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On September 19, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom approved Assembly Bill (AB) 2243 (Wicks), which amends AB 2011 (Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022), effective January 1, 2025. As explained in our prior legal...more
Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed two new bills that aim to boost housing supply and further address the state’s homelessness crisis....more
The Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform held its first hearing on June 18, 2024, commencing its efforts to address California’s housing and climate crises by reforming the state’s land use permitting regime....more
This article summarizes some of the most significant amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that were enacted in 2023. Some housing laws that relate to CEQA are discussed in the article, “Recently...more
Recognizing that Downtown San Francisco is “struggling” post-pandemic, State Senator Scott Wiener has announced new legislation to exempt certain projects in the area from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review...more
The 2023 legislative session culminated in Governor Newsom signing dozens of land use bills. This post discusses the most important. The Legislature continued its multifaceted approach to addressing the housing crisis, with...more
Bill extends exemption from CEQA and discretionary entitlements for housing projects while adding the Coastal Zone to the mix - If you are having trouble keeping track of all the housing bills in California this year,...more
With the state facing a severe housing crisis, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that will make it easier for universities and other housing developers to build housing and overcome lawsuits from local residents...more
CITY OF LOS ANGELES - Site Plan Review Exemption for Affordable Housing - On June 30, 2023, the city council adopted an amendment to the Site Plan Review Ordinance to exempt deed-restricted affordable housing units from...more
On July 6, 2023, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed into law a provision to exempt certain affordable housing projects from the city’s Site Plan Review Process. The exemption was made as an amendment to Site Plan Review...more
In a sweeping effort to expand affordable housing and combat homelessness, Representative Maxine Waters of California introduced a package of three bills on June 21 aimed at narrowing the country’s racial wealth gap....more
AB 2011 (Wicks) provides for “by right” streamlined ministerial (i.e., no CEQA) approval of qualifying mixed-income and affordable housing projects along commercial corridors in commercial zoning districts. This new law is...more
There has been a flurry of recent legislation to encourage the repurposing of underutilized office buildings, both on the state and local level. New legislation recently proposed in San Francisco would facilitate the...more
A local organization appealed the denial of its challenge to the approval of an affordable housing project and disputed the trial court’s order requiring it to post a bond. The Court of Appeal rejected plaintiff’s contentions...more
Holland & Knight Partner Jennifer L. Hernandez, leader of the firm's West Coast Land Use and Environmental Group, recently authored an industry report for the Center for Jobs & The Economy, whose mission is to identify and...more
California’s continuing shortfall of new housing to meet demand has led to the enactment of a number of measures at the state level to encourage housing development and to limit the grounds for local governments to disapprove...more
As the State of California battles through a housing crisis, lawmakers are seeking creative ways to enable local governments to meet their long-term housing needs and produce housing more quickly. On September 16, 2021,...more
Part 2: New Laws Impacting California Public Agencies for 2021 - Among the new laws passed last year by California were a variety that seek to address the State’s ongoing housing shortage and environmental issues. Some of...more
Land Use, Telecommunications, Environmental and More - As noted in Part I of this two-part series, California lawmakers passed a number of new laws last year that greatly impact how public agencies serve their...more
Telecommunications - AB 1699 Telecommunications: mobile Internet service providers: first response agencies: emergencies - Fire officials experienced a significant data transmission slowdown of their mobile emergency...more
The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Senate Bill No. 330; Senator Skinner) goes into effect on January 1, 2020 and expires on January 1, 2025. It aims to address the statewide housing crisis by limiting the number of public...more
On January 1, 2020, several housing-related bills recently signed into law by the Governor take effect. We will explain the upcoming changes in housing law through a series of updates. Our first update provided information...more
As California's housing supply and homelessness crisis continues, the State Legislature has for the past several years passed numerous pieces of housing legislation in each legislative session. This year was no exception,...more
The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) Determination to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) on Aug. 22, 2019, concluding...more
In September 2017, the California legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown enacted Senate Bill 35 (SB 35) to streamline housing development in cities that are not meeting their housing needs. SB 35 is aimed at easing California’s...more