CalRHA Policy Update March 2021

Public Policy Update March 2021 Legislative Update The deadline to introduce legislation was February 19th and committee hearings are now underway. In fact, the Senate waived the 30-day in print rule so that bills can be heard immediately. Below, please find several key pieces of legislation that CalRHA will be working on this year. The deadline to amend spot bills in the Senate is March 10th and in the Assembly is March 15th.

AB 854 (Lee) - Ellis Act/Withdrawal of Accommodations Although still in spot bill format, we anticipate that AB 854 will be a problematic bill and will likely engage in opposition on behalf of CalRHA members.

AB 838 (Friedman) - Enforcement of Complaints This bill would, beginning July 1, 2021, require a city or county that receives a complaint of a substandard building or a lead hazard violation, as described above, from a tenant, resident, or occupant, or an agent of a tenant, resident, or occupant, except as specified, to inspect the building, portion of the building intended for human occupancy, or premises of the building, document the lead hazard violations that would be discovered based upon a reasonably competent and diligent visual inspection of the property and identify any building, portion of a building intended for human occupancy, or premises on which such a building is located that is determined to be substandard.

AB 916 (Salas) - ADU and Bedroom Streamlining CalRHA’s sponsored bill would alleviate burdens to ADU creation and incremental increases to density in existing housing within the state and create more housing for low-income residents. Specifically, this bill will increase the height limitation from 16 to 20 feet for ADUs. It will clearly define detached units as an ADU built anywhere outside of the existing structure envelope even if they share a wall. Finally, the legislation would create parity for new bedrooms with new ADUs and Junior ADUs, which are already exempt from the public hearing process. 

AB 1188 (Wicks) - Rent Registry Although, this bill has been defeated for several years in a row, Assemblymember Wicks has reintroduced her rent registry bill. However, instead of the state administering the rent registry, this time the bill would require cities and counties to create and administer a rental registry online portal, which would be designed to receive specified information from landlords, including state and local governmental agencies that own or operate public housing, that own or operate 5 or more rental dwelling units regarding their residential tenancies and to disseminate this information to the general public. The bill would require that the rental registry online portal, and the form necessary to support it, be completed by January 1, 2024. The bill would require landlords, under penalty of perjury, to provide a variety of information regarding the location of rental property, its ownership, and its occupancy, among other things.

AB 1199 (Gipson) - Homes for Families and Corporate Monopoly Transparency Excise Tax AB 1199 would require specified rental property providers to report annually to the Secretary of State and would require the Secretary of State to create a searchable database, updated annually, on the Secretary of State’s internet website, with the information provided by the qualified entity. AB 1199 would also impose an annual excise tax upon a qualified taxpayer, as defined, for the privilege of renting or leasing out qualified property, as defined, in this state at an unspecified rate based on the gross receipts of the qualified taxpayer that are derived from rental income. The bill would require the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to collect the tax pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law and would require all amounts collected, less refunds and administrative costs, to be deposited in the Homes for Families Fund, which the bill would create. Rent Assistance Update CalRHA continues to advocate for streamlined rent assistance in the state.

The Housing and Community Development Department has secured vendors in order to have an online application process available beginning March 15th. For additional information, please visit https://www.bcsh.ca.gov/ covidrelief/