(1) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, authorizes a local agency to provide for the creation of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in single-family and multifamily residential zones by ordinance, and sets forth standards the ordinance is required to impose with respect to certain matters, including, among others, maximum unit size, parking, and height standards. Existing law authorizes a local agency to provide by ordinance for the creation of junior accessory dwelling units (JADUs) , as defined, in single-family residential zones and requires the ordinance to include, among other things, standards for the creation of a JADU, required deed restrictions, and occupancy requirements.
Existing law makes void and unenforceable any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property that either effectively prohibits or unreasonably restricts the construction or use of an ADU or JADU on a lot zoned for single-family residential use that meets the above-described minimum standards established for those units. However, existing law permits reasonable restrictions that do not unreasonably increase the cost to construct, effectively prohibit the construction of, or extinguish the ability to otherwise construct, an ADU or JADU consistent with those aforementioned minimum standards provisions.
This bill would prohibit fees and other financial requirements from being included in the above-described reasonable restrictions.
Existing law provides for the creation of ADUs in areas zoned for single-family or multifamily dwelling residential use, by ministerial approval if a local agency has not adopted an ordinance, in accordance with specified standards and conditions. Under existing law, a local agency is also required to ministerially approve an application for a building permit within a residential or mixed-use zone to create any of specified variations of ADUs. Existing law prohibits a local agency from imposing any objective development or design standard that upon any accessory dwelling unit that meets one of those specified variations of ADUs, except as specified.
Existing law authorizes a local agency to establish minimum and maximum unit size requirements for both attached and detached ADUs, subject to certain limitations. Notwithstanding that authorization and the ministerial approval requirement, as described above, existing law requires a local agency that adopted an ordinance by July 1, 2018, providing for the approval of ADUs in multifamily dwelling structures to ministerially consider a permit application to construct an ADU, as specified, and authorizes that local agency to impose objective standards including, but not limited to, design, development, and historic standards on said ADUs, except for requirements on minimum lot size.
This bill would remove the requirement that a local agency ministerially consider a permit application to construct one of the above-specified variations of ADUs, and would remove the authorization for a local agency to impose objective standards on those ADUs, as specified above. By further prohibiting local governments from imposing certain standards on ADUs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law prescribes various requirements to be satisfied before the exercise of a power of sale under a mortgage or deed of trust. Existing law authorizes a borrower to bring an action for injunctive relief to enjoin material violations of certain of these requirements, and requires that the injunction remain in place and any trustee's sale be enjoined until the court determines that the violations have been corrected, as specified.
This bill would make certain conduct an unlawful practice in connection with a subordinate mortgage, including, among others, that the mortgage servicer did not provide the borrower with any communication regarding the loan secured by the mortgage for at least 3 years. The bill would prohibit a mortgage servicer from conducting or threatening to conduct a nonjudicial foreclosure until the mortgage servicer (A) simultaneously with the recording of a notice of default, records or causes to be recorded a certification, as specified, under penalty of perjury that either the mortgage servicer did not engage in an unlawful practice or the mortgage servicer lists all instances when it committed an unlawful practice and (B) simultaneously with the service of a recorded notice of default, the mortgage servicer sends the recorded certification and a notice to the borrower, as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) Existing law, the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, governs the formation and operation of common interest developments. Existing law requires that a common interest development be managed by an association.
Existing law, if an association adopts or has adopted a policy imposing any monetary penalty on any association member for a violation of the governing documents, requires the board to adopt and distribute to each member a schedule of the monetary penalties that may be assessed for those violations, as provided, and prohibits an association from imposing a monetary penalty on a member for a violation of the governing documents in excess of that schedule. Existing law requires the board to notify a member 10 days before a meeting to consider or impose discipline on the member, as specified. Existing law requires the board to provide a member with written notification of a decision to impose discipline on the member within 15 days.
This bill would prohibit monetary fees from exceeding the lesser of that specified schedule or $100 per violation, except as specified. The bill would require the board to give a member the opportunity to cure a violation prior to the meeting to consider or impose discipline, as specified. If the board and the member are in agreement after the meeting to consider or impose discipline, the bill would require the board to draft a written resolution. The bill would provide that the written resolution, signed by the association and member of a dispute pursuant to the procedure not in conflict with the law or governing documents, binds the association and is judicially enforceable. The bill would reduce the time to provide written notification of a decision to impose discipline from 15 days to 14 days.
(4) Existing law, until July 1, 2042, establishes the Seismic Retrofitting Program for Soft Story Multifamily Housing for the purposes of providing financial assistance to owners of soft story multifamily housing for seismic retrofitting to protect individuals living in multifamily housing that have been determined to be at risk of collapse in earthquakes, as specified. Existing law establishes the Seismic Retrofitting Program for Soft Story Multifamily Housing Fund, and its subsidiary account, the Seismic Retrofitting Account, within the State Treasury. Existing law requires the California Residential Mitigation Program, also known as the CRMP, to develop and administer the program, as specified.
This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the CRMP to fund the seismic retrofitting of affordable multifamily housing, as specified. The bill would require the CRMP to prioritize affordable multifamily housing serving lower income households, as defined.
(5) Existing law creates the National Mortgage Special Deposit Fund in the State Treasury, which is continuously appropriated and subject to allocation by the Department of Finance, for the receipt of moneys from the National Mortgage Settlement. Existing law allocates $300,000,000 from the fund to be administered by the California Housing Finance Agency for the purpose of providing housing counseling services certified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to homeowners, former homeowners, or renters and providing mortgage assistance to qualified California households, as specified.
This bill would expand the purpose of the above-described allocation to include providing legal services for home ownership preservation, as specified. By providing new purposes for which an appropriation may be used, this bill would make an appropriation.
(6) Existing law prescribes requirements for the disposal of surplus land by a local agency. Existing law provides that an agency is not required to follow the requirements for disposal of surplus land for "exempt surplus land," except as provided. Existing law defines "exempt surplus land" to mean, among other things, real property that a school district is required to appoint a district advisory committee prior to sale, lease, or rental of any excess real property, as specified, and real property that a school district may exchange for real property of another person or private business firm, as specified.
This bill would remove the above-described school district real property from the definition of "exempt surplus land," thereby requiring that the disposal of that property be done in accordance with the above-described requirements for surplus land disposal.
(7) Existing law, the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act of 2023, specifies that a housing development project shall be a use by right, as defined, upon the request of an applicant who submits an application for streamlined approval if, among other criteria, the development is located on land owned on or before January 1, 2024, by an independent institution of higher education or a religious institution, as specified. Existing law prohibits the development from being adjoined to any site where more than 13 of the square footage of the site is dedicated to light industrial use, and defines "light industrial use" for these purposes as a use that is not subject to permitting by a district, as defined.
This bill would instead define "light industrial use" as an industrial use that is not subject to permitting by a district.
Existing law authorizes a development project that is eligible for approval as a use by right pursuant to the act to include ancillary uses on the ground floor of the development. For single-family residential zones, the ancillary uses are limited to childcare centers and facilities operated by community-based organizations, and in all other zones, for commercial uses that are permitted without a conditional use permit or planned unit development permit.
This bill would specify that the childcare facilities are without limitation on the number of children and that the permitted commercial uses for all zones other than single-family residential zones also include childcare centers and facilities operated by community-based organizations.
Existing law specifies that a development project eligible for approval as a use by right pursuant to the act includes any religious institutional use or any use that was previously existing and legally permitted if, among other things, the total parking requirement for nonresidential space on the site does not exceed the lesser of the amount existing or of the amount required by a conditional use permit.
This bill would delete that parking requirement and would instead require the proposed development to provide up to one space per unit, unless a state law or local ordinance provides for a lower standard of parking.
Existing law, for a housing development project that qualifies as a use by right pursuant to the act, allows a certain density based on zoning and other factors, as applicable, including a height of one story above the maximum height otherwise applicable to the parcel.
This bill would instead specify the development is entitled to a height of one story or 11 feet above the maximum height otherwise applicable to the parcel.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for its physical development, and the development of certain lands outside its boundaries, that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. After a legislative body has adopted all or part of a general plan, existing law requires, among other things, that a planning agency provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to specified entities that includes prescribed information, including the number of units of housing demolished and new units of housing that have been issued a completed entitlement, a building permit, or a certificate of occupancy, thus far in the housing element cycle, and the income category, by area median income category, that each unit of housing satisfies, as specified.
This bill would require the annual report to also include specified information with respect to housing development projects under the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Education Lands Act of 2023.
(8) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each county and each city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and specified land outside its boundaries, that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. That law requires each local government to review its housing element and to revise the housing element in accordance with a specified schedule. For the 4th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, and requires the appropriate council of governments, or the department for cities and counties without a council of governments, to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county, as provided. Existing law requires the department to meet and consult with the council of governments regarding the assumptions and methodology used to determine a region's housing needs at least 26 months prior to the scheduled revision. Existing law requires the council of governments to provide certain data assumptions from the council's projections, if available, including, among other things, the percentage of households that are overcrowded, the overcrowding rate for a comparable housing market, the percentage of households that are cost burdened, and the rate of housing cost burden for a healthy housing market.
This bill would revise these data assumptions requirements to, instead, require the council of governments to provide data on the percentage of households that are overcrowded within the region, the percentage of households that are overcrowded throughout the nation, the percentage of households that are cost burdened within the region, and the percentage of households that are cost burdened throughout the nation.
Existing law requires each council of governments, or delegate subregion, as applicable, to develop, in consultation with the department, a proposed methodology for distributing the existing and projected regional housing need to cities, counties, and cities and counties within the region or within the subregion, where applicable, at least 2 years before a scheduled revision. This methodology is also referred to as the allocation methodology. Existing law requires the council of governments, or delegate subregion, as applicable, to publish a draft allocation methodology on its internet website and submit the draft allocation methodology to the department. Existing law requires the department to determine whether the methodology furthers the specified objectives within 60 days. If the department determines that the methodology is not consistent with the objectives, existing law requires the council of governments, or delegate subregion, as applicable, to either (A) revise the methodology to further the objectives and adopt a final regional, or subregional, housing need allocation methodology or (B) adopt the regional, or subregional, housing need allocation methodology without revisions and include within its resolution of adoption findings, supported by substantial evidence, as to why the council of governments, or delegate subregion, believes that the methodology furthers the objectives, despite the findings of the department.
This bill, if the department determines that the draft allocation methodology is not consistent with the objectives, would instead require the council of governments, or delegate subregion, to revise the methodology, in consultation with the department, to further the objectives within 45 days, receive department acceptance that the revised methodology furthers the objectives, and adopt a final regional, or subregional, housing need allocation methodology. The bill would remove the ability for a council of governments or delegate subregion to adopt the regional or subregional housing need allocation methodology without revision, as described above.
(9) Existing law, except as provided, generally requires that a public hearing be held on an application for a variance from the requirements of a zoning ordinance, an application for a conditional use permit or equivalent development permit, a proposed revocation or modification of a variance or use permit or equivalent development permit, or an appeal from the action taken on any of those applications. Existing law, until January 1, 2034, prohibits a city or county from conducting more than 5 hearings, as defined, held pursuant to these provisions, or any other law, ordinance, or regulation requiring a public hearing, if a proposed housing development project complies with the applicable objective general plan and zoning standards in effect at the time an application is deemed complete, as defined. Existing law, until January 1, 2034, requires the city or county to consider and either approve or disapprove the housing development project at any of the 5 hearings consistent with the applicable timelines under the Permit Streamlining Act.
This bill would remove the January 1, 2034, repeal date with respect to the requirements that a city or county conduct no more than 5 hearings on a housing development project, and either approve or disapprove that housing development at any of those hearings, as described above, thereby extending these provisions indefinitely.
(10) Existing law, until January 1, 2030, for purposes of any state or local law, ordinance, or regulation that requires a city or county to determine whether the site of a proposed housing development project is a historic site, requires the city or county to make that determination, which remains valid for the pendency of the housing development, at the time the application is deemed complete, except as provided.
This bill would remove the January 1, 2030, repeal date for these provisions, thereby extending them indefinitely.
(11) Existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving a housing development project that complies with applicable objective general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards and criteria, or from imposing a condition that it be developed at a lower density, unless the local agency bases its decision on written findings supported by the preponderance of the evidence on the record that specified conditions exist, as provided. That act also prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or from conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or an emergency shelter unless the local agency makes written findings, based on the preponderance of the evidence, that one of 6 specified conditions exists.
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