KEY HOUSING BILLS
Senate Bill 2, by Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, would create a permanent source of funding for affordable housing, imposing fees of up to $225 on certain realestate transactions, such as mortgage refinancing. (Home and commercial real estate purchases would not be subject to the fee.) It would collect $1.2 billion over the next five years — and would raise a total of $5.8 billion during that time, including federal, local and private matching funds, according to committee estimates. Requires a twothirds vote.
SB 3, by Sen. Jim Beall, D-Campbell, would place a $4billion statewide housing bond on a future ballot. Like SB 2, it would pay for existing affordable-housing programs in California that used to be supported by funds from the state’s Redevelopment Agency, a giant source of money that was slashed during the Great Recession and never replaced. If the bond measure passes and is approved by voters, $1 billion of the total would go to extend the CalVet Home Loan Program, which is scheduled to expire in 2018. Requires a twothirds vote.
SB 35, by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would try to tackle the state’s housing-supply shortage. Currently, cities are told every eight years how many units they need to build to meet their share of regional demand — but they are not required to build them. This bill would make it harder to ignore those goals. It targets cities that fall short, requiring them to approve more housing developments that fit the bill’s criteria until they are back on track.
SB 167, by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Oakland, would strengthen the state’s 35-year-old Housing Accountability Act, known colloquially as the “anti-NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) Act.” Cities that don’t comply with a court order to allow development would be hit with automatic fines of $10,000 per housing unit.
SB 540, by Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, allows cities to determine where housing needs to be built and to create a specific plan for development in that zone, including public hearings and environmental reviews. This is intended to speed up the approval and construction process.
Assembly Bill 73, by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would give local governments cash incentives to create high-density “Housing Sustainability Districts” near transit with some affordable housing.
AB 1505, by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, restores the ability of local governments to require developers to include affordable rental units. A 2009appellate court decision cut off that tool, which cities and counties had used for decades. Legislative leaders have been in talks with the governor’s office on this bill. The governor vetoed similar legislation by Atkins in 2013, arguing that it could make it harder for a city to attract development.