Adapted from a post originally published on The Bay Link, the joint blog of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).
Last year was a very active year for housing legislation in California, with approval of a housing package http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-housing-legislation-deal-impact-20170915-story.html that included new funding for affordable housing as well as some modest regulatory changes. It appears, however, this may have just been a warm-up act for 2018. Currently, there are nearly 20 different major housing bills under consideration by lawmakers in the state's capitol. Outside organizations are also organizing to place various housing-related measures on the statewide ballot in November 2018.
The blog post, provides an overview of these various bills and initiatives and discusses key policy considerations for ABAG and MTC in light of regional goals, particularly those articulated in Plan Bay Area 2040 http://2040.planbayarea.org/, the nine-county Bay Area's long-range transportation and land use plan jointly adopted by both agencies in July 2017.
A table presented in a recent Joint ABAG/MTC Legislative Committee memo summarizes the major bills legislative staff are monitoring (for more information, including additional impact analysis, read this memo). It's important to note that much of this is still preliminary and a lot could change over the coming months. A policy discussion follows the table.