Year in Review: 2023-24 Legislative Update from Sacramento
December 13, 2023
Governor Newsom signed more than 20 bills supported by Eden Housing to wrap up this year’s legislative session—including bills that will streamline affordable housing approvals, strengthen enforcement of state housing laws, and stabilize funding for our projects.
The 2023-24 state budget approved earlier this year also maintained state commitments to a range of successful affordable housing programs, with well over $1 billion invested in the state Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the Multifamily Housing Program, the Portfolio Reinvestment Program, and many other financing tools Eden Housing relies on to build and maintain our properties.
A summary of Eden Housing-supported bills signed this year is below:
Ballot Measures – 2024:
- MARCH:
- Mental health services: Voters in the March primary election will vote on a measure, Proposition 1, placed on the ballot by the Governor and Legislature to modernize the state’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). The measure seeks to expand housing interventions through the MHSA for people suffering from mental illness and substance use disorders, while authorizing a $6.4 billion bond to provide additional support to the program.
- NOVEMBER:
- Voter approval of affordable housing: The Legislature passed a measure supported by Eden Housing last year (SCA 2, Allen) that is set to appear on the 2024 ballot. The measure would repeal Article 34 of the state constitution, which requires the development, construction, or acquisition of publicly-funded low-rent housing projects to be approved by a majority of local voters.
- Local vote thresholds: The Legislature voted this year to place another measure on the November ballot (ACA 1, Aguiar-Curry) that seeks to amend the state constitution to allow 55% of voters to approve local housing bonds—instead of the two-thirds required today—mirroring the threshold for school bonds passed by voters in 2000.
CEQA and State Enforcement:
- AB 1307 (Wicks): Reverses a recent state court decision by clarifying that the sound of residents’ voices cannot be considered an environmental impact under CEQA.
- AB 1449 (Alvarez): Extends CEQA exemptions to a range of 100% affordable housing project approvals, provided projects meet the “high road” labor standards enacted by AB 2011 (Wicks, 2022).
- AB 1485 (Haney): Grants HCD and the Office of the Attorney General the unconditional right to intervene in any suit brought to enforce state housing laws.
- SB 439 (Skinner): Provides courts with a new special motion to dismiss frivolous lawsuits seeking to halt 100% affordable housing developments, including suits brought under state environmental laws.
Funding:
- AB 84 (Ward): Improves access to the welfare exemption for affordable housing projects.
- AB 1319 (Wicks): Expands the authority of the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) to raise revenue for affordable housing, fund homeless prevention services, and acquire real property.
- SB 341 (Becker): Adjusts the state’s “pro-housing” designation to ensure the program continues to allow affordable housing developers in non-compliant communities to access funding.
- SB 469 (Allen): Exempts from Article 34 vote requirements affordable housing projects receiving funding from major state housing programs.
- SB 482 (Blakespear): Requires HCD to offer capitalized operating reserves to supportive housing units developed under the Multifamily Housing Program.
Green energy:
- SB 355 (Eggman): Expands eligibility for the successful Solar On Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program to a broader set of affordable housing properties.
Streamlining
- AB 346 (Quirk-Silva): Allows TCAC to reallocate some of the state’s enhanced $500 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits from 4% projects to 9% projects.
- AB 480 (Ting): Clarifies and strengthens provisions of the Surplus Land Act to promote the use of public land for affordable housing.
- AB 529 (Gabriel): Requires HCD to convene a working group to identify ways to promote and support adaptive reuse residential projects.
- AB 821 (Grayson): Requires a local agency to approve developments when they are consistent with its general plan but not an applicable zoning ordinance—or to make quickly make zoning ordinances consistent with housing plans.
- AB 1287 (Alvarez): Creates a new state Density Bonus—the “Moderate Income Bonus”—on top of existing density bonuses for units affordable to lower-income households.
- SB 4 (Wiener): Requires affordable housing projects to be a “use by right” on land owned by an independent institution of higher education or a religious institution.
- SB 423 (Wiener): Extends the SB 35 approval process through 2035, while allowing streamlining in the Coastal Zone, allowing more mixed-income developments to benefit from the law, and updating labor requirements to align with “high road” jobs standards established by AB 2011 (Wicks, 2022).
- SB 713 (Padilla): Clarifies that under existing law, local governments cannot impose standards that stop state density bonus projects from moving forward.