A bill authored by two Pasadena-area lawmakers to block corporate developers from buying burned Altadena properties cleared the California Legislature unanimously on Sunday, Aug. 30.

Senate Bill 1090, the Keep Altadena Lands in Altadena Hands Act, now sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. The governor has until Tuesday, Oct. 13, to sign or veto it. If signed, the bill would take effect Oct. 1 and suspend a state housing density law called SB 1123 in the Eaton fire zone until 2030.

SB 1123 allows vacant single-family-zoned parcels of up to 1.5 acres to be subdivided into as many as 10 lots. Vox reported that one developer, Stone West Homes, bought seven burned Altadena lots and planned to build about 10 small houses on each, totaling 70 homes.

State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) and Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) co-authored the bill. Supervisor Kathryn Barger and the Altadena Recovery Watch backed it.

The January 2025 Eaton fire destroyed 9,400 homes and buildings, killed 19 people and displaced 100,000 residents, mostly in unincorporated Altadena just north of Pasadena. A Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, or SAJE, report from August 2025 found that 49% of properties sold in the fire area between February and July 2025 were purchased by investors, according to Pasadena Weekly reporting on a June 16 Altadena Town Council meeting where Pérez presented the bill.

Pérez said the bill would protect Altadena from real estate speculators exploiting state housing density laws in ways that could undermine local recovery after the Eaton fire, according to the Pasadena Star-News.

The bill's path to passage required a compromise. An earlier version would have also suspended SB 9, a separate state law that lets homeowners build up to two primary units on single-family lots. Housing advocates pushed back, arguing that stripping SB 9 protections would limit fire survivors' options for financing reconstruction by selling marginal land or adding homes to their property.

Katie Clark, board treasurer of the Altadena Community Land Trust, said affordable housing projects planned by the trust and the Greenline Housing Foundation that rely on SB 9 could have been delayed until 2030 without the change, the Star-News reported.

The final bill suspends only SB 1123. It does not affect homeowners' ability to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs) or junior ADUs, Pérez said at the June 16 meeting.

The compromise drew mixed reactions.

Shawna Dawson Beer, a community organizer with Beautiful Altadena who said renters make up 35% to 40% of the community, called the bill an incredible start but acknowledged it is not perfect.

Altadena Town Council Chair Nic Arnzen struck a sharper tone two days before the vote. "It's a real David vs. Goliath situation: big, greedy, deep-pocket developers and the YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement, with all their money, are up against vulnerable, beaten-down, broke Altadenans coming together to stand up for what is right," Arnzen told the Pasadena Star-News on Aug. 28.

Supporters also pointed to an equity gap. Newsom issued an executive order granting Pacific Palisades similar protections from state lot-splitting laws after the January 2025 fires. Altadena, an unincorporated community without its own city government, needed a legislative fix to get the same shield.

Los Angeles County had already moved to void SB 1123 applications in the fire area earlier in 2026, arguing that burned lots could not qualify as infill projects, Vox reported.

The moratorium would apply only to SB 1123 applications submitted after Oct. 1. Newsom's office has not commented on whether he will sign the bill.