BILL ANALYSIS
SB 575
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 575 (Steinberg)
As Amended August 17, 2009
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :23-15
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 4-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Caballero, Arambula, De |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, |
| |La Torre, Skinner | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| | | |Davis, Fuentes, Hall, |
| | | |John A. Perez, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Hill |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Knight, Duvall |Nays:|Conway, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller, Audra Strickland |
| | | | |
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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 discuss 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").
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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 no
later than 18 months after adoption of the first regional
transportation plan (RTP) update after September 30, 2010.
4)Specifies, for the fifth revision, that a local government
within the jurisdiction of SANDAG that has not adopted a
housing element for the fourth revision by January 1, 2009,
shall revise its housing element not less than every four
years, unless the local government does both of the following:
a) Adopts a housing element for the fourth revision no
later than March 31, 2010, which is in substantial
compliance with this article; and,
b) Completes any rezoning contained in the housing element
program for the fourth revision by June 30, 2010.
5)Provides for deadlines for subsequent revisions of the housing
element beyond the fifth and sixth revisions.
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)Provides, if necessary, that the local government shall adopt
three consecutive four-year revisions by the statutory
deadline to ensure that when the local government adopts its
next housing element covering an eight-year planning period,
it does so at the deadline for adoption for other local
governments within the region also covering an eight-year
planning period.
8)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.
9)Requires DOT to maintain and publish on its Internet Web site
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a current schedule of the estimated RTP adoption dates.
10)Requires HCD to maintain and publish on its Internet Web site
a current schedule of the estimated and actual housing element
due dates.
11)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.
12)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
notice, plus 18 months.
13)Defines "projection period" to be the time period for which
the regional housing need is calculated.
14)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.
15)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.
16)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.
17)Provides that SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of
2008, shall be known and may be cited as the Sustainable
Communities and Climate Protection Act.
18)Specifies, for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, that the
Tahoe MPO shall use the Regional Plan for the Lake Tahoe
Region as the SCS, provided it complies with requirements of
the bill.
19)Defines "regional transportation plan update" to mean a
regional transportation plan adopted to satisfy the
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requirements of subdivision (d) of Section 65080.
20)Incorporates chaptering out amendments to resolve potential
statutory conflicts with AB 720 (Caballero) in the event that
both bills are chaptered.
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, an 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.
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
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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
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
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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 : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, by specifying duties for local governments, the bill
contains mandated costs. However, since the measure primarily
modifies and clarifies provisions contained in SB 375 and other
elements of existing law, the incremental costs attributable to
this bill are likely to be minor.
COMMENTS : This bill is a clean-up measure to SB 375, which
links 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, Statutes of 2006].
This bill makes some technical corrections to clean-up SB 375,
but the majority of the provisions contained in this bill deal
with housing elements and the housing element revision adoption
schedule.
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.
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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
would fall out of the eight-year housing element cycle and will
then be required to submit their housing element every four
years to HCD.
The timelines specified in SB 375 for RTP and housing element
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.
Under SB 575's provisions, those local governments in SANDAG's
jurisdiction that have not adopted a housing element for the
fourth revision by January 1, 2009, will then be required to
revise their housing elements not less than every four years,
unless they can meet both of the following requirements: 1) The
jurisdiction adopts a housing element for the fourth revision no
later than March 31, 2010 which is in substantial compliance,
and, 2) The jurisdiction completes any rezoning contained in the
housing element program for the fourth revision by June 30,
2010.
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 this bill are silent 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
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local governments on a four-year schedule with their RHNA
number? The Legislature may wish to ask the author to address
this in this bill, since this question may create confusion for
local governments as they implement SB 375.
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958
FN: 0002270