost of repairs, and the unpermitted water use also undermines water conservation efforts pursued over recent years.
In response to bad actors baking in the current fines as ‘the cost of doing business,’ the bill substantially increases penalties and removes the one-year reset on accumulating penalties to provide even more significant fines for repeat criminals.
SB 630 will permanently protect natural lands and add to the state’s beloved State Park system. The measure removes bureaucratic red tape to allow Parks to acquire low-cost and low-risk properties for State Parks in order to address a growing backlog and advance our natural resource conservation efforts.
