BILL ANALYSIS
SB 575
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Date of Hearing: July 8, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
SB 575 (Steinberg) - As Amended: July 1, 2009
SENATE VOTE : 23-15
SUBJECT : Local planning: housing element.
SUMMARY : Revises timelines for the adoption of the fifth
revision of the housing element by specified local governments,
provides for timelines for subsequent housing element revisions,
and makes other changes related to the clean-up of SB 375
(Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes
of 2008. Specifically, this bill :
1)Clarifies, for informational meetings required to be held by a
metropolitan planning organization (MPO) in each county within
the region for members of the board of supervisors and city
councils on the sustainable communities strategy (SCS) and
alternative planning strategy (APS), that the purpose of the
meetings is to present a draft of the SCS and APS, including
the key land use and planning assumptions.
2)Clarifies that the deadline for completing required rezoning
shall be extended by one year
if the local government has completed the rezoning at densities
sufficient to accommodate at least 75% of the units for low-
and very-low income households (current law references "sites"
instead of "units").
3)Requires all local governments within the regional
jurisdiction of the San Diego Association of Governments
(SANDAG) to adopt the fifth revision of the housing element 18
months after adoption of the first regional transportation
plan (RTP) is adopted after September 30, 2010.
4)Provides that all local governments within the SANDAG region
shall be subject to all of the following:
a) If the local government has failed to adopt a housing
element for the fourth revision by March 31, 2010, which is
in substantial compliance, or has failed to complete any
rezoning contained in the housing element program for the
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fourth revision by June 30, 2010, the local government
shall revise its housing element not less than every four
years.
b) For the fifth revision, the local government shall,
prior to or concurrent with adoption of the housing
element, identify adequate sites in its inventory or rezone
adequate sites to accommodate a pro-rated portion of its
share of the regional housing need for the projection
period representing the period from July 1, 2010, to the
deadline for the adoption of the housing element.
5)Provides for deadlines for subsequent revisions of the housing
element beyond the fifth revision.
6)Provides, for subsequent revisions, that if a local government
does not adopt a housing element within 120 days of the
applicable deadlines, the local government shall be subject to
a housing element revision cycle of not less than every four
years until the local government has adopted two consecutive
revisions by the statutory deadline.
7)Requires that the MPO or regional transportation planning
agency for a region that has an eight-year revision interval
notify the Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) in writing of
the estimated adoption date for its next RTP at least 12
months prior to the estimated adoption date.
8)Requires DOT to maintain and publish on its Internet Web site
a current schedule of the estimated RTP adoption dates.
9)Requires HCD to maintain and publish on its Internet Web site
a current schedule of the estimated and actual housing element
due dates.
10)Requires each council of governments (COG) to publish on its
Internet Web site the estimated and actual housing element due
dates for the jurisdictions within its region and requires
COGs to send notice of these dates to interested parties.
11)Provides, for purposes of determining the existing and
projected housing with a region, that the date of the next
scheduled revision of the housing element shall be deemed to
be the estimated adoption date of the RTP described in the
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notice, plus 18 months.
12)Defines "projection period" to be the time period for which
the regional housing need is calculated.
13)Requires that the regional housing need for the new
projection period begins on the date of December 31 or June 30
that most closely precedes the end of the previous projection
period.
14)Provides that meetings related to the development of grant
guidelines and policies and the approval of grants held by the
Strategic Growth Council (SGC) shall be subject to the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
15)Exempts from the provisions of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act a meeting at which SGC members are meeting as members of
the Governor's cabinet.
16)Provides that Chapter 728 of the Statutes of 2008 (SB 375,
Steinberg), shall be known and may be cited as the Sustainable
Communities and Climate Protection Act.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires MPOs to prepare RTPs directed at achieving a
coordinated and balanced regional transportation system,
including, but not limited to, mass transportation, highway,
railroad, maritime, bicycle, pedestrian, goods movement, and
aviation facilities and services.
2)Requires each MPO to include, within its RTP, a SCS designed
to achieve specified targets for GHG emission reduction; if
the SCS does not achieve the reduction target, the MPO must
prepare an APS.
3)Requires each city, county, or city and county to prepare and
adopt a general plan for its jurisdiction that contains
certain mandatory elements, including a housing element.
4)Provides that the housing element shall consist of an
identification and analysis of existing and projected housing
needs and a statement of goals, policies, quantified
objectives, financial resources, and scheduled programs for
the preservation, improvement, and development of housing.
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5)Requires HCD, for the fourth and subsequent revisions of the
housing element, to determine the existing and projected need
for housing for each region through the regional housing needs
assessment (RHNA) process.
6)Requires, within the first year of the planning period of the
new housing element, the city or county to zone or rezone
adequate sites to accommodate the unaccommodated portion of
RHNA from the prior planning period, if a city or county in
the prior planning period failed to identify or make available
adequate sites to accommodate their RHNA.
7)Requires local governments within an MPO that has elected to
move from a five-year to a four-year RTP cycle to adopt an
eight-year RHNA cycle and to adopt their next housing elements
18 months after the adoption of the first RTP after the
election.
8)Requires all local governments within an MPO in a
non-attainment region, other than those within the
jurisdiction of SANDAG, to adopt the fifth revision of their
housing elements no later than 18 months after the adoption of
the first RTP to be adopted after September 30, 2010.
9)Requires local governments within SANDAG's jurisdiction to
adopt their fifth revision no later than five years from the
fourth revision, and their sixth revision no later than 18
months after the adoption of the first RTP to be adopted after
the fifth revision due date.
10)Requires the MPO to conduct at least two informational
meetings in each county within the region for members of the
board of supervisors and city councils on the SCS and APS.
11)Provides that the purpose of the informational meetings held
by MPOs is to present a draft of the SCS to the members of the
board of supervisors and the city council members in that
county and to solicit and consider their input and
recommendations.
12)Provides for the creation of SGC, and provides that SGC
shall:
a) Identify and review activities and funding programs of
member state agencies that may be coordinated to improve
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air and water quality, improve natural resource protection,
increase the availability of affordable housing, improve
transportation, meet the goals of the California Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006, encourage sustainable land
use planning, and revitalize urban and community centers in
a sustainable manner;
b) Recommend policies and investment strategies and
priorities to the Governor, the Legislature, and to
appropriate state agencies to encourage the development of
sustainable communities;
c) Provide, fund, and distribute data and information to
local governments and regional agencies that will assist in
developing and planning sustainable communities;
d) Manage and award grants and loans to support the
planning and development of sustainable communities; and,
e) Develop guidelines for awarding financial assistance and
eligibility, and develop criteria for determining the
amount of financial assistance.
13)Provides that SGC's meetings shall be open to the public and
shall be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)SB 575 is a clean-up measure to SB 375 (Steinberg), and
specifically focuses on the housing provisions contained in SB
375, and provides for fixes to other sections of SB 375.
2)The provisions of SB 375 link housing policy, land use and
transportation planning, and environmental review with climate
policy, with the intent of reducing greenhouse gas emissions
through the development of an SCS, thus setting up a process
to help achieve the goals of the Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006 (AB 32, Nunez, Chapter 488).
3)Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 375 into law on September
30, 2008. In his signing message, the Governor outlined four
areas in SB 375 that would require future clean-up and
committed that his administration would work with Senator
Steinberg to ensure that legislation is drafted to address
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these issues in the next legislative session. The four areas
to be addressed are:
a) Provide exemptions for voter-approved Proposition 1B
Transportation Projects;
b) Expand CEQA streamlining to other projects that are
consistent with a SCS;
c) Eliminate schedule conflicts with housing element
updates and RTPs; and,
d) Mitigation for impacts to the State Highway System.
SB 575 makes some technical corrections to clean-up SB 375,
but the majority of the provisions contained in SB 575 deal
with housing element and the housing element revision adoption
schedule. The Committee may wish to ask the author why he is
only addressing one of the Governor's concerns outlined in his
signing message.
4)One of the major sections of SB 375 coordinates the RHNA
process with the regional transportation planning process.
Prior to SB 375, local governments were required to revise
their housing elements every five years. The RHNA process was
also on a five-year schedule. However, most MPOs adopt an RTP
every four years pursuant to federal law,
meaning that the planning for housing and transportation rarely
occurs at the same. SB 375 aligns these processes by creating
an eight-year housing element cycle, meaning that one RHNA
planning period will equal two RTP planning periods.
5)The alignment provisions contained in SB 375 take effect for
the fifth revision of the housing element for local
governments. Under the provisions of SB 375, once the local
government receives its RHNA allocation (and adopts an RTP at
the same time), it then has 18 months to prepare its housing
element and submit it to HCD - beginning with the first RTP to
be adopted after September 30, 2010. Those local governments
that fail to submit a housing element to HCD within the
18-month timeline will then fall out of the eight-year housing
element cycle and will then be required to submit their
housing element every four years to HCD.
6)The timelines specified in SB 375 for RTP and housing element
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adoption, however, are problematic for SANDAG and local
governments in SANDAG's regional jurisdiction. Under the
provisions of SB 375, the fifth housing element revision for
local governments in SANDAG's region would be due the summer
of 2010, and the sixth housing element revision would be due
in December of 2012 (thus creating a 2 year "interim"
housing element). Given that SANDAG will be the first MPO to
implement the provisions of SB 375, SANDAG is seeking to
eliminate the "interim" housing element cycle, which would
allow the region to focus its resources on developing the next
RHNA, SCS, and RTP in accordance with the goals of SB 375.
SANDAG does not yet have a formal position on the July 1,
2009, version of SB 575. SANDAG notes that their Executive
Committee has supported amendments to align their next RHNA
and housing elements for all 19 jurisdictions (fifth revision)
with the schedule for preparation of SANDAG's 2011 RTP. The
Executive Committee has also supported provisions in SB 575
that would require local jurisdictions without adopted
2005-2010 housing elements (fourth revision) to complete these
housing elements and any necessary rezoning programs within a
reasonable and expeditious timeframe. SANDAG's Executive
Committee does not yet have a position on the requirement
contained in SB 575 for the 19 local jurisdictions in the San
Diego region to have completed any necessary rezoning to
accommodate the pro-rated share of RHNA for the June
2010-December 2012 period.
Additionally, SB 575 sets up a process to penalize those local
governments in SANDAG's jurisdiction that have failed to adopt
a housing element for the fourth revision by March 31, 2010.
Those that fail to adopt their fourth revision will
automatically start their fifth housing element cycle on a
four-year schedule, rather than an eight-year cycle that other
local governments will follow. The provisions of this bill
seem to take one region of California (San Diego) and give
that region a higher threshold to meet. There are other local
governments that have failed to adopt their fourth housing
element revisions located in the jurisdiction of other MPOs
besides SANDAG, yet they will have the option of starting on
an eight-year housing cycle for their fifth revision.
7)There is a possibility that an MPO on an eight-year RHNA cycle
will have cities within its jurisdiction that are on a
four-year housing element cycle. SB 375 and SB 575 are silent
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on how the RHNA allocation process would work for those local
governments that are on a four-year cycle - would the local
government split the RHNA number in half and plan for half the
number in its housing element? Or, would the MPO assign a
number halfway through the planning period to provide those
local governments on a four-year schedule with their RHNA
number? The Committee may wish to ask the author to address
this in SB 575, since this question may create confusion for
local governments as they implement SB 375.
8)SB 575 may have additional timing problems to address. The
bill provides that "a local government that does not adopt a
housing element within 120 days of the applicable deadline
shall revise its housing element not less than every four
years until the local government has adopted two consecutive
revisions by the statutory deadline" - beginning in the fifth
housing element cycle. This sets up the potential that a
local government on an eight-year cycle could fail to adopt
their housing element within 120 days - it is unclear at what
point they would begin the next four-year cycle. Would it
begin half way through the eight-year process for the fifth
housing element, or at the beginning of the sixth revision
cycle? The Committee may wish to ask the author to clarify
how the "two consecutive revisions" provision in the bill will
work under different scenarios.
9)COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS : The committee amendments will correct
omissions in Section 3 of the bill, provide clarification on
what "substantial compliance" means in Section 3 of the bill,
and provide for other technical fixes.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958