BART construction:
Legislature sends bill to ease restraints on new housing and retail near stations to governor.
SACRAMENTO — A bill to speed up the development of housing and retail on BART parking lots and other property is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, despite staunch opposition from local political leaders around the East Bay.
AB2923 would require the transit agency to zone its parking lots and other vacant land for building construction and limit cities’ ability to get in the way. It would apply to any BART-owned land within a half mile of a station. Existing surface lots could be replaced with parking structures and new apartments and shops.
The bill would “allow us to simultaneously address two of the Bay Area’s biggest challenges: housing affordability and traffic congestion,” said Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, who co-authored the bill with Assemblyman Timothy Grayson, D-Concord.
BART recently committed to build out its lots by 2040, producing 20,000 units of housing and 4.5 million square feet of commercial space, including child care and educational facilities.
The idea of handing land use authority over to BART hit resistance on the Assembly floor. Republican Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, whose district includes five BART stations in the Tri-Valley area, was among its most spirited opponents.
“Let me tell you a little bit about the agency that would be in control of this housing,” Baker said, painting a grim picture of the recent crime wave and equipment problems on BART.
“Right now, BART is in the headlines for stabbings,” Baker said.
Her criticisms echoed those of mayors and neighborhood groups throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Many of them touted the virtues of transit-oriented development, but said that cities should do it on their own time and their own terms, without BART calling the shots.
The bill passed the Assembly 44-25.
Other bills approved Tuesday by lawmakers and sent to Brown’s desk included: Renewable energy: SB100 by Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would require California to get 100 percent of its electricity from the sun, the wind and other carbon-free sources by the end of 2045.
If signed by Brown, who has made the fight against climate change a cornerstone of his legacy, the bill would cap years of efforts by California to increase its use of renewable power and wean itself off fossil fuels
California set its first goal for boosting renewable power use among utility companies in 2002, and over time, both Brown and his Republican predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, steadily raised the targets. In 2015, Brown signed into law a requirement that utilities get half of their electricity from renewables by the end of 2030.
The bill approved by the Assembly Tuesday, SB100, would accelerate that goal by four years, requiring 50 percent renewable power by the end of 2026. By Dec. 31, 2030, utilities would need to get 60 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. The bill passed the Assembly by a 43-to-32 vote. Gun removal: AB2888 by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, to allow co-workers and school personnel to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from someone they believe poses a danger.
The bill would expand the list of people who can ask a court for a gun violence restraining order, a little-known process under which a judge can bar a person from possessing a gun for as long as a year.
The law can now be used only by immediate family members, roommates and law enforcement. Under Ting’s bill, teachers, principals, co-workers and employers could also ask for a gun restraining order for people they fear to be a threat to themselves or others.
The bill passed the Senate, 25-12, on Tuesday and now heads to Brown, who vetoed a similar proposal in 2016. He has not indicated whether he will sign the latest bill. Gun ban: AB3129 by Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, DBaldwin Park (Los Angeles County), to bar a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from possessing a gun for life, beginning in January. The legislation would replace a law that slaps a 10-year gun ban on people convicted of such crimes.