By Reuben Duarte, Vice President for Policy and Legislation; Lauren De Valencia, APA California Lobbyist
First House Policy Committee Deadline Approaching
The Legislative Session is now in full swing with hundreds of bills moving in their respective policy committee(s), where they will need to pass to meet the April 24 policy committee deadline for bills with a fiscal impact, and May 1 for all other bills. Planning-related issues are front and center and APA California is participating in conversations on several high profile bills, making progress on addressing concerns and providing technical feedback and/or support on many more. A few noteworthy bills to highlight:
New general plan updates have been introduced again this year. AB 1914 (Schiavo) was introduced to address childcare needs in communities but would have required a substantial update to 5 out of the 7 mandated elements of the general plan, requiring a variety of childcare access and safety issues to be addressed within it. APA California was successful in negotiating amendments that removed the more prescriptive requirements and provides flexibility on how jurisdictions comply by either adopting a stand-alone plan or an update to the general plan however appropriate to address childcare.
The Legislature continues to focus on housing and homelessness, along with related efforts to provide ongoing funding through the $10 billion affordable housing bond through AB 736, (Wicks) and SB 417 (Cabaldon), both of which the Chapter supports. However, AB 1997 (Lee) would have required a jurisdiction to, for any type of housing project above $10 million in construction costs, assign a single staff person across all elements of the planning, permitting and building process. This provision would have created significant new workload on planners without any additional support but was later removed and now focuses on other timelines for approvals of affordable housing development projects.
AB 2741 (Muratsuchi) is a work in progress and intended to address California’s Second Appellate District ruled in New Commune DTLA LLC v City of Redondo Beach, which determined the City of Redondo Beach’s housing element was not in compliance with housing element law because the jurisdiction’s use of residential zoning overlays did not satisfy the city’s RHNA obligations. While the bill will focus on providing a safe harbor for jurisdictions in the event a court decertifies a housing element that relied on a residential zoning overlay but had otherwise been approved by HCD. Conversations are also ongoing related to the use of overlays in future housing element cycles.
APA California is continuing to work through many other bills, including SB 1075 (Reyes), which is intended to address impacts of emissions on overburdened communities through changes to CARB’s Community Air Protection Program. Specific to planning, the bill would restrict a local government’s land use planning authority and require the environmental justice element of the general plan to comply with an applicable community emissions reduction program (CERPs) or local community emissions reductions programs (LCERPs), among other provisions. While APA California is opposed to the current approach, discussions and amendments are underway as the bill continues to move.
As positions are developed on bills moving through the Legislature, APA California shares position letters on key measure on the APA California website. Even if you do not see a position letter on a particular bill, that does not mean we are not engaged. In many cases, we work behind the scenes in advance of taking a formal position to address concerns and improve legislation where possible—and we are actively doing that right now.
Stay Connected on Legislation
If you’re interested in receiving updates on legislative and regulatory issues from the Chapter’s Policy and Legislation Team, please join here. Have questions on policy and legislative related issues, including bills and regulations? APA California members are welcome to reach out to the VP for Policy and Legislation at [email protected].
APA California’s Work in the Legislature
APA California has a robust legislative program at the Chapter level that engages with the California Legislature. The Policy and Legislation team includes an elected VP for Policy and Legislation, two appointed Legislative Technical Advisors, and a Lobbyist retained by the Chapter. The team engages directly with APA California Section Legislative Representatives from each of the 8 Sections within the Chapter to discuss feedback on legislation and other relevant issues regularly throughout the year. To view the Policy and Legislation team, visit the Board of Directors page.
APA California actively engages in many bills throughout the year. In fact, we work closely with legislative and committee staff on amendments and clarifications to bills before taking a position. As an organization, APA California is often asked to provide feedback on planning related bills and provide technical expertise, giving a voice to planners and an opportunity to help shape legislation. This is a valuable role that the Chapter works hard to maintain. More broadly, we will continue to discuss the work planners are doing at the local level to implement and keep up with all the planning related bills that pass year over year and how that relates to the cumulative impact of bills on the table this year. We also continue seek opportunities to suggest tangible ways, absent fiscal resources at the state level, that the Legislature can help to make implementation more successful and support the planning community.