Governor Signs ABAG Supported Housing Bills
The California legislative cycle wrapped up over the past weekend as Governor Newsom signed and vetoed bills to meet his October 13 deadline. ABAG took positions on a number of housing bills that emphasized protection of tenants, production of more housing, and preservation of existing affordable housing throughout the region. ABAG ultimately supported the seven of the following eight bills which have all now been signed into law:
Protection Bills
AB 1482 (Chiu), which enacts a ten-year statewide rent cap on annual increases of 5 percent, plus an allowable cost of living adjustment based on the regional Consumer Price Index (with a maximum increase of 10 percent), to protect tenants from extreme rent increases. The bill also establishes a “just cause” eviction policy for ten years, prohibiting landlords from evicting tenants without “just cause” to do so, requiring that the cause be stated in writing, and requiring relocation assistance in “no fault” cases.
Production Bills
AB 68 (Ting), which makes it easier for homeowners to create Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), also known as “casitas” or “granny units” by easing restrictions and speeding up the permitting process. A related bill, SB 13 (Wieckowski), on which MTC took a “seek amendment” position was also signed into law. That bill prohibits local agencies from requiring replacement off-street parking or from imposing an owner occupancy requirement for an ADU permit. It also prohibits impact fees for an ADU less than 750 square feet and caps fees at 25% for an ADU of 750 square feet or larger.
AB 1483 (Grayson), which requires cities, counties and special districts to post on their web sites a current schedule of fees and affordability requirements applicable to housing projects as well as an archive of nexus studies conducted since January 1, 2018. The bill also requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) in its next and every subsequent update of the California Statewide Housing Plan to include a 10-year housing data strategy that identifies data useful to enforce housing laws and inform policymaking and to establish a workgroup, inclusive of local governments and metropolitan planning organizations, to inform that effort.
AB 1485 (Wicks), which expands streamlining opportunities for affordable housing projects in the San Francisco Bay Area that dedicate at 20 percent of the total units to housing affordable to moderate-income households (defined as households with an income below 120 percent area median income).
AB 1486 (Ting), which revises ambiguities in the Surplus Land Act in order to provide affordable housing developers a clear “right of first refusal” opportunity when public agencies are disposing of surplus land.
SB 6 (Beall), which provides more transparency about the land available for housing development by requiring HCD to create a database of land suitable for residential development as provided by local agencies in their housing elements and of “excess” state land.
SB 330 (Skinner), which aims to accelerate housing development by providing developers with greater certainty about requirements and speeding up the overall project review process for five years. ABAG did not take a position on this bill.
Preservation and Funding Bills
AB 1487 (Chiu), which authorizes ABAG and MTC (acting as a newly authorized “Bay Area Housing Finance Authority”) to place various funding measures on the ballot (including a general obligation bond, an employee “head tax,” a parcel tax and a gross receipts tax) within the nine-county Bay Area for affordable housing production and preservation and tenant protection.