CalRHA Legislative Update - March 2023

CalRHA has taken positions on key policy bills introduced this year. Bills are beginning to be set for policy committee hearings and CalRHA has scheduled a Lobby Day in Sacramento for April 2023. Below, please find top priorities for the year so far:

Legislation CalRHA is Opposing - Top Threats

• AB 919 (Kalra, D - San Jose) Sale of Rental Properties: First Right of Offer - Would require an owner of residential real property, defined to include a single-family residential property that is occupied by a tenant or a multifamily residential property to take various actions before offering the residential real property for sale to any purchaser, soliciting any offer to purchase the residential real property, or otherwise entering into a contract for sale of the residential real property. The bill would exempt certain transfers of a residential real property from its provisions, including, among others, a transfer between spouses, domestic partners, parent and child, siblings, grandparent and grandchild, a transfer pursuant to a court order, and a transfer by eminent domain.
• SB 466 (Wahab, D-Fremont) - Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act – Existing law, the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, prescribes statewide limits on the application of local rent control with regard to certain properties. The act generally authorizes an owner of residential real property to establish the initial rental rate for a dwelling or unit, except in specified circumstances, including, (1) when the residential real property has a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995, (2) when the residential real property has already been exempt from the residential rent control ordinance of a public entity on or before February 1, 1995, pursuant to a local exemption for newly constructed units, and (3) when the residential real property is alienable and separate from title to any other dwelling units, except as specified. SB 466 would instead authorize an owner of residential real property to establish the initial rental rate for a dwelling or unit when the residential real property has been issued a certificate of occupancy issued within the 15 years preceding the date on which the owner seeks to establish a rental rate under these provisions. SB 466 would also remove the above-described authorizations for an owner of residential real property to establish the initial rental rate if the residential real property (1) has already been exempt from the residential rent control pursuant to an ordinance of a public entity on or before February 1, 1995, and (2) when the residential real property is alienable and separate from title to any other dwelling units. As reported previously, there is also an initiative that is in circulation for the 2024 ballot that would repeal Costa-Hawkins.
• SB 567 (Durazo, D-Los Angeles) - Tenancy - Spot bill that is intended to change the statute for no-fault just cause evictions, expand the population of protected tenants, and lower the annual rent cap.

Additional Legislation CalRHA is Opposing

• AB 12 (Haney, D-San Francisco) - Tenancy: Security Deposits - Would prohibit a landlord from receiving a security deposit for a rental agreement in an amount in excess of one month’s rent, regardless of whether the residential property is unfurnished or furnished.
• AB 309 (Lee, D-Milpitas) - Social Housing - This bill would define “social housing” for purposes of the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act, and make findings and declarations relating to social housing and would state the intent of the  Legislature is to further the Social Housing Act to address the shortage of affordable homes by developing housing for people of all income levels, prioritizing low-income households.
• AB 1035 (Muratsuchi, D - Torrance) - Mobile Home Parks Rent Caps - Would prohibit the management of a mobilehome park from increasing the gross rental rate for a tenancy for a mobile home space more than 3% plus the percentage change in the cost of living, as defined, over the course of any 12-month period, as specified.
• AB 1097 (L. Rivas, D-Arleta) - Credit History of Persons Receiving Government Rent Subsidies - Would require housing providers to consider alternative evidence in lieu of the person’s credit history in determining rental accommodations.
• AB 1317 (Carillo, D - LA) - Unbundled Parking - Would require the owner of residential real property that provides parking with a residential unit to unbundle parking from the price of rent (“unbundled parking” selling or leasing parking spaces separate from the lease of the residential use).
• ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry, D-Woodland) - Lowering of Voter Threshold - Local government financing: affordable housing and public infrastructure: voter approval - Would lower the necessary voter threshold from a two-thirds supermajority to 55 percent to approve local general obligation (GO) bonds and special taxes for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects.
• SB 267 (Eggman, D-Stockton) - Credit History of Persons Receiving Government Rent Subsidies - Would prohibit the use of a person’s credit history as part of the application process for a rental housing accommodation without offering the applicant the option of providing alternative evidence of financial responsibility and ability to pay in instances in which there is a government rent subsidy and would require that the housing provider consider that alternative evidence in lieu of the person’s credit history.
• SB 395 (Wahab, D-Fremont) - Statewide eviction database - Would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would require landlords to report all evictions to a new statewide eviction reporting database.
• SB 460 (Wahab, D-Fremont) - Hiring of real property: Criminal History - This is a reintroduction of ban-the-box legislation and would prohibit a housing provider from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history, requiring an applicant to disclose their criminal history, or requiring an applicant to authorize the release of their criminal history, or basing any adverse action on information contained in an applicant’s criminal history, unless they are complying with federal law.

Legislation CalRHA is Supporting

• AB 42 (Ramos, D - San Bernardino) ADU Sprinkler Requirements - Current law prohibits a local agency from requiring an accessory dwelling unit to provide fire sprinklers, if they are not required for the primary residence. This bill would prohibit a local agency from imposing or enforcing any requirement to provide fire sprinklers for any dwelling with a total floor area of less than 500 square feet.
• AB 932 (Ting, D-San Francisco) - Junior ADU: Application Approval Time - Would streamline ADU applications from 60-days to 45-days.
• AB 1505 (Rodriguez, D-Chino) - Seismic Retrofit: Soft Story Multifamily Housing - Would direct $250 million from the General Fund for seismic retrofit for multifamily housing.
• SB 569 (Glazer, D-Orinda) - Renter’s Tax Credit - Would require that the Franchise Tax Board recompute the renters tax credit for inflation and refund for tax years 2023-2028.

As always, CalRHA will keep you informed as these bills make their way through the Legislature. We will be sure to send out Calls to Action when we are at a pivotal juncture and your involvement could help determine the outcome.