CalRHA 2022 Advocacy Wrap Up

September 30 was the final day for the Governor to sign or veto legislation, and the results are in.

Of the major housing bills in which CalRHA took an official position, the Governor signed 9 SUPPORT bills (including CalRHA-sponsored AB 916) and only 3 OPPOSE bills, out of 12. That's a 75 percent success rate! Thank you for answering the calls to action and making this possible. Together, we can move housing in the right direction. 

Below is a full list of gubernatorial actions on this session's major housing legislation.

The Governor signed:

• AB 916 (Salas) - CalRHA sponsored bedroom addition bill (Sponsor)
• AB 1694 (Santiago) - Adaptive reuse for multifamily (Support)
• AB 1738 (Boerner-Horvath) - EV building standards
• AB 2011 (Wicks) - Affordable Housing and High Roads Jobs Act (Support)
• AB 2139 - (Gallagher) - Local Rebuilding Plans (Support)
• AB 2221 (Quirk-Silva) - ADU (Support)
• AB 2234 (Rivas and Grayson) - Post Entitlement Permits
• AB 2503 (Garcia) - AAOC Sponsored bill on “landlord, tenant” terms (Support)
• AB 2559 (Ward) - Reusable Tenant Screening Reports
• AB 2668 (Grayson) - Planning and zoning (Support)
• SB 679 (Kamlager) - LA County Affordable Housing (Oppose)
• SB 897 (Wieckowski) - ADU bill with our negotiated height increase language (Support)
• SB 989 (Hertzberg) - Property tax deferment (Support)
• SB 1017 (Eggman) - Termination of lease for abuse or violence (Oppose)
• SB 1157 (Hertzberg) - Urban water use objectives
• SB 1477 (Wieckowski) - Wage garnishment (Oppose)
• SCA 2 (Allen and Wiener) - Repeals Article 34 of the California Constitution, which requires development, construction, or acquisition of publicly-funded low-rent housing projects to be approved by a majority of voters in a city or county

The Governor vetoed:

• AB 1687 (Seyarto) - Governor’s powers during emergencies
• Veto message - To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1687 without my signature. This bill provides that the Governor, during a state of emergency or state of war emergency, may only suspend a statute or regulation that is in connection with the specific conditions of the proclaimed emergency. At best, this bill is redundant and therefore unnecessary. The Emergency Services Act already requires any suspension of laws or regulations issued by the Governor during times of emergency or war be directly related to the mitigation of the declared emergency. By imposing duplicative obligations, this bill compromises the state's ability to swiftly respond to the needs of residents in times of crisis. Additional redundant layers of justification, as required by this bill, would only invite frivolous lawsuits. This could delay or derail state emergency response and recovery efforts, negatively impacting the most vulnerable California residents and potentially costing lives. For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill. Sincerely, Gavin Newsom
• SB 1262 Bradford - Access to court records (Support)
• Veto message - To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 1262 without my signature. This bill would change superior court rules to allow publicly accessible electronic court criminal indexes to be searched with a subject's driver's license number or date of birth. This bill would override a 2021 appellate court decision and current court rules that strike a fair balance between public access to court records, public safety, and an individual's constitutional right to privacy. While this bill may provide for a more convenient process for companies conducting commercial background checks, it would also allow any member of the public to easily access individuals' sensitive personal information online. For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill. Sincerely, Gavin Newsom
• SB 1482 (Allen) - EV Charging Infrastructure (Oppose)
• Veto message - To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 1482 without my signature. This bill requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to research, develop, and consider proposing for adoption mandatory building standards for the installation of electric charging infrastructure for parking spaces in new, multifamily dwellings. I agree with the author's intent to increase access to EV charging technology for Californians living in multifamily housing, which is necessary to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles on the road. However, I believe this issue is best addressed administratively in order to balance our charging objectives with our efforts to expand affordable housing. The Department of Housing and Community Development is already working with numerous stakeholders and state agencies in a deliberative public process to aggressively expand mandatory EV charging requirements in new housing developments. This approach allows for other important considerations, such as the cost of affordable housing and feasibility of implementation. For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill. Sincerely, Gavin Newsom

Overall, the Governor signed about 85-86% of the bills that reached his desk.