Last week, the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees met to dispense with what is called the Suspense File. All bills that are in the Assembly and have an annual cost to the budget of $150,000 or more or bills in the Senate that have a cost of $50,000 or more to the General Fund or $150,000 to any special fund, are placed on the Suspense File. This is a way for the Senate and Assembly leadership and Appropriations Chairs to evaluate all bills together, understand the collective impact they would have on the State Budget, and weigh policy priorities. They then decide in a Suspense File hearing which bills to allow to move forward and which to hold in committee (bill effectively dies).

C.A.R. is pleased to report that three priority “Oppose” bills died in the Appropriations Committees - two landlord-tenant bills, AB 2382 and SB 1026, and one tax bill, SB 1105.

The two Landlord-Tenant Bills that C.A.R. opposed and died were:

1. AB 2383 (Jones-Sawyer) which would have made consideration of the criminal history information of a prospective tenant very complicated for small housing providers.
2. SB 1026 (Wieckowski) which would have required all housing providers to provide a complicated energy efficiency disclosure statement at an early point in the rental process.

C.A.R. opposed the creation of a new housing agency which could have resulted in new property taxes on homeowners. SB 1105 (Hueso) would have created a new housing agency that would have granted a broad taxing authority to an unelected board which could impose a wide range of taxes on property owners including some taxes without voter approval. C.A.R. opposed SB 1105 and requested amendments to, among other things, remove the broad taxing authority of the agency which would only serve to make housing less affordable and homeownership harder to reach for our state’s working families.

C.A.R. is currently also mobilizing to oppose SB 679 (Kamlager) which would establish the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (Agency) and authorizes the Agency to utilize specified local financing tools to produce affordable housing among other provisions. This bill would grant vast, unchecked bonding and taxing authority to an unelected Agency Board that may by resolution, or initiative, impose a wide range of special taxes on real property. Furthermore, the agency is not necessary as what it seeks to accomplish can occur under existing law if the County and one or more of its constituent cities chose to do so. C.A.R. will oppose SB 679 unless it is amended to, among other things, remove the broad taxing authority of the agency which would only serve to make housing less affordable and homeownership harder to reach for our state’s working families.

Members in selected districts will be receiving emails, possibly as soon as Tuesday morning, to contact their legislator on this bill.