Housing politics heat up

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Monday Feb 13,2023 02:11 pm

Feb 13, 2023

By Jeremy B. White, Lara Korte, Matthew Brown and Ramon Castanos

Presented by the Electric Trucks Now Campaign

THE BUZZ: California housing politics have reached a crescendo recently — and Sacramento is looking to turn up the volume even higher.

Few political issues burn hotter than housing. The debate’s molten core has been the state compelling cities to build more, faster and offering tools to do so. Sacramento has passed bill after bill fortifying state-issued housing goals and expediting project approval in various circumstances. Gov. Gavin Newsom has had the state’s housing enforcers flex their muscle from Orange County to San Francisco. Attorney General Rob Bonta has cracked down.

It's come to a head with a critical planning deadline. California has for decades required cities and counties to plan for more housing. For decades, housing advocates say, those plans have been about as effective as a butter knife on a steak: Locals largely failed to make good-faith plans and follow through by zoning for enough homes. The state tended to sign off.

But this cycle looks different. New laws have made the process far more stringent and attached more concrete penalties for falling short. The Housing and Community Development Department has gotten more assertive. YIMBY’s are excitedly debating the finer points of the “builder’s remedy,” which allows developers to bypass zoning restrictions in cities that fall short.

That tactic remains unproven and puts the onus on courts and developers. Housing experts aren’t assuming a burst of new projects. But the excitement around the idea points to an underlying truth: The housing requirements California imposes on locals, and the consequences for noncompliance, are stronger than ever. That is raising optimism about cities and counties making a dent in the state’s audacious goal of 2.5 million new units.

Sen. Scott Wiener is unveiling legislation today that extends those efforts. The San Francisco Democrat wants to make permanent a 2017 law that allows streamlined projects in areas that are lagging their state housing targets. Wiener and allies believe SB 35 has been a powerful housing tool. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who will be on hand today, shares Wiener’s impatience with the kind of local resistance SB 35 can override. The extension bill adds to the many other housing element and expediting bills in the pipeline.

That’s not all: The Wiener bill could intensify a labor fracas over job standards. It doesn't include the “skilled and trained” workforce mandate from SB 35, but would require prevailing wages and healthcare for larger projects. Supportive carpenters’ unions believe those wage and benefit guarantees are better than stringent labor rules that stymie construction. The formidable State Building and Construction Trades Council insists on skilled-and-trained to protect workers. A deal last year sent rival Trades and Carpenters streamlining bills to Newsom.

Local zoning plans and construction job rules may sound wonky. But both of them cut to the heart of the housing crisis, and both have spurred clashes between state officials and local government groups, organized labor and homeowners organizations. The balance of power has shifted in the past decade. We’ll see what the next one brings.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Monday morning. The Legislature is revving up this week as committees begin to hold bill hearings, with the bill introduction deadline set to hit on Friday.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up at jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We would love for people to stay in California instead of coming as refugees to Utah, so we’re always trying to figure that out.” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox after a bipartisan meeting at the White House.

TWEET OF THE DAY:

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DIESEL POLLUTION KILLS. ELECTRIC TRUCKS SAVE LIVES. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will soon finalize the world’s first pollution-free truck fleet standard. The 2036 100% zero-emission truck sales target will cut pollution in communities of color that suffer most from deadly diesel exhaust. However, the dirtiest mid-sized big rig fleets are not included. This means they’ll never have to become pollution-free. We must regulate big rig fleets with 10+ trucks to save more lives!

TOP TALKERS

— “California's biggest environmental cleanup leaves lead contamination and frustration,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Tony Briscoe, Jessica Garrison and Aida Ylanan: “In findings shared exclusively with The Times, researchers at USC and Occidental College reported that they had tested surface soil from the yards of 93 remediated homes and found 73 had at least one sample with lead concentrations over the California health threshold of 80 parts per million.”

PAUL PELOSI ATTACK — “S.F. officials were flooded with disturbing emails after Paul Pelosi attack. Here's what they said,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sophia Bollag: “The emails, some laden with racial slurs and expletives, help illustrate the extent to which misinformation that circulated online and was shared by prominent people including former President Donald Trump and Twitter CEO Elon Musk shaped the story of the attack.”

CAMPAIGN MODE

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — REYES’ REACH: Assemblymember Eloise Reyes is looking to move to the Senate, launching a run for the safely Democratic SD-29. The opening seat encompasses much of the district formerly represented by then-Sen. Connie Leyva.

— “Mysterious survey tests former San Jose mayor for Congress,” by the San Jose Spotlight’s Jana Kadah: “About 10 questions tout the former mayor’s accomplishments, including his gun regulation law and leveling out pension problems. The questions also ask respondents how much more likely are they to support him over Lofgren’s 29 years of service.”

— “Oakland’s contested school board election is going to trial,” by The Oaklandside’s Giselle Medina: “Oakland Unified School District directors Mike Hutchinson and Nick Resnick met at a Superior Court hearing in downtown Oakland on Friday morning with their attorneys, Oakland City Clerk Asha Reed, and Deborah Fox, a lawyer representing the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, seeking a resolution to their ongoing legal dispute over the outcome of November’s District 4 school board race.”

BUSINESS TRIP — “Ron DeSantis’ trip to California shows GOP’s kingmaker power in a deep blue state,” by The Mercury News’ Kaitlyn Schallhorn: “DeSantis is slated to appear at a reception and dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Orange County on March 5 — on the heels of multiple fundraisers he is headlining for county Republican parties in Texas and after a visit earlier that day to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.”

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

— “Capp Street barriers installed in hopes of curbing flourishing sex trade,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kevin Fagan: “It’s inconvenient for us not to be able to drive straight through, but I think this needed to happen,” said Alejandro Clemente, 24, who lives on Capp Street just short of 19th. “There are a ton of prostitutes and cars here at night, and that’s not good for us. They scream, the men beat them. I hope this helps.”

— “California gave Teslas to an isolated farmworker community. Why did the cars vanish overnight?” by The Sacramento Bee’s Ari Plachta and Laura S. Diaz: “Overnight, our means of transportation disappeared,” said Rosario Rodríguez, a resident of Cantua Creek. “We felt a lot of emotions all at once, because it left us defenseless. If we get sick or have a medical appointment, then what? What are we going to do?”

'IT'S NOT A THEORY' — “Gentrification by fire,” by The Washington Post’s Scott Wilson: “Climate change and its most extreme consequences are pushing up the price of homes throughout much of the American West, as fires and flooding carve into existing housing stock and restrict the amount of land suitable for future building.”

— “California’s energy transition must balance oil, electricity,” by The Sacramento Bee’s Maggie Angst: “Volatile gas price spikes, premature refinery closures and large-scale layoffs of oil industry workers could all be consequences of entering the post-fossil age without proper planning. In other words, California must ensure it will have enough in the tank to get it through the change.”

— “The fastest-growing homeless population? Seniors,” by CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra: “From 2017 to 2021, California’s overall senior population grew by 7 percent but the number of people 55 and over who sought homelessness services increased 84 percent — more than any other age group — according to the state’s Homeless Data Integration System.”

THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS — “How California's duplex law was designed to fail,” opines Jason Ward in the Los Angeles Times: “SB 9 has two requirements that dramatically reduce its scope, curbing its ability to boost housing production. The first is that the law requires property owners looking to split a lot, the most consequential part of the bill, commit to living on the property for at least three years after approval. The second is that one individual cannot invoke SB 9 to split two adjacent lots, even if they own both.”

— “How sports betting upended the economies of Native American tribes,” by The New York Times’ David W. Chen, Mark Walker and Kenneth P. Vogel: “For decades, gambling has been the most important source of income for hundreds of Native American tribes. Now, in many parts of the country, the rapid spread of sports betting and online wagering is threatening to crimp that economic lifeline.”

— “Years of bad blood, violence between warring families led to Goshen massacre that killed 6,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Matthew Ormseth: “‘This was not your run of the mill, low-end gang member,’ Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters who descended that morning on Goshen, a poor community of about 5,000 that straddles the 99 freeway near Visalia.”

BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL

— “Hispanic Caucus weighs ousting its chair over top staffer’s firing, by POLITICO’s Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz: The previously unreported news of the meeting comes just one day after Barragán (D-Calif.) fired the group’s executive director, Jacky Usyk, a little over a month into the job. Usyk was fired via an email for “insubordination,” one of the two people familiar with the group’s dynamics told POLITICO.

— “Why the Beltway Loves the Second Gentleman, opines POLITICO’s Michael Schaffer: Plainly, Emhoff shines in some ways Harris doesn’t — which reflects his own innate political touch, the kind of instinctive connection that even some Harris supporters worry she doesn’t show.

SILICON VALLEYLAND

— “How Twitter changed the world, in 25 tweets,” by The New York Times Opinion: “All of it — the muddled sense of identity, the breakdown of basic function — confirmed the sense that Twitter, a site that has hosted the global conversation for almost two decades, had become a rickety shell of itself, that its best days were behind it and that it would never be as significant again.”

MIXTAPE

— “As Peru descends into violent turmoil, California immigrants take sides,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Soudi Jiménez.

— “'Waste of money': BART paid $350K for a homeless program that served one person,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Jordan Parker.

— “Two bald eagles nested in a pine for years. A utility company tried to chop it down,” by The Guardian’s Maanvi Singh.

— “Up in the air: Negotiations between Berkeley and BART tie up plan for housing at Ashby station,” by Berkeleyside’s Nico Savage.

— “Ex-Dodger Yasiel Puig faces new federal charge in case linked to sports gambling probe,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Salvador Hernandez.

— “Airport shuttle bus collides with American Airlines plane at LAX,” by The Wall Street Journal’s Ginger Adam Otis.

— “Nelson Rising, who shaped L.A. and oversaw some of California's biggest projects, dies at 81,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Roger Vincent.

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BIRTHDAYS

Fox News’ Cailin Kearns … Alex Burgos … Allison Ryan

SUNDAY: Ben Sherwood … Ryan Beiermeister … former Rep. Gil Cisneros … Gary Aminoff … Ray Kurzweil … Darren Aronofsky

SATURDAY: Global Situation Room CEO and Obama alum Johanna Maska … Rob Hendin … Miranda Ratner

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MORE ELECTRIC TRUCK FLEETS = MORE CLEAN AIR FOR EVERYONE. California’s freight communities breathe the most polluted air in the country. This excessive exposure to diesel exhaust in communities of color is a clear example of environmental racism. CARB can’t guarantee these residents will get the clean air they need unless the standard requires big rig fleets with 10+ trucks to go pollution-free.

Experts found that regulating big rig fleets with 10+ will cut more smog-forming pollution and deadly diesel soot. Reducing the big rig fleet size to 10 also closes labor loopholes, ensuring thousands of hard-working drivers are not inappropriately burdened with the corporate responsibility of transitioning to these life-saving, pollution-free trucks.

CARB has one opportunity to deliver cleaner air faster to our most polluted communities with a stronger electric truck standard. Tell them we need 100% pollution-free truck sales by 2036 and more electric trucks in more fleets!

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