The Nine Bills

Nix the Nine Harmful Housing Bills

Protect single-family homes and sovereign communities.

Last year legislators defeated SB-50!  They listened to constituents and voted against a heavy-handed bill to increase density near transit centers and reduce local control.

Now they’re trying to pass SB-50 in little pieces. The bills benefit developers, high tech titans in Silicon Valley, and global real estate investors. The ‘divide and conquer’ strategy is intended to overcome the will of the people, especially when constituents are focusing on health, safety, finances, and justice. The bills benefit the wealthy, burden cities and average Californians, and widen the equity gap—without providing housing for low-income residents.

Why does it matter?  SB-35 (Wiener) was one of 15 bills in the 2017 Housing Package. Elected city officials, General Plans and Housing Elements were stripped of their authority to govern growth and now developers are demanding SB-35 concessions “by right.” SB-35 is the playbook for the 2020 housing bills. For one example of SB-35’s negative impact, read  https://marinpost.org/blog/2020/6/30/the-camel-is-in-the-tent-sb-35-and-novatos-new-urbanism?query=novato&section

What are the nine bills and their impact?

2020 BILLS	NIX THE NINE Harmful Bills Support SB-1299 Analysis: https://embarcaderoinstitute.com/portfolio-items/2020-housing-bills-legislation-in-an-age-of-uncertainty/
Developers Win	Residents & Cities Lose	AB-725	AB-1279	AB-2345	AB-3040	SB-902	SB-995	SB-1085	SB-1120	SB-1385
Legislators’ Jargon	Resident & City Impact	Wicks	Bloom	Gonzales Chiu	Chiu	Wiener	Atkins Wiener Caballero Rubio	Skinner Caballero	Atkins Caballero Wiener	Caballero Rubio
Upzone	More density in single-family neighborhoods		X	X		X			X	X
Streamline	Lost environmental (CEQA) safeguards						X	X	X
Incentives, bonuses	Less low-income housing; More market rate; less parking; more height	X	X	X				X		X
RHNA – Reg’l Housing Need Allocation	Top-down, state assigned quotas to cities and counties, unrealistic # with threats	X			X
Objective Standards	One-size-fits-all. Eliminates wisdom of subjective/ objective balance		X			X			X
Ministerial (staff) Review	No public notice, no hearing, no resident voice		X				X		X

TAKE ACTION -  Notify and activate your network.

NOW.  Call or email your state Senator and Assembly member today.  Urge them to NIX THE NINE. Use this format to address: Assemblymember.(your reps last name)@assembly.ca.gov; Senator.(last name)@senate.ca.gov. Example: Senator.McGuire@senate.ca.gov

NOW.  Email your OPPOSITION to each individual bill. Go to the Legislature Portal: http://www.legislature.ca.gov/the_state_legislature/committees_hearings/committees_and_hearings.html.  Include your name, group and title, city, zip.  Cut and paste this NIX THE NINE Message:

NIX THE NINE Harmful Housing Bills.

AB-725, AB-1279, AB-2345, AB-3040

SB-902, SB-995, SB-1085, SB-1120, SB-1385

Support: SB-1299

 

Committee Bill Assignments & Hearing Dates:

SB1085—TO Housing and Community Development – July 29 – Passed and moved to the Assembly floor.

Members: Assembly member Chiu (Chair), Diep (Vice Chair), Gabriel, Gloria, Kiley, Limon, Maienschien, Quirk-Silva

SB-995—TO Natural Resources Committee – Aug 6 at 10 am

Members: Laura Friedman (Chair), Flora (Vice Chair), Chau, Eggman, Garcia, Limon, Mathis, McCarty, Muratsuchi, Stone

AB-725, AB-1279, AB-2345, AB-3040 – TO Senate Housing Committee  -- Aug 6

Members: Senators Wiener (Chair), Morrell (Vice Chair-R), Bates (R), Caballero Durazo, McGuire, Moorlach (R), Roth, Skinner, Umberg, Wieckowski

SB-902, SB-1120 and SB-1385—TO Assembly Local Government Committee – Aug 11

Members: Assembly member Aguiar-Curry (Chair), Tom Lackey (Vice Chair-R), Bloom, Boerner-Horvath, Ramos, Luz Maria Rivas, Robert Rivas, Voepel

 

AUGUST 17-31.  ASSEMBLY & SENATE FLOOR SESSIONS.  Call your legislator. For updates, go to: http://www.legislature.ca.gov/the_state_legislature/committees_hearings/committees_and_hearings.html.

SEPTEMBER 1-30.  Lobby the Governor to Nix the Nine. https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/

 

Resources: 

·       Nix-the-Nine.blogspot.com for more articles and regular updates.

·       Analysis of the nine bills: https://embarcaderoinstitute.com/portfolio-items/2020-housing-bills-legislation-in-an-age-of-uncertainty/

·       The real threat: https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/01/18/Housing-Crisis-Really-About-Globalization/

·       Example of SB-35 in Novato: Grant Street, Novato: https://marinpost.org/blog/2020/6/30/the-camel-is-in-the-tent-sb-35-and-novatos-new-urbanism?query=novato&section=

·       Exaggerated claim about 3.5M unit housing shortage: https://embarcaderoinstitute.com/portfolio-items/3-5-million-california-housing-shortage-number-is-wrong-fueling-poor-policy/

 

Information: Susan Kirsch, Chair, Nix the Nine Campaign * Susan@SusanKirsch.com *

Nix-the-Nine.blogspot.com