Divisive housing bill dies at deadline

Local housing advocates lamented the failure of the bill proposed by Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, intended to be the successor to other, more ambitious proposals.

“NIMBY opposition to density and development is as strong as ever,” said Michael Lane, San Jose director with the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association in an email.

Density opponents, labor unions and other special interest groups worked tirelessly through a session interrupted by the pandemic to kill or substantially weaken the Atkins bill, and other housing production proposals, Lane said.

SB 1120 aimed to encourage development of duplexes or lot subdivisions by cutting red tape, while still observing zoning and design standards, historical regulations and other land use policies.

The proposal from Atkins arrived in May in a package of proposals designed to ramp up housing construction and cut the rising cost of living, following the failure of Senate Bill 50.

The measure proposed previously by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would have allowed developers to build five-story apartment buildings within a half-mile of rail stations and ferry terminals. Smaller apartment buildings could have been built within a quarter-mile of bus stops on a frequent bus line or a census tract that officials say has lots of available jobs.

Developers would have been allowed to build those apartments in areas where local zoning laws don’t allow them, including neighborhoods filled with single-family homes.

After successive failures for the proposal, legislators repositioned to offer the slate of bills intended to bolster production of new housing and remove existing barriers by further streamlining the development process.

Of the set, SB 1120 garnered the most opposition from groups such as Livable California, which advocates for local control of development policy and opposes state intervention feared to disrupt community character.

The bill threatened to crush single-family zoning and expose neighborhoods to speculative developers who would squeeze dense housing into tight lots near small homes, according to the group’s website.

SB 1120 was heard alongside many other bills in a frenzied final day of the legislative session, which was the perfect bookend for a bizarre legislative session shortened by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I would say it was disappointing,” said Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, while describing the whole legislative session to the Associated Press. “It was not the year we thought it was going to be on Jan. 1.”

Republican Sen. Brian Jones tested positive for the coronavirus last week and exposed nine of his colleagues during an Aug. 25 caucus lunch. Senate Democrats, who control the chamber, ordered those Republicans to vote remotely, saying they were following public health guidelines that require two weeks of isolation for anyone exposed to the disease.

That process, in which lawmakers voted via video on a Zoom call, has never been tried before in the state Legislature. An opinion from the Office of Legislative Counsel in May said it is likely illegal.

The Legislature was shut down for nearly 2 1/2 months starting in March. And when lawmakers did return, they had to keep their distance from each other, making it difficult to build consensus on tough issues. Multiple high-profile bills failed to pass on Monday as lawmakers simply ran out of time. For SB 1120, it received the approval necessary from both the Senate and Assembly, but the session expired before the proposal could return to the Senate for confirmation of amendments.

“We needed to cut the number of bills that we were going to hear, and that didn’t happen to the degree that it needed to happen,” Atkins said to the AP.

Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, said her caucus was not intentionally running out the clock on bills, pointing to several examples when Republicans allowed bills to pass without debate.

“Why cram everything in the last few days and try to blame it on Republicans,” she said to the AP.

Lawmakers won’t officially adjourn the legislative session until Nov. 30, but they are limited in what they can pass. Looking ahead to the next session, Atkins said she is optimistic more progress is possible.

“Senators will be working with our colleagues, our constituents and our communities to build on these successes, help Californians persevere through this pandemic, continue to build a strong and equitable recovery, and increase the production of affordable housing,” she said in a prepared statement.

Leora Tanjuatco Ross, spokeswoman for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County, shared a similar sentiment — while admiring the leadership of local representatives who voted in favor of SB 1120 and other production bills.

“I feel devastated that we had the votes, but the bill didn’t pass. But for me, this is a lifelong endeavor, and there will be more solutions and more bills,” she said in an email.

While noting the success of other housing bills backed by SPUR, Lane expressed the same optimism.

“The good news is our Bay Area legislators continue to provide strong leadership in the Capitol to increase housing availability and affordability,” he said. “We’ll be back stronger and better next year.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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