On March 14, Senator Wiener quietly added amendments to SB 828 (that he introduced in January in "placeholder"/intent form) with the following provisions [salient portions of legislative counsel's text]

[Scroll down for further.]

Existing law requires [a city's] housing element to consist of a program that sets forth a schedule of actions that the local government will undertake to implement policies and to achieve the goals and objectives of the housing element. Existing law requires the program to, among other things, if the inventory of land suitable for residential development included in the housing element does not include adequate sites to accommodate the need for groups of all household income levels, to identify actions that will be taken to make sites available including rezoning of those sites, as specified. Existing law requires the program to accommodate 100% of the need for housing for very low and low-income households, allocated, as specified.

This bill would increase the percentage of the need for housing for very low and low-income households that the program is required to accommodate to 200%. [emphasis added]

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Existing law requires the department, in consultation with each council of governments, to determine each region's existing and projected housing need and for the appropriate council of governments, or for the department, to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county, as specified.

This bill would require the final regional housing need plan to reflect equitable allocations for housing of all income levels, and not demonstrate disparities that promote racial or wealth disparities throughout a region. The bill would also require the plan, in particular communities, to demonstrate a high rate of new housing production for households of all income levels and that median rent or home prices available for rent or sale that exceed levels affordable to median income households shall be alleviated, as specified. [emphasis added]

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Existing law requires, at least 26 months prior to the scheduled revision of the housing element and developing the existing and projected housing need for a region, 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. Existing law requires the council of governments to provide data assumptions from the council's projections, including, if available, specified data for the region.

This bill would require that data, if available, to include median rent or home prices that exceed median income and the rate of median income growth or decline. The bill would also prohibit the council of governments from considering prior underproduction of housing, as specified, in order to inform housing allocations or to justify a lower allocation for a local jurisdiction.

This bill would also require the department, before the next regional housing needs assessment for each region, to address the historic underproduction of housing in California, particularly in coastal and metropolitan communities, by completing a comprehensive audit of unmet housing needs for each region and to add the results of this audit to the next regional housing allocations after January 1, 2019. Because the bill would create new duties for local governments it would impose a state-mandated local program... [emphasis added]

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To view SB 828 in its current amended form, click here.

SB 828 doesn't have any listed co-authors (yet) and isn't scheduled for any state Senate committee hearings (yet.)

In 2017, Senator Wiener authored SB 35 [enacted without City of LB opposition] which erased a number of public appeal rights under CEQA for certain housing projects, erased some local parking requirements and "streamlined" approval of developer desired housing in cities that fail to meet SCAG's "housing need" numbers.]

Along with SB 828, Sen. Wiener has also authored now-advancing SB 827 which would override local zoning and require cities to allow roughly four to eight story housing buildings within Sac'to specified distances of public transit including bus stops. (On March 6, the LB City Council voted to oppose SB 827.)

Senator Wiener is also the author of SB 905, which he calls a "local control" measure, that would let bars/restaurants in six cities -- including LB -- serve alcohol until 4 a.m. if their City Council(s) agree. [Sen. Wiener added Long Beach to SB 905 after Mayor Robert Garcia voiced support for 4 a.m. alcohol service in LB's downtown and for special events.] To date, no LB Councilmember(s) or the Council's "state legislation committee" (Austin, Mungo, Gonzalez) has taken any position on SB 905. LBREPORT.com coverage of SB 905 here.