BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 575|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 575
Author: Steinberg (D)
Amended: 5/4/09
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 6-3, 4/28/09
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Harman
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hollingsworth, Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Local planning: housing element
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill cleans up provisions of last years SB
375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, by clarifying the rezoning
requirement under housing element law, housing elements due
dates generally, and allows the Department of Housing and
Community Development to adjust the deadlines for adoption
of the 6th and subsequent revisions of the housing element
so that the deadlines occur 18 months after adoption of the
applicable regional transportation plan, provided that the
planning period, as defined, for the housing element is not
less than 90 months and not more than 102 months. The bill
also clarifies a provision of last year's SB 732
(Steinberg), Chapter 729, regarding the open meeting
requirements applicable to the Strategic Growth Council.
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS : SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of
2008, required the Air Resources Board (ARB), by September
30, 2010, to provide each region that has a metropolitan
planning organization (MPO) with a greenhouse gas emission
reduction target for the automobile and light truck sector
for 2020 and 2035, respectively. Each MPO, in turn, is
required to include within its regional transportation plan
(RTP) a sustainable communities strategy designed to
achieve the ARB targets for greenhouse gas emission
reduction. The sustainable communities strategy and all
other elements of the RTP, including the programming of
funding to transportation projects, must be internally
consistent. SB 375 provides that the internal consistency
requirement does not affect any transportation project
programmed for funding by the California Transportation
Commission on or before December 31, 2011, if it is
contained in the 2007 or 2009 State Transportation
Improvement Program, funded through the Transportation
Congestion Relief Program, or specifically listed in a
local transportation sales tax ballot measure approved
prior to December 31, 2008. Nor does it require a
transportation sales tax authority to change the funding
allocations approved by the voters for categories of
transportation projects in a sales tax measure adopted
prior to December 31, 2010.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires cities and counties to
prepare and adopt a general plan, including a housing
element to guide the future growth of a community. A
housing element must identify and analyze existing and
projected housing needs, identify adequate sites with
appropriate zoning to meet its fair share of the regional
housing need, and ensure that regulatory systems provide
opportunities for, and do not unduly constrain, housing
development. The Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) reviews both draft and adopted housing
elements to determine whether or not they are in
substantial compliance with the law.
Cities and counties are required to revise their housing
elements on a regular basis. Before each revision, each
city and county is assigned its fair share of the regional
housing need for four separate income categories through a
two-step process known as the regional housing needs
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assessment (RHNA). In the first step, HCD determines the
aggregate housing need for the region during the planning
period to be covered by the housing element. Depending on
whether or not subregions are involved in the RHNA process,
this step begins 26 or 24 months prior to the regional
housing element due date, when HCD is required to meet and
consult with the council of governments regarding the
assumptions and methodology HCD will use to determine the
region's housing need. In the second step, the council of
governments allocates the regional housing need to each
city and county within the region.
Prior to the enactment of SB 375, cities and counties were
required to revise their housing elements every five years
according to a staggered schedule by region. All regions
have now completed the fourth revision cycle to the housing
element, and some regions are about to begin the fifth
revision cycle. In order to align the population
projections used in the RHNA process with those used for
transportation planning and to coordinate the RHNA
allocation with the sustainable communities strategy of the
RTP that an MPO adopts every four years, SB 375 put housing
elements in regions with an MPO on an eight-year cycle. SB
375 established the due date for the fifth revision of
housing elements within each region at eighteen months
after the date of the first RTP adopted after September 30,
2010 and the due date for the sixth and subsequent revision
every eight years thereafter. Pursuant to SB 375, housing
elements within the region of the San Diego Association of
Governments for the fifth revision are due on June 30,
2010, and housing elements for the sixth revision are due
around May of 2013.
SB 732 (Steinberg), Chapter 729, Statutes of 2008,
established the Strategic Growth Council, comprised of the
Director of the Office of Planning and Research; the
Secretary of the Resources Agency; the Secretary for
Environmental Protection; the Secretary of Business,
Transportation and Housing; the Secretary of California
Health and Human Services; and one member of the public to
be appointed by the Governor. The bill further required
the Council to coordinate specified programs of member
state agencies and to award grants and loans to support the
planning and development of sustainable communities. The
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Strategic Growth Council is required to comply with the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. All but the public member
of the council are also members of the Governor's Cabinet.
The concern has been raised that the presence of these
members at a cabinet meeting may inadvertently require that
the cabinet meeting comply with the Bagley-Keene Act.
This bill:
1. Allows the deadline to complete required rezonings to be
extended by one year if the local government has
completed rezonings at densities sufficient to
accommodate at least 75% of the "units," as opposed to
sites, for very low and low-income housing.
2. Clarifies that a meeting of the Governor's cabinet does
not qualify as a meeting of the Strategic Growth Council
for purposes of the Bagley-Keene Act.
3. Clarifies the start time of the RHNA process for local
governments within MPOs.
4. Requires a MPO or a regional transportation planning
agency for a region that has an eight-year revision
interval to notify HCD and the Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) in writing of the estimated
adoption date for its next regional transportation plan
at least 12 months prior to the estimated adoption date.
5. Requires Caltrans to maintain and publish on its
Internet Web site a current schedule of the estimated
regional transportation plan adoption dates. For
purposes of determining the existing and projected need
for housing a region, the date of the next scheduled
revision of the housing element shall be deemed to be
the estimated adoption date of the regional
transportation plan described in the notice plus 18
months.
6. Allow HCD to adjust the deadlines for adoption of the
sixth and subsequent revisions of the housing element so
that the deadlines occur 18 months after adoption of the
applicable regional transportation plan, provided that
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the planning period for the housing element is not less
than 90 months and not more than 102 months.
7. Specifies the regional housing need for the new
projection period shall begin on the date of December 31
or June 30 that most closely precedes the end of the
previous projection period.
8. Redefines "planning period" as the time period between
the due date for one housing element and the due date
for the next housing element.
9. Defines "projection period" as the time period for which
the regional housing need is calculated.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
JA:nl 5/20/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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