Last Friday was the deadline: all bills needed to move out of their house of origin (either the Senate or the Assembly) by the end of last Friday if they wanted to continue forward. It was a flurry of activity in the Capitol as legislators – and advocates – worked hard to ensure key bills that improved the lives of Californians moved forward.
Today, we’re sharing some success stories! Here are a few bills moving forward in the Legislature that we believe will help achieve ClimatePlan’s vision of a healthier and more vital California that supports sustainable, equitable communities, preserves iconic landscapes, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Transportation Equity Package Moves Ahead
AB 179 (Cervantes) is heading to the Senate. You can read our blog post from last week to get more information on AB 179 – and how you can help!
AB 17 (Holden) is heading to the Senate. If passed, AB 17 uses $20 million from the Public Transportation Account to create a pilot program to provide free or reduced-fare transit passes to specific pupils and students. Click here to find out more about AB 17 and the Transportation Equity Package.
Bolstering California’s efforts to address Climate Change
SB 150 (Allen) is heading to the Assembly. Given President Trump’s actions last week to remove the United States from the Paris Agreement, it is essential that California continues to bolster our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate the impacts from climate change. SB 150 is critical to California’s climate efforts by ensuring our regional actions align with our state climate goals. If you want to get involved in this bill, please email chanell “AT” climateplan “DOT” org
Addressing California’s Affordable Housing Crisis
AB 686 (Santiago) is heading to the Senate. This bill would maintain California’s commitment to fair housing and is sponsored by a broad coalition, including Public Advocates, Western Center for Law and Poverty, and the National Housing Law Project. Click here to read about AB 686 and how you can get involved.
AB 1505 (Bloom) is heading to the Senate. If passed, this bill would allow local governments to resume their role to require developers and landlords to set aside a certain number of affordable rental units. This bill is sponsored by a number of housing organizations, including Western Center for Law and Poverty, Housing California, and more. Click here to read more, and find out how you can support this effort!
SB 2 (Atkins) was not subject to last week’s deadline but will come up at a later date. This bill will provide an on-going funding source for affordable housing. This bill is sponsored by a number of housing organizations, including Housing California. Click here for more information and how you can help!
Expanding Park Access for All
SB 5 (De León) is heading to the Assembly. If passed, this bill would put before voters in November a $3.5 billion dollar bond measure focused on flood protection, water supply, reliability, and new parks and open space. From the $3.5 billion, $2.25 billion would be for parks, with $800 million going towards disadvantaged communities. Click here to read more about this effort.
Restructuring SANDAG to ensure better representation and accountability
AB 805 (Gonzalez-Fletcher) is now heading to the Senate. This bill would implement a number of actions to ensure broader representation and accountability at SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments). This bill would also allow the region’s transit agencies (Metropolitan Transit System and North County Transit District) to raise their own sales taxes for public transit operations and infrastructure. This bill has a number of supporters, including Environmental Health Coalition, Climate Action Campaign, and more! Click here for more information and to support AB 805!
Streamlining New Housing Development
Following last year’s failed attempt to streamline “by right” development, a number of streamlining proposals sprung up this year. Due to their complicated (and controversial) nature, these proposals deserve their own blog post. For now, we’ll just note that SB 35 (Weiner), AB 73 (Chiu), and SB 540 (Roth) are all moving forward.
This list is by no means comprehensive! Tell us what we’re missing in the comments below so we can add it to our legislative tracking. And stay tuned for further legislative updates.