Deregulation Dems: California lawmakers want to fast track housing development
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DEREGULATION DEMS PLAN HOUSING DEVELOPMENT OVERHAUL WITH ‘EXTREMELY UNSEXY’ BILL PACKAGE
Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, announced a package of 22 bills that she hopes will fast track housing development in California at the potential cost of angering environmental groups.
Wicks, alongside a handful of other Democratic lawmakers and one Republican, spoke about the need to “slash red tape, remove uncertainty, and drastically diminish the time it takes to get new housing approved and built.”
California is currently 2.5 million homes short on its new housing goals.
“I’m not going to lie,” Wicks said at press conference Thursday. “A lot of the bills in this package are extremely unsexy. That’s just the nature of permitting reform.”
The bills will address what Wicks called the five “key bottlenecks” preventing quicker and more efficient housing development: application, compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and other environmental agencies, entitlement and post-entitlement, and enforcement.
Housing is “without a doubt, the biggest issue and challenge facing California,” said Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee Chair Matt Haney, D-San Francisco. “You can ask anyone in our state. Wherever they live, whether San Francisco, San Diego, Bakersfield, everywhere in between, that housing is far too expensive.”
The group of mostly Democrats is committed to making some major changes to what Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-San Diego, called “bureaucratic delay and legal loopholes” that slow down housing construction. One of Alvarez’s bills in the package would exempt university student housing in the state’s Coastal Zone from California Coastal Commission review.
Assemblymember Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, who has a bill in the package, wanted to participate to show that housing development is not a partisan issue.
Hoover’s contribution to the housing package seeks to streamline the housing inspection process.
One of the most significant bills, though, is Wicks’ CEQA exemption bill, Assembly Bill 609. “If it’s good for the environment for a housing project to get built, then those projects should be exempt from CEQA.”
Wicks wants to free housing developers from the potential threat of CEQA investigations and lawsuits that stall those developments. It could mean significantly more housing units built in significantly less time than the current rate.
According to Haney, it takes almost two years to build a building with five or more units, and nearly a year to build a single family home.
While Wicks admitted that the environmental quality act “has served us well to protect us from harmful outcomes,” it’s a tool that has been misused.
“Just as it’s been wielded to protect us from harmful projects, we know it has been weaponized countless times by opponents of housing projects to delay those projects, to drive up the costs of those projects that our working families pay for in the end, and often to straight up kill housing production,” she said.
“Given our multi-million unit shortfall, that is simply unacceptable — especially when the housing is demonstrably better for the environment than the alternative.”
Wicks was optimistic that the Legislature — and Gov. Gavin Newsom — are on their side.
“I think the Governor is excited by these ideas,” Wicks said. “Hopefully we’ll put all these bills on his desk, and then he’ll get to decide.”
There has yet to be much vocal pushback against the bills, even from environmental groups.
Wicks also indicated that Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, is enthusiastic about the package. He will likely assign the bills to different committee hearings in the coming weeks.
DEMAIO NOT DETERRED BY TRUMP ELECTIONS ORDER
Via Nicole Nixon...
A new executive order aims to deliver pretty much everything Republicans want in California elections: proof of citizenship to vote, speeding up results and state-shared voter lists to prevent fraud.
But the order signed this week by President Donald Trump isn’t changing Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio’s plans for a voter ID ballot initiative.
“We welcome the President’s Executive Order,” DeMaio said in a statement to The Bee, adding “these orders can always be revoked by new administrations. That’s why I remain committed to a permanent state constitutional amendment to ensure that citizenship is verified in all elections.”
DeMaio is building up a volunteer network through his PAC, Reform California, to gather more than 1 million signatures later this year to put voter ID requirements on the 2026 ballot.
“Polling shows overwhelming public support for requiring citizenship verification in order to be able to vote. Unfortunately, California fails to properly verify citizenship status before adding individuals to our voter rolls,” DeMaio said.
DeMaio’s group would need to submit more than 874,000 voter signatures by early 2026 if they want the proposition on the November 2026 ballot. If voters approve of it, it would go into effect in December 2026.
California requires voters to provide their driver’s license or state ID number and the last four digits of a Social Security number when registering to vote. But in some cases — when people register online but don’t provide their driver license number – they can show another form of ID such as a utility bill or student ID before voting.
Democrats largely oppose voter ID laws, arguing they create barriers that disproportionately affect poor, disabled and elderly voters.
Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber have vowed to fight Trump’s order, arguing the President lacks authority to dictate how states administer elections.
IS CALIFORNIA HEADING TOWARD A RECESSION?
Via David Lightman...
Could the economy in California and the nation be close to plunging into a recession? Maybe.
The UCLA Anderson Forecast has issued a recession watch, and Clement Bohr, economist at the UCLA Anderson Forecast, found that while there are no signs that a recession is imminent, “a downturn could result over the coming year or two, and that we should now be on a Recession Watch.”
The forecast, which studies the state’s economy and issues semi-annual reports on its status, noted in a new analysis that, historically, recessions happen when several economic sectors contract.
The analysis cited several developments that suggest a turndown could be coming.
New immigration policies “will create labor shortages in agriculture, health care, leisure and hospitality, and construction.”
Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump will mean higher prices for cars, clothing, electronics and other items.
The shrinking and reorganization of the federal government will mean lower employment in government and contractors.
If all these developments happen at the same time, they’re ingredients for an economic contraction, the report said.
The last national recession was a brief collapse from February to April 2020, as the Covid pandemic ravaged the economy. The previous turndown came between December 2007 and June 2009.
Known as the Great Recession, it sent unemployment rates in California as high as 12.4%.
The warning signs for a downturn are lurking, Bohr warned. “This Watch also serves as a warning to the current administration: be careful what you wish for because, if all your wishes come true, you could very well be the author of a deep recession,” he said.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There are real risks with relying on a private company, owned by Elon Musk, as a channel for communications. Democracy depends on impartial information, not the shifting whims of one billionaire. Hate speech is everywhere on X, the company has no accountability, and the flood of misinformation from fake accounts is just that — fake. I don’t think taxpayer resources should go to X.”
- Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, on why he and 57 other California legislators are leaving X.
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