Existing law provides that in a civil action brought by a plaintiff to challenge a housing development project that meets or exceeds the requirements for low- or moderate-income housing, a defendant may seek an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish an undertaking as security for costs and damages that may be incurred by the defendant if the bringing of the action would result in preventing or delaying the project, as specified. Existing law limits the liability of the plaintiff who must furnish the undertaking to $500,000. Existing law also permits a defendant in a civil action challenging the approval or permitting of a priority housing development project, as defined, to bring a special motion to strike the pleading. Existing law requires the court to deny the motion to strike if the court determines, based on the pleadings, affidavits, and administrative record if applicable, that the plaintiff has established a probability of prevailing on the claim. This bill would increase the above-referenced liability limit to $1,000,000. The bill would also generally apply the above provisions to priority care developments, as defined, that provide supportive housing or other housing assistance in connection with behavioral health services and other specified purposes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 529.2 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by SB 916 to be operative only if this bill and SB 916 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including residential property insurance. Existing law requires an insurer, in the case of a total loss to the primary insured structure under a policy of residential property insurance, for at least the next two annual renewal periods, but no less than 24 months of coverage from the date of the loss, to renew the policy under certain circumstances, including that the total loss to the primary insured structure was caused by a disaster. Existing law prohibits an insurer from canceling or refusing to renew a policy of residential property insurance for a property located in a ZIP Code within or adjacent to a fire perimeter for one year after the declaration of a state of emergency, if the cancellation or nonrenewal is based solely on the fact that the insured structure is located in an area in which a wildfire has occurred. This bill would instead require an insurer to renew the policy of residential property insurance, under the above-described circumstances, for at least the next three annual renewal periods, but no less than 36 months of coverage from the date of the loss. The bill would also prohibit an insurer from canceling or refusing to renew a policy of residential property insurance for a property located in a ZIP Code within or adjacent to a fire perimeter for two years after the declaration of a state of emergency.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the California Housing and Homelessness Agency and makes the department responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the Multifamily Housing Program, the Housing for a Healthy California Program, and the California Emergency Solutions Grants Program. Existing law also establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program, administered by the department, for the purpose of providing jurisdictions, as defined, with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address homelessness challenges, as specified. This bill would enact the California Housing Justice Act of 2026, which would require the department to create, by August 1, 2030, finance plans to solve homelessness and to solve the housing unaffordability crisis, and related statewide performance metrics. The bill would also require the department to seek public consult in developing those finance plans. This bill would require the agency, on or before October 1, 2030, to report to the Legislature on the finance plans and performance metrics described above, and to publish goals on its internet website and update any progress toward the goals. The bill would also make related findings and declarations. The bill would make its provisions operative upon appropriation by the Legislature.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires each planning agency to prepare and the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and specified land outside its boundaries, that contains specified mandatory elements, including an environmental justice element, or related goals, policies, and objectives integrated in other elements, that identifies disadvantaged communities, as defined, within the area covered by the general plan of the city, county, or city and county, if the city, county, or city and county has a disadvantaged community, as specified. The law requires a city, county, or city and county subject to these provisions to adopt or review the environmental justice element, or the environmental justice goals, policies, and objectives in other elements, upon the adoption of the next revision of two or more elements concurrently on or after January 1, 2018. This bill would require a city, county, or city and county to meaningfully involve disadvantaged communities in the development, adoption, and implementation of the environmental justice element, or the related goals, policies, and objectives integrated in other elements, using methods that are designed to effectively involve disadvantaged communities based on local conditions and circumstances, as specified. The bill would require a city, county, or city and county subject to these provisions to adopt or review the environmental justice element, or the environmental justice goals, policies, and objectives in other elements, upon the earliest of the adoption or next revision of two or more elements concurrently on or after January 1, 2018, or June 30, 2031, except as specified. By increasing the duties on local governments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (council) , which has various goals, including, among other things, to serve as a statewide facilitator, coordinator, and policy development resource on ending homelessness in California. This bill would require the council to, by July 1, 2028, complete a comprehensive statewide study of the coordinated entry system and its role in connecting individuals and families experiencing homelessness to affordable housing, as specified. The bill would require the council, in conducting the study, to meaningfully consult with a geographically representative group of stakeholders, as described, and would require the council, by July 1, 2028, to post the report on its internet website and submit the report to the Legislature and any relevant policy committees.
Existing law establishes the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the direction of the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation. Existing law makes the department responsible for administering various laws relating to financial institutions, including the Banking Law, the California Credit Union Law (CCUL) , and the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act (CRMLA) , a willful violation of which is punishable as a misdemeanor. The CRMLA requires, as often as the commissioner deems necessary and appropriate, but at least once every 48 months, the commissioner to examine the affairs of each residential mortgage lender and servicer licensee for compliance with the CRMLA. The CRMLA authorizes the commissioner to examine the licensee's officers, directors, employees, or agents under oath regarding the licensee's operations. The CRMLA requires the commissioner to provide a written statement, the disclosure of which is subject to certain restrictions, of the findings of the examination, issue a copy of that statement to each licensee's principals, officers, or directors, and take appropriate steps to ensure correction of any violations of the CRMLA. This bill, the California Fair Lending Examination Act, would require, under the Banking Law and the CCUL, the commissioner to, at least once every 4 years, examine, as prescribed, the books and records of certain entities subject to the commissioner's examination authority under those laws for compliance with any nondiscrimination law applicable to mortgage lending, as specified, and would require the commissioner to provide a written statement of the findings of that examination, issue a copy of that statement to the subject's principals, officers, or directors, and take appropriate steps to ensure correction of any violations of applicable nondiscrimination laws. The bill would prohibit disclosure of that statement to anyone other than the subject entity, law enforcement officials, or other state or federal regulatory agencies for further investigation and enforcement. This bill would, as part of the above-described examination required by the CRMLA, require the commissioner to additionally examine the licensee for compliance with any nondiscrimination law applicable to mortgage lending, as prescribed. This bill would make a violation of an applicable nondiscrimination law a violation of the Banking Law, the CCUL, or the CRMLA, as applicable, and would authorize, under the Banking Law and the CCUL, the commissioner to examine the applicable entity's officers, directors, employees, or agents under oath regarding the entity's operations. By expanding the scope of the crimes of perjury and of violating the CRMLA, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law establishes the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) in order to meet the public transit problems of the County of Santa Clara. Existing law authorizes the VTA to purchase or otherwise acquire property for transit-oriented joint development projects, as provided. This bill would authorize the VTA to similarly purchase or acquire property for an employee housing project, as defined, for VTA employees and members of the public, as specified. The bill would authorize the VTA to construct affordable rental housing for employees and affordable for-sale housing that promotes housing opportunities for VTA employees, as specified. The bill would require the VTA to submit an annual report to the Legislature on the use of the bill's provisions to develop housing, as specified. By requiring the VTA to submit a new report, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development that includes, among other things, a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to include, among other things, an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development, including specified sites, an analysis of the relationship of zoning and public facilities and services to these sites (first analysis) , and an analysis of the relationship of the sites identified in the land inventory to the jurisdiction's duty to affirmatively further fair housing (2nd analysis) . This bill would remove the requirement on cities and counties to include the 2nd analysis in their housing elements. (2) Existing law requires a housing element to include a program that sets forth a schedule of actions during the planning period, each with a timeline for implementation such that there will be beneficial impacts of the programs within the planning period, that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals and objectives of the housing element through specified actions. Existing law requires this program to, among other things, identify actions that will be taken to make sites available, as provided, to accommodate that portion of the city's or county's share of the regional housing need for all income levels that could not be accommodated on sites identified in the inventory of sites without rezoning, and to comply with the certain zoning and rezoning requirements. If the inventory of sites does not identify adequate sites to accommodate the need for groups of all household income levels, as provided, existing law requires that the local government rezone those sites within specified time periods and requires the local government housing element program to identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period, as specified. Existing law also requires this program to affirmatively further fair housing and include an assessment that consists of specified components, including an analysis of available federal, state, and local data and knowledge to identify integration and segregation patterns and trends, racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty and affluence, disparities in access to opportunity, and disproportionate housing needs, including displacement risk. Under the above-described program, existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to develop a standardized reporting format for certain programs and actions taken, and requires the standardized reporting format to enable the reporting of all of the assessment components and certain fields, including timelines for implementation. This bill would additionally require the above-described program to identify actions that will be taken to make sites available to ensure that the distribution of sites across the jurisdiction affirmatively furthers fair housing. The bill would require those sites, after any required rezoning and among other things, to be distributed throughout the jurisdiction in a manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing, as specified. The bill would additionally require the local government to rezone the sites within specified time periods, as described above, and identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period, as described above, if the inventory of sites does not affirmatively further fair housing, as specified. For those additionally identified sites, the bill would require the jurisdiction to demonstrate that those sites will affirmatively further fair housing, as provided. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would revise and recast the requirement that the program affirmatively further fair housing. The bill would require that program to include an assessment of fair housing that includes, among other things, an analysis of available federal, state, and local data and knowledge to identify and examine certain patterns, trends, areas, disparities, and needs, as specified. The bill would also require each city or county to make the draft assessment publicly available and solicit public comments for a period of at least 90 days. The bill would require the city or county to include, among other things, in its first draft revision of the housing element, the assessment, including any revisions made in response to the public comments, and specified strategies and actions to implement the jurisdiction's fair housing priorities and goals. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would instead require the department to develop a standardized format for describing those strategies and actions to be taken, and would require the standardized reporting format to address all of the assessment components and, in addition to the above-described certain fields, a field for which fair housing priority the program is intended to address, the intended impacts, and how the strategies and actions will result in those impacts. (3) Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development, in evaluating a proposed or adopted housing element for substantial compliance, to allow a city or county to identify adequate sites by a variety of methods, including, among others, redesignation of property to a more intense land use category. Existing law also authorizes the department to allow a city or county to identify sites for accessory dwelling units based on the number of accessory dwelling units developed in the prior housing element planning period whether or not the units are permitted by right, the need for these units in the community, the resources or incentives available for their development, and any other relevant factors, as determined by the department. This bill would revise the department's authorization to allow a city or county to identify sites for accessory dwelling units in each income category based on the number of accessory dwelling units developed in the prior housing element planning period in that income category whether or not the units are permitted by right, the need for these units in the community, the resources or incentives available for their development, and any other relevant factors, as determined by the department. The bill would also require the jurisdiction to provide proof of a recorded deed restriction requiring the continued affordability of the unit, as specified, for accessory dwelling units developed in the prior housing element period to count towards determining the number of sites for accessory dwelling units a jurisdiction can include in the lower income category. (4) Existing law requires a city's or county's inventory of land suitable for residential development to be used to identify sites throughout the community, consistent with certain fair housing requirements, that can be developed for housing within the planning period, and that are sufficient to provide for the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need for all income levels. This bill would instead require that a city's or county's inventory of land suitable for residential development be used to identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period, that are sufficient to provide for the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need for all income levels, and that are distributed throughout the community in compliance with the requirement that the distribution affirmatively furthers fair housing, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law requires a city or county to determine whether each site in its inventory of suitable land, as described above, can accommodate the development of some portion of its share of the regional housing need by income level during the planning period. Existing law also requires the inventory to, among other things, specify for each site the number of units that can realistically be accommodated on that site. This bill would additionally require those sites identified as described above to be distributed throughout the jurisdiction in a manner that affirmatively furthers fair housing by allowing for a reduction in residential segregation, based on a specified determination procedure. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the department, by no later than April 1, 2027, to develop and publish an online tool to serve as the method for determining whether each city's or county's identification of sites adequate to accommodate its share of the regional housing need at all income levels meets the distribution requirement described above. The bill would authorize the department to grant an adjustment to the distribution requirement described above if underlying data for the jurisdiction renders the tool unreliable. The bill would require the department to include in its materials explaining the online tool a procedure for applying for an adjustment and the factors that the department will consider in determining whether or not to grant an adjustment. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Under existing law, there are programs providing assistance for, among other things, emergency housing, multifamily housing, farmworker housing, home ownership for very low and low-income households, and downpayment assistance for first-time home buyers. Existing law also authorizes the issuance of bonds in specified amounts pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law and requires that proceeds from the sale of these bonds be used to finance various existing housing programs, capital outlay related to infill development, brownfield cleanup that promotes infill development, and housing-related parks. Existing law, the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018, authorized, the issuance of bonds in the amount of $4,000,000,000 to finance various existing housing programs, as well as infill infrastructure financing and affordable housing matching grant programs, as well as financing for a specified program for farm, home, and mobilehome purchase assistance for veterans, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law. This bill would enact the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, which, if adopted, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $11,250,000,000, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law. Of the proceeds from the sale of these bonds, $10,000,000,000 would be used to finance programs to fund affordable rental housing and home ownership programs, including, among others, the Multifamily Housing Program, the CalHome Program, and the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program, and $1,250,000,000 would be used to provide additional funding for the above-described program for farm, home, and mobilehome purchase assistance for veterans, as provided. This bill would provide for submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 3, 2026, statewide general election, in accordance with specified law. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, authorizes the imposition of a tax by a county or city and county, as provided, with respect to specified instruments that transfer specified interests in real property. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2027, prohibit a local jurisdiction, defined to include a city, including a charter city, county, or city and county, from collecting a transfer tax, as defined, levied on the sale or transfer of a real property interest conveyed if the combined transfer tax rate levied by the local jurisdiction exceeds 1.5% of the consideration paid for or value of the real property interest conveyed, except as otherwise provided. The bill would also prohibit a local jurisdiction from levying a transfer tax on the first sale of single-family housing property occurring within 5 years of one or more housing units on the real property being destroyed or made uninhabitable by a natural disaster, as defined. By imposing new duties upon local officials with respect to transfer taxes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
