In March, a bipartisan and bicameral group of legislators announced a comprehensive housing package to tackle California’s housing crisis. The package, dubbed the “Fast Track Housing Package,” includes more than 20 bills geared toward making housing more affordable by slashing red tape, removing uncertainty, and drastically diminishing the time it takes to get new housing projects approved, permitted, and built.
This package was born out of recommendations listed in the Final Report of the Select Committee on Permitting Reform, which is chaired by Asm. Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland). The proposals build on many best practices already in place throughout several pro-housing cities and improve permitting processes. When implemented as a package of cohesive and robust policies, they promise strong outcomes throughout the state.
The proposed bills focus on eliminating uncertainty in the permit application, entitlement, and post-entitlement processes, creating consistency across permitting entities, and ensuring the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) does not unnecessarily delay projects.
The most impactful bills in the package are AB 609 (Wicks, D-Oakland) and SB 607 (Wiener, D-San Francisco). Both aim to close loopholes exploited by NIMBY cities and community organizations that delay housing development projects. AB 609 creates a new, clear exemption from CEQA for housing projects in urban areas, while SB 607 closes many loopholes in the existing CEQA infill exemption for urban infill housing, and in a complementary manner. While AB 609 identifies where the exemption should generally apply, with significant carve-outs to protect natural resources and avoid substantial environmental risks, SB 607 instructs the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to develop a map of urbanized areas where the exemption should more specifically apply. With two politically powerful legislators carrying these bills, many are optimistic that a deal can be brokered.
Other notable bills in the package include:
AB 1294 (Haney, D-San Francisco): would create a standardized application for housing entitlements in every city. Currently, each jurisdiction determines its own application format for entitlements.
AB 357 (Alvarez, D-San Diego): would exempt certain developments in the Coastal Zone from Coastal Commission review.
AB 1007 (Rubio, D-Covina): would establish time limits to act on permit applications.
SB 489 (Arreguin, D-Oakland): would require all public agencies to post online the information necessary for a housing development application to be deemed complete and eliminate exemptions to expand protections under the Permit Streamlining Act.
AB 920 (Caloza, D-Los Angeles): would require larger cities to utilize permit portals to streamline the housing application process.
AB 1308 (Hoover, R-Folsom): would allow for private third-party inspectors to ensure timeliness in issuing the final inspections.
AB 1026 (Wilson, D-Suisun City): would bring parity for investor-owned utility companies to process applications in a timely manner.
AB 712 (Wicks, D-Oakland): would increase remedies against public agencies that violate the rights established in existing housing law.
We will continue to track these bills as they progress through the legislature.
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