SB 715

Bill Subjects

Abstract

The Planning and Zoning Law, for the 4th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, as provided, and requires the appropriate council of governments or for cities and counties without a council of governments, the department, to adopt a final regional housing need plan allocating a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county. Existing law requires the department to meet and consult with the council of governments regarding the assumptions and methodology to be used by the department to determine the region's housing needs and requires the council of governments to provide data assumptions, including specified information regarding housing availability within the region. Existing law requires the council of governments, or delegate subregion as applicable, to develop a proposed methodology for distributing the existing and projected regional housing need to cities, counties, and cities and counties within the region or subregion, as applicable, that furthers specified objectives. Existing law, to the extent that sufficient data is available as provided, requires each council of governments, or delegate subregion as applicable, to consider including specified factors to develop the methodology that allocates regional housing needs, including the loss of units during a state of emergency that was declared by the Governor that have yet to be rebuilt or replaced at the time of the analysis. This bill would remove the requirement that the loss of units factor be considered and instead require those lost units to be distributed proportionally according to the region's proposed methodology, as provided, and would prohibit the lost units from solely being distributed to the jurisdictions in which they were lost. By imposing additional duties on councils of governments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, for cities and counties without a council of governments, requires the department to determine and distribute the existing and projected housing need. If the department determines that a county or counties and a majority of cities within the county or counties representing a majority of the population of the county or counties possess the capability and resources and has agreed to accept the responsibility for the distribution of the regional housing need, as specified, existing law requires the department to delegate this responsibility to the cities and county or counties. Existing law requires the distribution of regional housing need to take into consideration certain factors. Existing law also requires, as part of the allocation of the regional housing need, the department to provide each city and county with data describing the assumptions and methodology used in calculating its share of the regional housing need. This bill would require the department or the entities delegated, as described above, to allocate the units lost in a state of emergency based on the allocation methodology. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.