Existing law, the State Housing Law, establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation. Existing law requires the building department of every city or county to enforce within its jurisdiction all the provisions published in the California Building Standards Code and the provisions of the State Housing Law, as provided. Existing law makes any violation of the State Housing Law a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, by imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or by both. Existing law requires the California Building Standards Commission and the Department of Housing and Community Development to research and develop, and authorizes those entities to propose for adoption by the commission, mandatory building standards for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in existing multifamily dwellings, hotels, motels, and nonresidential developments, as provided. This bill would require a new or existing affordable housing development, as defined, for which a permit application is submitted between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, to comply with either the requirements for installation of low power Level 2 or higher electric vehicle charging receptacles in the 2025 California Green Building Standards Code, as provided, or the applicable requirements for installation of low power Level 2 or higher electric vehicle charging receptacles in the 2024 supplement to the 2022 edition of the California Green Building Standards Code. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. By adding to the duties of local officials, and by expanding the scope of a crime, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Existing law, known as the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, with respect to land where housing is an allowable use and except as specified, prohibits a county or city, including the electorate exercising its local initiative or referendum power, in which specified conditions exist, determined as provided by the Department of Housing and Community Development, from enacting a development policy, standard, or condition, as defined, that would have certain effects. Under existing law, these proscribed policies, standards, or conditions include, among others, (A) changing the land use designation or zoning of a parcel or parcels of property to a less intensive use or reducing the intensity of land use within an existing zoning district below what was allowed under the general plan or specific plan land use designation and zoning ordinances of the county or city as in effect on January 1, 2018, and (B) imposing or enforcing a moratorium on housing development within all or a portion of the jurisdiction of the county or city, except as provided. Existing law states that these prohibitions apply to any zoning ordinance adopted or amended on or after the effective date of these provisions, and that any development policy, standard, or condition on or after that date that does not comply is deemed void. Existing law prohibits a county or city subject to these provisions from enforcing a zoning ordinance imposing a moratorium or other similar restriction on or limitation of housing development until it has submitted the ordinance to, and received approval from, the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires the department to approve a zoning ordinance submitted to it only if the department determines that the zoning ordinance satisfies these requirements. If the department denies approval of the zoning ordinance, as specified, existing law states that the ordinance is deemed void. This bill would expand the prohibition against enacting a development policy, standard, or condition that has the effect of imposing or enforcing a moratorium on housing development within all or a portion of the jurisdiction of the county or city to also prohibit these policies, standards, or conditions within the sphere of influence of a city, as defined. The bill would define "moratorium or similar restriction or limitation on housing development" for purposes of the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 to include, but not be limited to, the electorate of a county or city subject to these provisions from exercising its referendum power in a manner that has the effect of extending an existing moratorium or similar restriction or limitation on housing development. The bill would prohibit a county or city subject to these provisions from enforcing an initiative or referendum imposing a moratorium or other similar restriction on or limitation of housing development until the initiative or referendum receives approval from the department pursuant to the approval process described above. The bill would state that if the department denies approval of the initiative or referendum, as specified, the initiative or referendum would be deemed void. The bill would provide that these provisions do not preclude, limit the enforceability of, or require department approval of a referendum or an initiative that requires voter approval of a proposed general plan amendment that would increase the intensity of land use allowed on lands designated for open space, agricultural, or rural land uses in the operative general plan, as specified. Existing law defines "reducing the intensity of land use" for purposes of the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 to include reductions to height, density, or floor area ratio, new or increased open space or lot size requirements, new or increased setback requirements, minimum frontage requirements, or maximum lot coverage limitations, or any other action that would individually or cumulatively reduce the site's residential development capacity. This bill would revise the definition of "reducing the intensity of land use" to mean any action that would individually or cumulatively reduce the site's residential development capacity, including reductions to height, density, or floor area ratio, new or increased open space or lot size requirements, new or increased setback requirements, minimum frontage requirements, or maximum lot coverage limitations. This bill would also provide that an action or special proceeding brought to enforce these provisions is subject to a 3-year statute of limitations under specified law. The bill would provide that the bill's provisions apply retroactively to any pending action or proceeding. (2) 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. (3) By imposing new requirements and duties on local planning officials with respect to housing development, 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.
The California Financing Law (CFL) generally regulates consumer loan lending practices by finance lenders, brokers, and program administrators. The CFL makes a willful violation of its provisions a crime. This bill would prescribe requirements on loans provided to consumers for the purpose of advancing residential real property rent payments for certain finance lenders and servicers, including prohibiting more than 2 installment payments for the loans, specifying the amount that may be charged for late fees, prescribing disclosure requirements, and prohibiting advertising 0% APR for the loan unless specified conditions are met. By expanding the scope of a crime under the CFL, 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.
(1) Existing state and federal law provides for the enforcement of laws related to elections. This bill would prohibit a peace officer from interfering with the administration of an election, as specified. This bill would authorize certain persons to enforce those prohibitions by filing a civil action, as specified. This bill would also prohibit any individual from permitting an agent of a law enforcement agency, as specified, to access, disrupt, modify, or take possession of rosters, combined rosters, or voter lists unless authorized by a court order or to investigate certain types of voting fraud. The bill would additionally require the Attorney General to provide guidance and information regarding how to respond to requests by law enforcement, as defined, to access areas where ballots are present. (2) Existing law requires an elections official, upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope with the voter's prior signatures, and it also provides a mechanism by which a voter can verify their signature and cure this defect. Existing law provides that the processing of vote by mail ballots is open to the public and permits specified persons and organizations to observe this processing. This bill would prohibit a vote by mail observer from challenging a signature on a vote by mail ballot that has been verified by the voter. (3) Under existing law, it is a crime for a person in possession of a firearm, a uniformed peace officer, private guard, or security personnel, or any person wearing the uniform of a peace officer, guard, or security personnel, to be stationed in the immediate vicinity of, or posted at, a polling place without authorization from the appropriate elections official. It is also a crime for a person to hire or arrange for such a person to be stationed in the immediate vicinity of, or posted at, a polling place without authorization from the elections official. This bill would authorize the Secretary of State or Attorney General to object to authorization provided by the appropriate elections official, in which case the person stationed or posted at the polling place, or the person who hired or arranged for such a person to be stationed or posted at the polling place, is guilty of a crime. By expanding the scope of these crimes, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and any local elections official in the county in which the act occurs, to bring a civil action against an individual, business, or other legal entity that commits any specified act of tampering with a voting system or voting equipment before, during, or after an election. This bill would additionally authorize the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and the appropriate local elections official to bring a civil action against a person, business, or entity that takes a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. (5) Existing law makes it a crime for an individual to undertake a number of enumerated actions that would result in interference with an election, including displaying a container for the purpose of collecting ballots with the intent to deceive a voter into casting a ballot in an unofficial ballot box. This bill would also make it a crime to take a package containing voted ballots out of the custody of an elections official. By expanding the scope of this crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law requires the elections official of any county or city using a voting system to inspect the machines or devices at least once every 2 years. This bill would prohibit an individual from permitting an agent of a law enforcement agency, as defined, to access, disrupt, modify, or take possession of certified voting technology unless authorized by a court order. To the extent this bill would establish new procedures for the conduct of elections, it would create a state-mandated local program. (7) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes various advisory boards and commissions in state government with specified duties and responsibilities. This bill would create the California Latino Commission to address the inequities faced by the Latino community in housing, education, economic mobility, labor, and health care. The commission would consist of 9 members who have demonstrated expertise in specified areas, including housing policy and advocacy and economic development. The bill would task the commission with, among other things, collecting and analyzing data, developing recommendations, and monitoring the implementation of state programs and policies affecting the Latino community, as specified. The bill would require the commission to work with other state agencies and to submit an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature. The bill would establish that the commission and its activities would be supported by appropriations by the Legislature from the General Fund and grants from federal and private sources. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2036.
(1) Existing law, the Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. Existing law, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to issue bonds, make loans, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities. This bill would enact the Community Stabilization Act. The bill would require the I-Bank to develop and administer a program to issue a security, and to cease issuing a security on January 1, 2030. The bill would specify that the purpose of the program is to help stabilize property values in disaster-affected areas by allowing qualified investors, as defined, to purchase tradable securities, with the funding allocated to qualifying investment entities that purchase and manage residential land until it can be resold at fair market value. The bill would require profits from the land investments to be shared among investors and the I-Bank according to certain percentages, with qualifying investment entities being reimbursed for their administrative costs. This bill would establish various requirements for the security, including that it be tradeable, comply with specified municipal bonding requirements, and that it be funded by investments made by qualified investors using funds available pursuant to the federal Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. The bill would require the security to repay the investment upon a liquidity event and within 7 years of the purchase of an investment property, and would describe a liquidity event as the refinance or sale of the investment property. This bill would require funds raised from the purchase of the security to be deposited in the Community Stabilization Fund, which would be created by the bill, and would require all moneys in the fund to be continuously appropriated to the I-Bank. The bill would require the I-Bank to allocate moneys in the fund to qualifying investment entities to be invested in the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura and in those areas that are covered by a state of disaster declared by the Governor. The bill would require a qualifying investment entity to meet prescribed requirements, including that it be a specified entity, including, among others, a nonprofit organization, as provided. The bill would also impose various requirements on the qualifying investment entity relating to the purchase, maintenance, and sale of the investment property, including, among other things, limiting the purchase of property to residential property that has been damaged or destroyed by the wildfires that began on January 7, 2025, in the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura, as specified. The bill would require the I-Bank to submit a final report on the program to the Legislature, the Governor, and the Department of Finance no later than January 1, 2034, as specified. By establishing a new continuously appropriated fund, the Community Stabilization Fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and sets forth its powers and duties relating to enforcement of civil rights laws and assistance to communities in resolving disputes, disagreements, or difficulties relating to discriminatory practices. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature and commencing on or before the later of either July 1, 2026, or one year after the date of the appropriation, would require the department to create and implement statewide and regional radio, social media, and television campaigns for the purposes of discouraging discrimination. The bill would require the department to convene a working group to develop a plan to implement the campaigns above. The bill would exempt the working group from the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. 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.
Existing law establishes the California Housing Finance Agency in the Department of Housing and Community Development, and authorizes the agency to, among other things, make loans to finance affordable housing, including residential structures, housing developments, multifamily rental housing, special needs housing, and other forms of housing, as specified. Existing law establishes the California Dream for All Program to provide shared appreciation loans to qualified first-time homebuyers, as specified. Existing law establishes in the State Treasury the California Dream for All Fund, which is continuously appropriated for expenditure pursuant to the program, as specified. This bill would require, upon establishment of the certification process for the descendants of American slavery established by the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery, at least 10% of the moneys in the fund to be reserved for applicants who meet the requirements for a loan under the program and have been certified as descendants of formerly enslaved people, as specified. This bill would become operative only if SB 518 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2027, and establishes the Bureau for Descendants for American Slavery.
Existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households unless the local agency makes written findings as to one of certain sets of conditions, as specified. Existing law defines, for its purposes, a housing development project as a use consisting of, among other things, mixed-use developments consisting of residential and nonresidential uses meeting one of several conditions, including that at least 23 of the new or converted square footage is designated for residential use. This bill would revise the definition of "housing development project" to, in the case of mixed-use developments with at least 23 of the new or converted square footage designated for residential use, require that no portion of the project be designated for use as a hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other transient lodging, except as specified. This bill would correct cross-references in the Housing Accountability Act. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65589.5 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1308 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1308 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city or a county to establish an enhanced infrastructure financing district to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects of communitywide significance, including the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing for persons of very low, low, and moderate income. Existing law authorizes the City and County of San Francisco to establish a downtown revitalization and economic recovery financing district for the purpose of financing commercial-to-residential conversion projects with incremental tax revenues generated by commercial-to-residential conversion projects within the district. Existing law requires the City and County of San Francisco to establish a board for the district at the same time that it adopts the resolution of intention to form the district, and requires the district to prepare a downtown revitalization financing plan (financing plan) that includes specified information and requirements, including that the first distribution of incremental tax revenues distributed back to a commercial-to-residential conversion project commence with the fiscal year that begins after the project is issued a certificate of occupancy. Existing law, among other things, requires a district to establish a process for eligible commercial-to-residential conversion projects identified in the financing plan to opt into receiving incremental tax revenue generated by the respective project. Existing law specifies that the commercial-to-residential conversion projects that opt in to receive incremental tax revenue are public works for which prevailing wages are required to be paid, as specified, and requires the commercial-to-residential conversion projects that opt in to receiving incremental tax revenue to comply with labor standards adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, as provided. This bill would additionally authorize any city, county, or city and county, except the City and County of San Francisco, to establish a downtown revitalization and economic recovery financing district for the purpose of financing specified commercial-to-residential conversion projects with incremental tax revenues generated by commercial-to-residential conversion projects within the district. The bill would require the district to meet the requirements imposed on the City and County of San Francisco when establishing a downtown revitalization and economic recovery financing district described above and would modify the required components of the district's proposed financing plan, as provided. The bill would make various conforming changes to the above-described provisions in this regard and would also make technical changes. This bill would further specify that, for purposes of the preparation of a financing plan, if the city, county, or city and county does not issue certificates of occupancy, the first distribution of incremental tax revenue to a commercial-to-residential conversion project shall be made with the fiscal year that begins after the project completes a final inspection. The bill would remove the requirement that commercial-to-residential conversion projects that opt in to receive incremental tax revenue comply with labor standards adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco and would instead subject such projects to specified labor standards. Existing law requires a certain portion of any ad valorem property tax revenue annually allocated to the local government that is specified in the adopted financing plan, as described, to be allocated to and, when collected, apportioned to a special fund of the district for all lawful purposes of the district. Existing law also requires those revenues to be allocated and apportioned to the local government when the district ceases to exist pursuant to the financing plan. This bill would remove those provisions.
