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Frankie Frost
Senate Bill 50 (Weiner) - OPPOSED
The following letter has been sent to the California Senate Appropriations Committee, regarding their consideration of Senate Bill 50 (Wiener)
The Honorable Anthony J. Portantino Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee California State Capitol, Room 2206 Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: Senate Bill 50 (Weiner) - OPPOSED
Dear Senator Portantino:
I am writing to express my continued opposition to SB 50 (Weiner), as amended on May 1, 2019.
As noted in my May 13, 2019 letter to Senator Mark McGuire, Chair of the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, SB 50 is a flawed piece of legislation that undermines the ability of local governments to manage land use planning decisions. Recent amendments to the bill are inadequate to address those flaws.
As an elected representative of my local community (the City of Larkspur, Marin County), I support the specific criticisms of the amended bill set out in the May 8, 2019, letter sent to you by the League of California Cities. Unlike the League, however, I am doubtful that further amendments would improve the bill.
SB 50 and similar legislation represent fundamental policy choices on housing that are economically unjustifiable and inequitable. See Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Michael Storper, Housing, Urban Growth and Inequalities: The Limits to Deregulation and Upzoning in Reducing Economic and Spatial Inequality, Center for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper No. DP13713 (May 2019), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3383971## (accessed May 13, 2019).
Like most local government leaders, I am committed to the goal of improving access to housing throughout California where needed. SB 50 will not achieve that goal, but will further compromise the ability of local governments to contribute responsibility to meeting the state’s housing needs
I urge you and your colleagues to vote no on SB 50.
Very truly yours,
Kevin T. Haroff