Housing measure sent to Brown

Bill lets Marin County continue to skirt state’s laws on low-cost homes. It’s expected to be signed.

SACRAMENTO — Legislation allowing Marin County to continue bypassing California’s affordable housing laws is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk.

The measure, which the state Senate approved Thursday morning, was included in Senate Bill 106 at the request of Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael). It lets the county’s largest cities and incorporated areas maintain extra restrictions on how many homes developers can build.

Housing advocates criticized it as counter to the Legislature’s push for more housing. Because the bill is tied to the state budget, it didn’t have to go through the regular committee process.

The measure extends to 2028 Marin County’s exemption from state housing law that’s supposed to ensure low-income developers can build at sizes that are financially viable. Levine wrote a bill in 2014 that gave the county an exemption until 2023, and argued that the smaller buildings allowed there would result in more housing production by lowering construction costs. But a report on the first measure’s impacts isn’t due until 2019, and SB 106 gives the county a further extension.

Brown, who negotiated the provision as part of state budget talks, is expected to sign the legislation.

On the Senate floor, the bill faced opposition from Republicans and some Democrats, who were critical about its effects on the state’s housing problems.