April 27, 2023

April marks the beginning of NBA playoffs and if the legislative calendar were a basketball game, we would be beginning the second quarter of the big game. With policy committee hearings concluding in the first house, we are transitioning to focusing on the fiscal committees. During the first few weeks in May, the Legislature will be focusing on getting bills through their respective fiscal committees. May 19, 2023 is the deadline for fiscal committees to hear, and report to the Floor, bills introduced in their house. Subsequently, June 2, 2023, marks the deadline for the Legislature to pass bills introduced in that house and the whole process starts all over again with policy committees, fiscal committees, and floor votes during the summer in the second house.

Our CSAC Housing, Land Use and Transportation (HLT) Policy Committee is responsible for reviewing state and federal legislative proposals, state budget items, ballot measures, and regulatory proposals focused on housing, land use, transportation, and tribal and intergovernmental relations. While the HLT policy team is tracking almost 400 bills, the following are a few measures that we would like to highlight.

Support

AB 578 (Berman) Multifamily Housing Program: No Place Like Home Program would revise the minimum annual loan payment developers must pay to cover the cost of project monitoring for the Multi-family Housing Program and the No Place Like Home Program by capping the annual amount the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) may charge at $150 per unit, adjusted for inflation, or 0.42% of the total project loan, whichever is less. To make meaningful progress in helping those who are unhoused, CSAC developed the ‘AT HOME’ Plan. The six-pillar plan is designed to make true progress to effectively address homelessness at every level - state, local and federal. CSAC is supportive of these updates to the affordable housing monitoring fee that would provide additional private financing to increase the number of affordable housing units being built each year.

AB 653 (Reyes) Federal Housing Voucher Acceleration Program would create the Federal Housing Voucher Acceleration Program to provide housing search assistance,

landlord incentives, and deposit resources to help tenants with vouchers find and secure housing. AB 653 would specifically require HCD to allocate $200 million to establish, administer, and fund a grant application process and award grants to public housing authorities on or before July 1,2024, as well as require HCD to provide technical assistance to applicants that receive the grant funds. The bill would also require housing authorities that have low lease-up rates to apply evidence-based tools to help voucher families move to low poverty neighborhoods and to work with HCD to further analyze and improve their voucher policies. CSAC is supportive of this measure since it would provide meaningful policy changes that support county efforts to address significant barriers in providing housing to low-income individuals, which ultimately prevents individuals from becoming homeless.

AB 1033 (Ting) Accessory dwelling units: local ordinances: separate sale or conveyance would authorize local agencies to adopt ordinances to allow the separate conveyance of the primary dwelling unit and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) or units as condominiums. This bill would require any ordinance to comply with both the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, which governs homeowners’ associations, and the Subdivision Map Act, which governs the subdivision of property. In addition, AB 1033 would require any ordinance allowing separate conveyance of these units to stipulate that, prior to allowing separate conveyance, all liens on the property are satisfied or that all lienholders consent to the recordation, and that a safety inspection of the ADU is conducted. CSAC is supportive of this measure given that it complements the ‘AT HOME’ Plan in providing increased flexibility and streamlining to generate more affordable housing.

SB 356 (Archuleta) Housing: Code Enforcement Incentive Program: Community Code Enforcement Pilot Program would modernize the Code Enforcement Incentive Grant Program by making cost-of-living adjustments to award sizes, simplifying matching fund requirements for local governments, incentivizing the certification of code enforcement officers, and expanding partnerships with community-based organizations. CSAC supports ensuring statutory requirements in Government, Public Resources, Health and Safety Codes, as well as the Building Standards Code regulations work coherently to incentivize and streamline the delivery of affordable, equitable and safe housing. By reactivating the Code Enforcement Incentive Grant Program, the Legislature can spark innovation in building code enforcement to identify better and remediate deteriorated housing conditions before problems become so severe that buildings become uninhabitable. These grants allow local agencies to test new technologies, practices, and community partnerships to protect tenants from unhealthy housing conditions.

Oppose Unless Amended

AB 1504 (McCarty) Planning and zoning: electric vehicle charging infrastructure: public right-of-way requires cities and counties to complete a plan for the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the public right-of-way, and makes changes to the statewide assessment of EV charging infrastructure the California Energy Commission (CEC) must prepare pursuant to existing law. In developing the plan, numerous requirements and considerations are placed on local agencies. Existing local regulations are not barriers to electric vehicle charging station deployment, but rather a process, overseen by engineers, safety, and design professionals to protect the public from hazards. County governments have finite resources but must process electric vehicle charging station permits, as mandated by state law, with truncated timetables that place them ahead of other permittees with projects related to affordable housing, rebuilding disaster-stricken areas, approving Americans with Disabilities Act improvements, and reviewing rooftop solar panel projects, just to name a few.