On October 13, 2025, Governor Newsom signed SB 346, giving cities and counties stronger tools to enforce Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) requirements on short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and Vrbo. The bill does not create new taxes, but it allows local governments to compel short-term rental platforms to produce the basic information needed to identify listings, confirm compliance, and pursue uncollected TOT revenue.

What SB 346 Does

 Cities and counties that adopt a local ordinance under SB 346 may now require short-term rental platforms to report the physical addresses of all rental properties they facilitate during a reporting period. If an address alone is not enough to identify the unit for tax purposes, the ordinance may also require additional information such as the assessor parcel number or listing URL. 

If a platform fails to provide the required information, the local agency may impose administrative fines or penalties under its ordinance. SB 346 also allows a local government to audit a platform when the platform is responsible for collecting and remitting the TOT under a local ordinance or collection agreement.

In jurisdictions that adopt an ordinance under SB 346, platforms must display any required local license or TOT registration number on each listing. The bill does not preempt or overwrite existing local short-term rental regulations – meaning, cities with their own systems in place may keep them as is.

Why SB 346 Matters

SB 346 gives local governments access to reliable listing data, helping identify unlicensed rentals and improve TOT enforcement. The law aligns with Ninth Circuit precedent, HomeAway.com, Inc. v. City of Santa Monica (2019), upholding local authority to require similar information from platforms. Cities and counties are expected to recover significant amounts of revenue that would otherwise have gone unpaid, helping offset the public costs of tourism and short-term rental activity.