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Sustainable TamAlmonte

ACTION ALERT! Please attend the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee Hearing re: SB-828

California State Capitol, John L. Burton Hearing Room (4203)
1315 10th St. B-27 (10th and L streets)
Sacramento, California 95814
April 24, 2018
1:30 PM PT

Although Senate Bill 827 (Wiener) was defeated in committee, another just as powerful but less known housing bill is on the horizon. It is Senate Bill 828, which was also introduced by Senator Wiener.

SB-828 will be heard in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee on Tuesday, April 24th at 1:30 PM. The members of the committee will be voting on whether or not the bill will move forward. It is very important that as many people as possible who oppose this bill attend the meeting. We hear that supporters of the bill will be there in large numbers. Be sure to hold up a sign that says; "No on SB-828!", especially if you don't plan to speak. **Signs bigger than 8 and 1/2" by 11" are prohibited.

WHAT: California Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Hearing re: SB-828
WHEN: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 1:30 PM
WHERE: California State Capitol, John L. Burton Hearing Room (4203), 1315 10th St. B-27, Sacramento, CA 95814 (10th and L streets)

In addition, please call and send letters to the Senators, who are members of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, and urge them to vote "No" on SB-828.

Be sure to email your letters to the Senators' aides too. Scroll down for their contact information.

ABOUT SB-828

SB-828 would change Housing Element law and would dramatically increase the number of housing units that cities and counties must plan for in several ways:

For more details about the bill, please read the LA Times article entitled; "A little-known bill could reshape housing development across California":
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-under-the-radar-housing-bill-20180412-story.html

Excerpts from the LA Times article:

"A Bay Area lawmaker's housing proposal (SB-828) could expand the size and scope of home building efforts in California at an unprecedented scale."

"SB 828 has garnered less interest (than SB-827) because its changes are harder to understand and predict, said Greg Morrow, director of the Fred Sands Institute of Real Estate at Pepperdine University. But Morrow said SB 828's increases to allowable zoning for housing across the state could be as dramatic as those anticipated by Wiener's other bill (SB-827)."

For a deeper understanding of the bill, please read the Analysis of SB-828 by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee's Staff. Using arguments, expressed in this analysis, may be most persuasive when trying to influence the Senators. Here's the link to Staff's Analysis:

http://stran.senate.ca.gov/sites/stran.senate.ca.gov/files/april_hearing_packet_24.pdf

When reading the Staff Report, it's important that you understand the following terms:

"Housing Element": Every jurisdiction must adopt a Housing Element as part of their general plan. The Housing Element is essentially a housing plan that must adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community.

"Regional Housing Needs Allocation": The Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) is the state-mandated process to identify the total number of housing units (by affordability level) that each jurisdiction must plan for in its Housing Element. In the bay area, each jurisdiction is assigned its RHNA by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).

ARGUMENTS AGAINST SB-828 THAT ARE DISCUSSED IN THE STAFF'S ANALYSIS INCLUDE:

1 - SB-828 sets up jurisdictions for failure: Requiring a jurisdiction to plan for 200% of its Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) (the number of units a jurisdiction must plan for in its Housing Element) sets up communities for failure and possibly leaves them open to legal challenge. Localities cannot control many factors related to increasing the housing supply, such as the price of land, legal challenges brought under the California Environmental Quality Act, construction labor shortages, and a lack of government subsidies for affordable housing. This makes it impossible to achieve the ambitious goals of the bill;

2 - Local governments do not build housing and therefore, it is wrong to mandate the number of housing units that must be built: The bill revises the existing law policy statement about the legislative intent of Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA). Specifically, it removes "for planning purposes" from the intent statement and is an attempt to transform RHNA from a planning tool into a quota requiring a certain amount of housing to be built. Since local governments do not actually build housing, it is inappropriate to make the housing allocation a mandate of the number of housing units that must be built;

3 - SB-828 would encourage sprawl and increase greenhouse gas emissions: The bill would end up pushing development out to suburban areas where it is easier to find eligible parcels. It would also force jurisdictions, with little vacant land, to rezone agricultural or open space area. Building in outer areas could result in increased vehicle miles traveled as more people commute to downtowns, which in turn could hurt greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

4 - SB-828 would be unfair and penalize the wrong parties: The bill aims to discourage housing deficits by forcing jurisdictions to roll over past housing production shortfall into the next cycle. However, Regional Housing Needs Allocations are often allocated unevenly across a region, which can strongly impact whether a locality is successful in meeting its allocation. (E.g. Town 1 must plan for 10,000 housing units, while Town 2, a similar town in all respects, must plan for a 1000 units. Town 1 falls short and is penalized, while Town 2 meets its allocation.)

5 - It would be better to wait to adopt any new housing legislation until jurisdictions have had more time to implement last year's housing package of bills: Last year's housing package included bills that made a number of changes to housing element law, which localities are still in the process of understanding and implementing. It would be better to allow more time for implementation of last year's legislation to take place before imposing new requirements on localities.

SENATORS' CONTACT INFORMATION

Telephone Numbers:

Senator Jim Beal (Chair), D-San Jose: 916-651-4015
Senator Anthony Cannella (Vice Chair), R-Stanislaus County: 916-651-4012
Senator Bill Dodd, D-Napa: 916-651-4003
Senator Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado Hills: 916-651-4001
Senator Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton: 916- 651-4005
Senator Mike McGuire, D-Marin & Sonoma Counties: 916-651-4002
Senator Mike Morrell, R-San Bernadino County: 916-651-4023
Senator Richard Roth, D-Riverside: 916-651-4031
Senator Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley: 916-651-4009
Senator Andy Vidak, R-Hanford: 916-651-4014
Senator Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont: 916-651-4010
Senator Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco: 916-651-4011

Email Addresses:

senator.beall@senate.ca.gov / Aide: sunshine.borelli@sen.ca.gov
senator.cannella@senate.ca.gov / Aide: tyler.munzing@sen.ca.gov
senator.dodd@senate.ca.gov / Aide: marisol.prietovalle@sen.ca.gov
senator.gaines@senate.ca.gov / Aide: matt.cox@sen.ca.gov
senator.galgiani@senate.ca.gov / Aide: taylor.wollfork@sen.ca.gov
senator.mcguire@senate.ca.gov / Aide: carole.mills@sen.ca.gov
senator.morrell@senate.ca.gov / Aide: scott.terrell@sen.ca.gov
senator.roth@senate.ca.gov / Aide: matthew.montgomery@sen.ca.gov
senator.skinner@senate.ca.gov / Aide: melanie.morelos@sen.ca.gov
senator.vidak@senate.ca.gov / Aide: lyndsay.mitchell@sen.ca.gov
senator.wieckowski@senate.ca.gov / Aide: evita.chaves@sen.ca.gov
senator.wiener@senate.ca.gov / Aide: annie.fryman@sen.ca.gov

Thank you in advance for taking action. Together we can make a difference!

Sharon Rushton - Chairperson

Sustainable TamAlmonte

sharonr@tamalmonte.org | http://tamalmonte.org


Organization: California Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Hearing

Website: http://stran.senate.ca.gov/sites/stran.senate.ca.gov/files/april_hearing_packet_24.pdf