The Legislature wrapped up the 2023 legislative session yesterday, approving a wave of affordable housing bills supported by CHC and our partners. The Governor has until October 14 to sign legislation. Highlights of bills advanced this year are below:

CHC-sponsored bills:

Several bills sponsored by CHC are now on the Governor’s desk:

Streamlining approvals: In one of the biggest wins of the year for affordable housing, SB 423 (Wiener) was approved by the Assembly and Senate, extending SB 35 for another ten years, while improving the law’s labor standards, allowing streamlining for projects in the Coastal Zone, and ensuring more mixed-income developments can benefit from the law. “If you are looking for an opportunity to support housing in your community,” Asm. Wicks told members before they voted this week: “This is the most important housing bill that we are going to put on the governor’s desk.”

Ending frivolous lawsuits: Lawmakers also overwhelmingly approved SB 439 (Skinner), a CHC-sponsored bill providing courts with a new special motion to dismiss frivolous lawsuits seeking to halt 100% affordable housing developments—including but not limited to suits brought under state environmental laws. When lawsuits are deemed meritless and dismissed, the bill also allows affordable housing developers to recover costs and attorney’s fees.

CEQA: Two CHC-sponsored CEQA bills are also on their way to the Governor, including AB 1307 (Wicks) which reverses a recent state court decision by clarifying that the sound of residents’ voices cannot be considered an environmental impact under CEQA, and AB 1449 (Alvarez), which extends new CEQA exemptions to a range of 100% affordable housing project approvals. 

Regional financing: Another CHC-sponsored bill, SB 440 (Skinner), did not advance this year but will be taken up by the Legislature again in 2024. The bill seeks to empower more local governments to join forces to create regional housing finance agencies to address their communities’ unique affordable housing needs.

Affordable housing legislation supported by CHC:

Governor’s mental health bond: The Legislature sent both bills in this year’s mental health services package to the Governor. SB 326 (Eggman) aims to modernize the state’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) by setting aside 30% of program funds for housing interventions for people suffering from mental illness and substance use disorders. Companion legislation, AB 531 (Irwin), would authorize a $6.4 billion bond to provide additional financial support for the program. Both bills will need to go before voters on the March 2024 ballot.

State housing bond: Negotiations continue in the Legislature about additional bonds that may go before voters on the November 2024 ballot, including AB 1657 (Wicks), a $10 billion housing bond that would support a range of critical housing programs. The Legislature will take up these proposals again when they return in January.

Local vote thresholds: In another big win for affordable housing, ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry), a bill seeking to lower vote thresholds for local housing bonds, also made it out of the Legislature for the first time this year. Both the Senate and Assembly approved the measure, which would allow 55% of voters to approve local housing bonds—instead of the two-thirds required today—mirroring the threshold for school bonds. The legislation will go before voters on the November 2024 ballot.

Additional bills of note on the Governor’s desk:

• AB 84 (Ward): Improves access to the welfare exemption for affordable housing by authorizing 501(c)(3) bonds as an allowable public financing source and allowing non-tax credit developments to continue to receive the welfare property tax exemption when a tenant’s income increases, up to 100% of AMI.
• AB 346 (Quirk-Silva): Allows TCAC to reallocate some of the state’s enhanced $500 million in LIHTC from 4% projects to 9% projects.
• AB 1386 (Gabriel): Authorizes organizations referring veterans to deeply affordable housing units funded by the Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program (VHHP) to refer veterans at higher income levels if units are unable to be filled at a lower income threshold.
• AB 1633 (Ting): Settles state law regarding what happens when a local government requires a CEQA analysis beyond what the courts consider sufficient, establishing that such actions against infill housing projects in particular are in violation of the Housing Accountability Act.
• 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 469 (Allen): Exempts from Article 34 vote requirements affordable housing projects receiving funding from programs administered by HCD, CalHFA, and the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, as well as those funded through federal or state tax credits or the state’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program.