BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2508|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2508
Author: Caballero (D)
Amended: 5/3/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe,
Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/20/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Infill Incentive Grant Program and minimum
densities
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill allows a city, as specified, to
petition the Department of Housing and Community
Development for an exception to the density requirements of
the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program.
ANALYSIS : In November 2006, California voters approved
Proposition 1C, the $2.85 billion Housing and Emergency
Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006. Among other things,
Proposition 1C included $850 million for grants for capital
projects related to housing and housing-related infill
development and for Brownfield cleanup that promotes
housing and housing-related infill development.
Ultimately, the Legislature appropriated $790 million to
the Infill Infrastructure Grant (IIG) Program, to be
CONTINUED
AB 2508
Page
2
administered by the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD). SB 86 (Senate Budget Committee),
Chapter 179, Statutes of 2007, establishes the statutory
framework for the IIG Program, which offers gap financing
grants to cover the costs of infrastructure improvements
necessary for the development of infill housing.
Under current law, to be eligible for an IIG grant, an
infill project or infill area must meet the following
criteria:
1. Be located in a city or county that has an HCD-approved
housing element.
2. Include not less than 15 percent affordable units.
3. Have an average residential density equal to or greater
than the "Mullin densities" described below or greater
than 10 units per acre in rural areas.
4. Be located in an area designated for mixed-use or
residential development in a local or regional land use
plan.
Under housing element law, each city and county must adopt
a housing element to its general plan that identifies and
analyzes existing and projected housing needs, identifies
adequate sites with appropriate zoning to meet its share of
the regional housing need for each income group, and
ensures that regulatory systems provide opportunities for,
and do not unduly constrain, housing development. HCD
reviews both draft and adopted housing elements to
determine whether or not they are in substantial compliance
with the law.
For the purposes of housing element law, current statute
uses density as a proxy for affordability. In order to
show that it can accommodate lower-income housing, a city
or county must show that is has sites zoned to allow
higher-density multifamily housing in one of two ways:
1. Provide an analysis demonstrating how the adopted
densities accommodate lower-income housing, based on
market demand, financial feasibility, or recent
AB 2508
Page
3
development experience.
2. Meet or exceed the following default densities
established in statute and known as the "Mullin
densities":
(1) 30 units per acre for metropolitan
jurisdictions, generally defined as any city or
county (except for jurisdictions of less than
25,000 population) in a Metropolitan Statistical
Area (MSA) with a population of 2 million persons
or greater and any city or county over 100,000
population in any size MSA.
(2) 20 units per acre for suburban jurisdictions,
generally defined as cities and counties in an MSA
of less than 2 million persons (except for
jurisdictions over 100,000 population) and
jurisdictions under 25,000 population in larger
MSAs.
(3) 15 units per acre for incorporated cities within
non-metropolitan counties and for non-metropolitan
counties that have micropolitan areas (i.e., Del
Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada, Tehama,
and Tuolumne Counties).
(4) 10 units per acre for unincorporated areas in
all non-metropolitan counties.
This bill, until January 1, 2015, allows a city with a
population over 100,000 in a standard metropolitan
statistical area of less than 200,000 population, with
respect to the IIG Program only, to petition HCD for an
exception to the Mullin densities if the agency believes it
is unable to meet this requirement. The petition shall
include the reasons for the exception and provide
information supporting the need for the exception.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/2/10)
AB 2508
Page
4
California State Association of Counties
City of Salinas
City of Watsonville
League of California Cities
Monterey Housing Authority
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Current law defines the City of
Salinas as a "metropolitan" jurisdiction for purposes of
the IIG, requiring projects to have an average density of
30 units per acre to be eligible for funding. According to
the author's office, this designation is not accurate
because Salinas in neither a central city nor an urban
core. Moreover, the city "lacks the overall infrastructure
to develop at a density of 30 units per acre." As a
result, the author's office believes that the city cannot
qualify for IIG funds and introduced this bill to establish
a process for cities or counties to petition HCD to lower
the density requirements applicable to IIG projects in
their jurisdictions.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen,
Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: De La Torre, Evans, Fletcher, Harkey,
Nava, Villines, John A. Perez, Vacancy
JJA:do 8/2/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****