Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with Senate amendments and pass a bill that increases the tax credit qualified renters can receive to $250 and $500 in California.

Highlights:

• Increases the tax credit qualified renters can receive to $250 and $500 in California (Sec. 1-73).

• Authorizes  various CEQA Reforms to accelerate housing and infrastructure by streamlining CEQA review to speed up the delivery of housing and infrastructure projects, including (Sec. 1-73):

• Infill housing;

• High-speed rail facilities;

• Utilities;

• Broadband;

• Community-serving facilities;

• Wildfire prevention; and

• Farmworker housing while maintaining protections for natural and sensitive lands. 

• Exempts local governments’ rezoning from CEQA as part of their implementation of approved housing elements to accelerate site readiness (Sec. 1-73).

• Establishes faster housing permitting and approvals by expanding the Permit Streamlining Act, limiting certain Coastal Commission housing appeals and speeding up Coastal permitting, and making permanent key provisions of the Housing Accountability Act and Housing Crisis Act (Sec. 1-73).

• Increases regulatory stability to help control costs by freezing new residential building standards through 2031 with exceptions for emergency, fire, and conservation-related updates (Sec. 1-73).

• Establishes sustainable financing tools through the creation of innovative mechanisms to unlock long-term investment, including a revolving fund to reinvest equity from stabilized affordable housing into new developments through the Affordable Housing Excess Equity Program (Sec. 1-73).

• Establishes a statewide CEQA VMT Mitigation Bank to provide an optional compliance tool to allow developers to more effectively fulfill their existing CEQA mitigation obligations by funding location-efficient affordable housing and infrastructure projects (Sec. 1-73).

• Increases accountability and enforcement by strengthening oversight of local homeless shelters by requiring annual inspections by cities and counties—whether or not complaints are received and provides stronger enforcement by allowing civil actions by both individuals and the Department of Housing and Community Development, and also requires annual reporting from all jurisdictions and authorizes the state to withhold funding from cities or counties that fail to comply (Sec. 1-73).

• Increases support for renters by more than doubling the Renters Tax Credit, subject to future appropriations, increasing the credit to up to $500 for qualified filers (Sec. 1-73).

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall declare an emergency and shall take effect immediately upon passage and approval by the Governor (Sec. 74).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to amend and pass a bill that increases the tax credit qualified renters can receive to $250 and $500 in California.

Highlights:

• Increases the tax credit qualified renters can receive to $250 and $500 in California (Sec. 1-73).

• Authorizes  various CEQA Reforms to accelerate housing and infrastructure by streamlining CEQA review to speed up the delivery of housing and infrastructure projects, including (Sec. 1-73):

• Infill housing;

• High-speed rail facilities;

• Utilities;

• Broadband;

• Community-serving facilities;

• Wildfire prevention; and

• Farmworker housing while maintaining protections for natural and sensitive lands. 

• Exempts local governments’ rezoning from CEQA as part of their implementation of approved housing elements to accelerate site readiness (Sec. 1-73).

• Establishes faster housing permitting and approvals by expanding the Permit Streamlining Act, limiting certain Coastal Commission housing appeals and speeding up Coastal permitting, and making permanent key provisions of the Housing Accountability Act and Housing Crisis Act (Sec. 1-73).

• Increases regulatory stability to help control costs by freezing new residential building standards through 2031 with exceptions for emergency, fire, and conservation-related updates (Sec. 1-73).

• Establishes sustainable financing tools through the creation of innovative mechanisms to unlock long-term investment, including a revolving fund to reinvest equity from stabilized affordable housing into new developments through the Affordable Housing Excess Equity Program (Sec. 1-73).

• Establishes a statewide CEQA VMT Mitigation Bank to provide an optional compliance tool to allow developers to more effectively fulfill their existing CEQA mitigation obligations by funding location-efficient affordable housing and infrastructure projects (Sec. 1-73).

• Increases accountability and enforcement by strengthening oversight of local homeless shelters by requiring annual inspections by cities and counties—whether or not complaints are received and provides stronger enforcement by allowing civil actions by both individuals and the Department of Housing and Community Development, and also requires annual reporting from all jurisdictions and authorizes the state to withhold funding from cities or counties that fail to comply (Sec. 1-73).

• Increases support for renters by more than doubling the Renters Tax Credit, subject to future appropriations, increasing the credit to up to $500 for qualified filers (Sec. 1-73).

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall declare an emergency and shall take effect immediately upon passage and approval by the Governor (Sec. 74).

Full Bill Text