Communities of color in California continue to face significant obstacles to buying and owning homes, along with gaps in government enforce-ment of fair-lending laws that limit their ability to build wealth proportionate to their share of the state’s population.
That’s why Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Al-ameda), Chair of the Assembly Health Commit-tee, said she introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 801 in February 2025 specifically to address those disparities impacting communities of color and low-income neighborhoods. The bill is backed by the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC).
The bill, known as the California Commu-nity Reinvestment Act, if passed and enacted, would mandate financial institutions – including state-chartered banks, credit unions, and inde-pendent mortgage companies, to actively meet the credit needs of all communities where they conduct substantial business, prioritizing low- and moderate-income areas.
“The Reinvestment Act creates more transpar-ency around our ability to understand whether or not (financial institutions) in the state are actually providing mortgages in Black and Brown commu-nities to buy houses,” Bonta told California Black Media (CBM).
In addition to gaps in oversight, people living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in California face severe barriers to acquiring mortgage credit due to a combination of factors, including high property values and rigid under-writing standards.
The bill expands state-level oversight of finan-cial institutions to ensure they actively reinvest in the historically underserved neighborhoods they serve, explicitly addressing the root causes of the racial wealth gap and predatory or discriminatory lending.
AB 801 also establishes rules that require the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) to examine these lenders for compliance at least once every four years.
“We’re in a position right now where we know there’s a disproportionate number of Black and Brown people who don’t have the ability to get credit from banks to buy their dream home,” Bonta said. “This bill will allow us to hold banks accountable to understand the extent to which they are actually providing loans to Black and Brown communities over time.”
AB 801 was first introduced to the California Legislature on Feb. 18, 2025. Bonta made it a two-year bill in the Senate to provide additional time to educate lawmakers on the legislation and address pushback from credit union groups. The bill last passed the full Assembly on June 3 with a 45-15 vote.
On June 17, 2026, the bill passed out of the Sen-ate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee with a 5 -2 vote. On June 30, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance AB 801 with an 11-2 vote. Now, the bill awaits its fate in the Senate Appropriations Committee after the legislature returns to the State Capitol on Aug. 3.
