CA lawmakers seek $10 billion for housing

Riding the momentum of a handful of successful pro-housing bills last year, some Democratic lawmakers are advancing a $10 billion bond proposal that aims to ease California’s housing crunch, writes CalMatters’ Yue Stella Yu.

Last week the Senate Housing Committee progressed a bill that would place the housing bond before voters during this year’s primary election. Seven billion dollars would go toward the state’s Multifamily Housing Program, which offers loans to low-income residents for rental housing. 

Another $2 billion would be allocated for rental assistance and affordable housing for low-income tenants and farmworkers, and the remaining $1 billion would assist low-income, first-time homebuyers with their down payments.

• Sen. Chris Cabaldon, Napa Democrat and bill author, during a hearing last week: “Those homes don’t build themselves, and it’s time to finish the job. To unlock the full promise of these reforms requires cash.”

The bill is expected to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee next week and, if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would be placed on the ballot in June.

But the sailing hasn’t been smooth for other housing bills. On Tuesday a proposal that would have limited how much landlords can raise rents each year failed to garner enough “yes” votes in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Introduced last year by Assemblymember Ash Kalra, the bill faced strong opposition from a coalition of landlords and realtors who argued that the measure would make financing rental housing more difficult and squeeze mom-and-pop landlords.

Kalra, a San Jose Democrat who also serves as chairperson of the judiciary committee, told CalMatters that the bill failed because “we are listening to these wealthy landowners and apartment owners and not those that are literally struggling.”

Read more here.

President Donald Trump’s administration has stopped efforts to appeal a November court decision that prohibited it from withholding transportation funding from states that did not comply with its immigration enforcement policies.

By dropping its appeal Tuesday, the administration “concedes the case” in favor of California and more than a dozen other states that sued the administration, said California Attorney General Rob Bonta in a statement.

• Bonta: “I am pleased that the Trump Administration has accepted defeat … We will continue taking the President to court each time he weaponizes federal funding to bully our communities.”

In April the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a directive attempting to hold hostage billions of dollars in federal transportation funding — which went toward public infrastructure such as roads, highways and bridges — to pressure states to cooperate with the administration’s immigration policies. Those included “not impeding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement” and not “taking action intended to shield illegal aliens from ICE detection.”

Arguing that Congress, not the president, had the authority to allocate federal dollars, California and other states filed suit. In November a federal court sided with the states, granting a permanent injunction to block the funds from being cut. In the ruling, a district judge said the federal transportation department “blatantly overstepped their statutory authority … and transgressed well-settled constitutional limitations on federal funding conditions.”

From CalMatters climate reporter Alejandro Lazo:

California regulators on Tuesday took a first step toward reshaping cap-and-invest, a key climate program and one of the state’s biggest sources of funding for projects ranging from zero-emission vehicles to high-speed rail and wildfire prevention.

Cap-and-invest limits greenhouse gas pollution by capping emissions and allowing companies to trade a limited number of permits with each other, rewarding those that cut emissions fastest.

The proposal unveiled by the California Air Resources Board would cut the supply of permits to drive emissions from the state’s largest polluters 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by 2045. California’s 2022 climate blueprint called for steeper cuts, but regulators say rising consumer costs are a concern.

The board is expected to vote in May, setting up a debate between industry and climate advocates.

The program also funds high-speed rail and wildfire fighting efforts, including hundreds of millions for Cal Fire in Newsom’s proposed budget, unveiled last week.

The California Coastal Commission is fining a Carlsbad homeowner for $2.4 million over accusations that the resident blocked public access to the beach, removed sensitive habitat and illegally installed a pickleball court.

The homeowner, in turn, is suing the commission, arguing that the state agency tasked with protecting California’s shoreline violated his due process rights. Read more from CalMatters’ Deborah Brennan.