Another Year, Another Full Slate of Housing Bills in California

Brownstein Client Alert, Sept. 24, 2024

On Thursday, Sept. 19, Gov. Newsom signed a package of housing bills designed to address the housing crisis affecting California. Below is a brief summary of key bills. Check back here as we will be providing more detailed analysis of several of these bills.

	Bill		Summary
	AB 1886: Housing Element Law: substantial compliance: Housing Accountability Act		Clarifies that the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) or a court determines when a housing element substantially complies with state law, not the local agency adopting the housing element Ends local agencies’ claims that they “self-certified” their housing elements to avoid the Builder’s Remedy
	AB 1893: Housing Accountability Act: housing disapprovals: required local findings		Provides more certainty and flexibility for Builder’s Remedy projects, including lower affordability requirements, in exchange for guardrails on aspects of Builder’s Remedy projects, including the density. Supplements protections for all housing projects by further limiting local agencies’ actions that delay or effectively deny housing projects
	SB 1037: Planning and zoning: housing element: enforcement		Expands the authority of the California Attorney General’s Office to seek civil penalties and attorneys’ fees to enforce Housing Element Law and state laws requiring ministerial approvals of housing
	AB 1413: Housing Accountability Act: disapprovals: CEQA		Establishes time frames in the Housing Accountability Act for local agencies to consider objections, comments, evidence and concerns before determining whether a housing development project is exempt from CEQA Requires that an applicant’s written notice requesting CEQA exemption be posted on the local agency’s website
	SB 393: Civil actions: housing development projects		Refines the process by which an applicant may request that a court require a plaintiff challenging a housing development project to post a bond to cover the applicant’s costs associated with delays caused by a meritless lawsuit
	SB 450: Housing development: approvals		Strengthens SB 9, which legalizes duplex projects and lot splits, by limiting the standards that apply and adding processing timelines Adds legislative findings that undermine a recent trial court ruling that found SB 9 does not apply in certain charter cities
	AB 2243: Housing development projects: objective standards: affordability and site criteria		Broadens the scope of the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022, enacted by AB 2011, which provides a streamlined, ministerial review process for certain affordable and mixed-income housing developments in commercial zones Allows for streamlined approval on sites up to 100 acres for the redevelopment of regional malls, as defined Imposes additional health and safety requirements for developments within 500 feet of a freeway
	AB 2199: CEQA: exemption: residential or mixed-use housing projects		Extends the sunset date on an existing CEQA exemption for residential and mixed-use housing projects located in unincorporated areas of a county Makes this exemption inapplicable to a project that may cause substantial adverse impacts to tribal cultural resources
	SB 312: CEQA: university housing development projects: exemption		Extends the sunset date on an existing CEQA exemption for university housing development projects that meet certain green building standards Revises the exemption to require that the site be identified for housing in the most recent long-range development plan EIR; relaxes several conditions for qualifying for the exemption
	SB 1123: Planning and zoning: subdivisions: ministerial review		Expands the scope of SB 684, which allowed for ministerial subdivisions in multifamily zones, to apply in single- family zones Clarifies provisions in SB 684 to ensure that different homeownership types (e.g., tenancies in common and community land trusts) and builders are eligible to use the bill
	SB 1211: Land use: ADU: ministerial approval		Increases the number of detached accessory dwelling units that can be built on a lot with an existing multifamily dwelling to the number of existing units or 8 units, whichever is less
	AB 2117: Development permit expirations: actions or proceedings		Extends the permit expiration date for the duration of any litigation challenging the permit
	AB 2430: Planning and zoning: density bonuses: monitoring fees		Prohibits a local agency from charging a monitoring fee where Density Bonus Law applies unless certain conditions are met Applies retroactively to qualifying projects starting Jan. 1, 2025
	AB 2553: Housing development: major transit stops: vehicular traffic impact fees		Expands the definition of “major transit stop” to include bus stops with a frequency of service of 20 minutes or less
	SB 937: Development projects: fees and charges		Prohibits local agencies from charging fees prior to the date of the final inspection or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued (whichever is first) except for utilities fees, which may be collected when the services are received with certain exceptions Applies to 100% affordable projects, projects of 10 units or fewer, and projects that utilize Density Bonus Law
	AB 3117: Mitigation Fee Act: land dedications: mitigating vehicular traffic impacts		Revises the Mitigation Fee Act to reduce vehicular traffic impact fees for projects in a transit priority area Prohibits a local agency, with some limited exceptions, from imposing a land dedication requirement to widen a roadway

This document is intended to provide you with general information regarding housing bills from the most recent California legislative session. The contents of this document are not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about the contents of this document or if you need legal advice as to an issue, please contact the attorneys listed or your regular Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP attorney. This communication may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions. The information in this article is accurate as of the publication date. Because the law in this area is changing rapidly, and insights are not automatically updated, continued accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

Another Year, Another Full Slate of Housing Bills in California

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