A new bill signed by Governor Brown last Friday, October 9, 2015, protects a right of the home-, and business owners install artificial grass. According to a law, cities, HOAs, and counties cannot prohibit the use of synthetic turf and other drought-tolerant landscaping.
In the fourth year of historic drought, Californians was ordered to cut their water usage by 25 percent. The target was met for the last three months. Without sufficient irrigation, lawns are letting go brown and die.
AB1164 by Glendale Assemblyman Mike Gatto replies to some communities that prohibited artificial turf because it was low quality, unlike modern artificial grass that looks real.
Before October 9, the law generally authorized every city and county, including a charter city, in California to make and enforce within its limits all local, sanitary, police, and other regulations that are not in conflict with general laws.
"This bill prohibits a city, including a charter city, county, and city and county, from enacting or enforcing any ordinance or regulation that prohibits the installation of drought tolerant landscaping, synthetic grass, or artificial turf on residential property, as specified. The bill would additionally state that this is an issue of statewide concern.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute."
