This month, C.A.R. REALTORS® announced its support for Governor Newsom’s recently released legislative proposals addressing the housing crisis. The governor’s plan, calls for higher short-term statewide housing goals with grants to help cities with planning, housing production incentives for local governments, and expanding the State Housing Tax Credit Program. The governor’s announcement, along with bills that C.A.R. announced its sponsorship of earlier this week, continue the needed momentum to prioritize increasing housing supply as the solution to California’s housing shortage.
C.A.R. is carefully tracking several bills related to landlord-tenant issues, which were unveiled by members of the Legislature at a press conference this month, these members included Assembly Member David Chiu, who is the Chair of the Assembly Housing Committee. These proposals, among other things, seek to limit the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, as well as impose statewide “just cause” eviction requirements.
At this time, C.A.R. has not taken positions on these measures and will not until the actual language is in print but, historically, the Association has opposed many of the ideas enumerated at the press conference.
Regulatory Update
Petitions Process for Website Discipline Information Removal Regulations Approved.
In September 2016, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 2330 (Ridley-Thomas, 2016), which adopted a petition process for licensees who wish to have certain disciplinary information removed from the Department’s website. The standard set in the directing legislation for a successful petition is that a petitioner provides sufficient evidence of rehabilitation, which indicates that the licensee is no longer a “credible risk.” In other words, a determination of “credible risk” is not separate from an evaluation of the petitioner’s evidence of rehabilitation; rather the former is a determination of the latter. Unlike AB 2330, the Department of Real Estate proposed regulations that separate the petitioner’s burden of providing evidence of rehabilitation from the determination of credible risk, which is considered on its own. C.A.R. sought amendments to align the proposed regulations with the intent and language of the current statute which balances fairness for the applicant while giving the Department the ability to consider evidence of credible risks. The regulations were approved by the Office of Administrative Law in early-March and are planned to take effect on July 1, 2019.
Recycling and Disposal Facility Reporting Regulations Approved.
In 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 901 (Gordon) to change how organics, recyclable material and solid waste are reported to CalRecycle in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of material flows in California and the ability to track the state’s progress towards several goals and programs, including the 75 percent recycling goal, mandatory commercial recycling, and organics diversion programs. The proposed regulations require disposal, recycling, and compost facilities, as well as exporters, brokers, and transporters of recyclables or compost to submit information directly to CalRecycle on the types, quantities, and destinations of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred inside or outside of the state. C.A.R. requested that the definition of “Residential Sector” be amended to make clear distinctions between single family residences, multi-family apartments and professionally managed apartments. C.A.R. also asked that the definition of “Commercial Sector” be amended to reflect complexes of 16 or more units, which would be consistent with the definition used in other regulatory proceedings. The requested amendments were not included in the final version of the regulations which were approved by the Office of Administrative Law in early-March and are planned to take effect on July 1, 2019.
Proposition 65 Clear and Reasonable Warning Regulations Approved.
Current law requires building owners to post warning signs noticing visitors of the presence of hazardous chemicals that may cause reproductive harm, birth defects or cancer. In March 2018, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment released draft regulations that replaced general Prop. 65 warnings with new specialized Prop. 65 warnings for ALL residential rental housing. Property owners would be able to provide these specialized Prop. 65 warnings in the lease or rental agreement, except when providing notice regarding hazardous chemicals that are present in enclosed parking facilities and smoking areas, which would have to be provided on a physical warning sign. C.A.R. sought amendments to exempt single family 1-4 and small apartment complexes with 5-15 units from complying with these notice requirements. The requested amendments were not included in the final version of the regulations which were approved by the Office of Administrative Law in early-March and are planned to take effect on July 1, 2019.