August Legislative Issues – Part 2

Sponsored Bills

SB 25 (Caballero), our CEQA judicial streamlining bill, made it through  two very difficult committee hearings. While SB 25 passed out of the Senate on May 23rd with 28 votes. On June 26th it passed out of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee. It stalled ahead of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing at the request of the Committee Chair and is now a 2-year bill. We are currently working with the Chair, committee staff, the author’s office, and coalition members to facilitate the creation of a CEQA working group to study the impacts and interplay between all of this year’s CEQA-related legislation to ensure that we successfully move forward with impactful legislation.

AB 587 (Friedman), this is our Accessory Dwelling Unit bill, which would allow the separate sale of an ADU from the primary dwelling if a tenants in common agreement is in place. This bill has received bi-partisan unanimous support in the Assembly. It passed the Senate Housing Committee on the consent calendar on June 4th  and passed out of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on June 19th and is now on the Senate Floor.

Supported Bills

AB 68 (Ting): This bill would reduce  barriers to building ADUs throughout the state is now in the Senate and has been triple referred to the Senate Committees on Housing, Environmental Quality, and Governance and Finance. It passed out of Senate Environmental Quality Committee  and Governance and Finance Committee. It will be heard in Senate Appropriations Committee on August 12th.

AB 69 (Ting): would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to create building standards for small homes to establish consistency and guidelines throughout the state. It passed the Senate Housing Committee on June 13th and is now in Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 831 (Grayson): Adds reporting requirements to the HCD report due June 30th 2019. Requirements include posting the results of its current study to evaluate the reasonableness of local fees charged to new developments on its internet website on or before March 1, 2020 and that HCD issue a report to the Legislature on the progress of cities and counties in adopting the recommendations made by HCD’s study to evaluate the reasonableness of local fees by January 1st, 2024. This bill is in Senate Rules as they wait for the HCD study at which point it will be referred to committee.

AB 1483 (Grayson): Requires cities and counties to compile all fees  under the Mitigation Fee Act and all taxes and property assessments associated with housing development projects and make those reports public on their website. It passed Senate Housing Committee on July 2nd and is now in Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1486 (Ting): Clarifies and strengthens provisions in the Surplus Land Act that will promote the use of public land for affordable housing. This bill passed Senate Governance and Finance Committee on June 26th. It passed Senate Housing Committee on July 2nd and is now in Senate Appropriations Committee with an August 12th hearing date.

SB 6 (Beall): This bill requires the Department of General Services (DGS), in coordination with the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), to create a database of state and local surplus lands available for residential development. It is in the Assembly and passed the Assembly Committees on Housing and Community Development on June 19th. It passed Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee on July 3rd and is now in Assembly Appropriations awaiting a hearing date.

SB 196 (Beall): This bill enacts a new welfare exemption from property tax for property owned by a community land trust. It passed the Assembly Revenue and Tax Committee on July 1st and is now in Assembly Appropriations.