Policy Advocacy and Endorsement

AB 1820 (Schiavo) aims to streamline the housing development process by implementing several key provisions. It allows developers to request a preliminary fee estimate upon submitting an application, which the local agency must provide within 10 business days. Once a housing project application is deemed complete, the public agency must itemize and total all applicable fees and exactions within 10 days.

The bill requires cities, counties, and special districts with websites to post current fee schedules, exactions, affordability requirements, zoning ordinances, development standards, and impact fee studies online. It clarifies that developers are not obligated to respond to fee and exaction requests post-completion without facing penalties.

AB 3057 (Wilson) is a technical fix to existing law that will grant local Junior ADU ordinances the same exemption to environmental review that is already granted to standard ADU ordinances.

SB 1123 (Caballero) updates SB 684 (2023) to make it legal to build up to 10 homes on vacant lots in single-family zones near jobs, schools, transit, and other amenities, by streamlining the approval process for these projects.

AB 1657 (Wicks) would authorize $10 billion in general obligation bonds to provide funding for affordable rental housing for lower income families, homeownership opportunities, and supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness.

AB 2580 (Wicks, Quirk-Silva) requires local governments to monitor how new historic designations could impact their ability to meet housing needs under existing state law, and report new historic buildings and districts to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) during the Annual Progress Report of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment process.

SB 937 (Wiener) allows home builders to delay payment of local development and impact fees until a certificate of occupancy is issued for their project. The bill will also extend the expiration date for entitlements issues prior to Jan. 1, 2024 and set to expire on or before Dec. 31, 2025 by 18 months.

AB 2243 (Wicks) would expand upon the recently passed AB 2011 which requires cities to automatically approve some housing projects in areas zoned for office, retail, or parking.

This bill creates a stackable moderate income density bonus. The provisions of this bill are based on a successful San Diego program that incentivizes moderate-income housing production providing certain other levels of affordability in a project unit mix are met.

This bill makes changes to the property tax welfare exemption for rental housing offered to lower income families, including expanding the exemption to include vacant land and buildings under construction

This bill seeks to address California’s climate and ongoing housing crises by making it easier to build multifamily housing in key locations, while preserving environmentally sensitive areas that are crucial to fighting to fighting climate change.

This bill adds “adaptive reuse” projects to types of housing that qualifies communities for state’s “prohousing” designation. It would require the Build Standards Commission (BSC”), in consultation with the Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”), to update, clarify, and publish building standards for adaptive reuse projects.

This bill streamlines infill housing applications submitted before January 1, 2030, that require a general plan amendment or other legislative approval, prohibiting local governments from disapproving or imposing conditions unless it first makes written findings supported by a “preponderance of the evidence” in the record.