Policy & Legislation
More Bills Garner Housing CA's Support, Opposition
May 20, 2009
At the request of our allies in the veterans and environmental communities, Housing California has thrown its weight behind three additional pieces of legislation:
- SB 595 (Cedillo, D-Los Angeles) places before voters at the November 2, 2010, election a $1.5 billion general obligation bond measure to provide affordable apartments with support services for extremely low-income veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. These funds would be administered through the state's Multifamily Housing Program.
- AB 1364 (Evans, D-Santa Rosa) allows state agencies to revise grant contracts that contain deadlines affected by the Pooled Money Investment Board (PMIB) freeze (see above article). Some agencies are concerned they do not have the authority to adjust contracts, even if grantees are unable to meet deadlines due to the freeze. AB 1364 will take effect upon the governor's signature, because it contains an urgency clause.
- SB 553 (Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa) allows nonprofits to receive late payment penalties if the state fails to pay an invoice within 45 days. Like AB 1364, this measure grew out of the PMIB delay in funding infrastructure projects.
AB 1364 and SB 553 might also serve as vehicles to solve other problems arising from the PMIB freeze. Housing CA is working closely with the environmental coalition sponsoring both measures.
Additionally, we are now opposing AB 558 (Portantino, D-Pasadena), which is identical to last year's AB 2322 by the same author. This well-meaning but illogical measure allows cities to meet up to 10 percent of their Regional Housing Needs Assessment through programs that provide incentives to households to care for foster children.
Lastly, we recently removed our opposition to SB 326 (Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks: housing elements) and AB 1084 (Adams, R-Hesperia: development fees). Both have been amended to remove provisions that would have negatively impacted housing elements' accuracy and local mixed-income housing ordinances.
Contact Julie Snyder, 916.447.0503 x102 or .
