BILL NUMBER: AB 1192 CHAPTERED 01/22/04 CHAPTER 10 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JANUARY 22, 2004 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JANUARY 21, 2004 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JANUARY 12, 2004 PASSED THE SENATE JULY 24, 2003 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 15, 2003 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2003 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2003 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 28, 2003 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dutra FEBRUARY 21, 2003 An act to amend Section 65863 of the Government Code, relating to land use, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1192, Dutra. Land use. Existing law prohibits a city, county, or city and county from reducing, requiring, or permitting the reduction of the residential density for any parcel below the density that was utilized by the Department of Housing and Community Development in determining compliance with housing element law unless the city, county, or city and county makes written findings supported by substantial evidence that the reduction is consistent with the adopted general plan, including the housing element and the remaining sites identified in the housing element are adequate to accommodate the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need. The city or county may reduce the residential density for a parcel if it identifies sufficient additional sites, as prescribed. This bill would prohibit the imposition of any requirement on the property owner, the owner's agent, or a project applicant with respect to property that is subject to a reduction in residential density in connection with meeting that requirement for additional sites, except as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 65863 of the Government Code is amended to read: 65863. (a) Each city, county, or city and county shall ensure that its inventory or programs of adequate sites pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 65583 and paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 65583 can accommodate its share of the regional housing need pursuant to Section 65584, throughout the planning period. (b) No city, county, or city and county shall, by administrative, quasi-judicial, or legislative action, reduce, require, or permit the reduction of the residential density for any parcel to a lower residential density that is below the density that was utilized by the Department of Housing and Community Development in determining compliance with housing element law, Article 10.6 (commencing with Section 65580) of Chapter 3, unless the city, county, or city and county makes written findings supported by substantial evidence of both of the following: (1) The reduction is consistent with the adopted general plan, including the housing element. (2) The remaining sites identified in the housing element are adequate to accommodate the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need pursuant to Section 65584. (c) If a reduction in residential density for any parcel would result in the remaining sites in the housing element not being adequate to accommodate the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need pursuant to Section 65584, the jurisdiction may reduce the density on that parcel if it identifies sufficient additional, adequate, and available sites with an equal or greater residential density in the jurisdiction so that there is no net loss of residential unit capacity. (d) The requirements of this section shall be in addition to any other law that may restrict or limit the reduction of residential density. (e) If a court finds that an action of a city, county, or city and county is in violation of this section, the court shall award to the plaintiff or petitioner who proposed the housing development, reasonable attorney's fees and costs of suit, except under extraordinary circumstances in which the court finds that awarding fees would not further the purposes of this section or the court finds that the action was frivolous. This subdivision shall remain operative only until January 1, 2007, and as of that date is no longer operative, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2007, deletes or extends that date. (f) This section requires that a city, county, or city and county be solely responsible for compliance with this section, unless a project applicant requests in his or her initial application, as submitted, a density that would result in the remaining sites in the housing element not being adequate to accommodate the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need pursuant to Section 65584. In that case, the city, county, or city and county may require the project applicant to comply with this section. The submission of an application for purposes of this subdivision does not depend on the application being deemed complete or being accepted by the city, county, or city and county. (g) This section shall not be construed to apply to parcels that, prior to January 1, 2003, were either (1) subject to a development agreement, or (2) parcels for which an application for a subdivision map had been submitted. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to provide housing for California residents and to clarify that local governments should not unnecessarily condition development projects, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.