Asm. Ash Kalra

Existing law makes it unlawful for any owner or operator of a motel, motor court, or like establishment to post or maintain outdoor advertising signs relating to room rates that has any untrue, misleading, false, or fraudulent representations, and specified other requirements on outdoor signs for those establishments. Existing law also prohibits an owner or operator of a hotel or motel from increasing the hotel or motel's rates upon the proclamation of a state of emergency by the President of the United States or the Governor or upon the declaration of a local emergency, as specified. This bill would prohibit a place of short-term lodging, as defined, from advertising or offering a room rate that does not include all fees or charges required to stay at the short-term lodging except taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay, as specified. The bill would also require a place of short-term lodging to include in the total price to be paid, before the consumer reserves a stay, all taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay. The bill would make a violation of those provisions subject to a specified civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 and would authorize an action to enforce those provisions to be brought by a city attorney, district attorney, county counsel, or the Attorney General. The bill would make the bill's provisions operative on July 1, 2024.

Existing law prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any private or public elementary or secondary school, childcare center, day nursery, nursery school, family daycare home, or development center, unless prior to their admission to that institution they have been fully immunized. Existing law requires the documentation of immunizations for certain diseases, including, among others, measles, mumps, pertussis, and any other disease deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health, as specified. Existing law authorizes certain exemptions from these provisions subject to specified conditions. This bill, the Cancer Prevention Act, would declare that pupils in the state are advised to adhere to current immunization guidelines, as recommended by specified health entities, regarding full human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level of any private or public elementary or secondary school. The bill would, upon a pupil's admission or advancement to the 6th grade level, require the governing authority to submit to the pupil and their parent or guardian a notification containing a statement about that public policy and advising that the pupil adhere to current HPV immunization guidelines before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level, as specified. The bill would require that the notification also include a statement containing certain health information. The bill would incorporate that notification into existing provisions relating to notifications by school districts. By creating new notification duties for school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University and, subject to a resolution, the Regents of the University of California to require the first-time enrollees at those institutions who are 18 years of age or younger to provide proof of full immunization against the hepatitis B virus prior to enrollment, with certain exemptions. This bill would declare the public policy of the state that students who are 26 years of age or younger are advised to adhere to current immunization guidelines, as specified, regarding full HPV immunization before first-time enrollment at an institution of the California State University, the University of California, or the California Community Colleges. The bill would make a conforming change to a consultation-related provision. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2002, as specified, to provide coverage for an annual cervical cancer screening test, including an HPV screening test that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) . This bill would expand the coverage requirement for an annual cervical cancer screening test to disability insurance policies that provide coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical benefits and would require a health care service plan contract, or a disability insurance policy that provides coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical benefits, issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, to provide coverage without cost sharing for the HPV vaccine for persons for whom the vaccine is FDA approved. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for its physical development, and the development of certain lands outside its boundaries, that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. That law allows a development proponent to submit an application for a development that is subject to a specified streamlined, ministerial approval process not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies certain objective planning standards. Existing law, the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act, establishes the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee within the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires the committee to allocate state low-income housing tax credits in conformity with state and federal law that establishes a maximum rent that may be charged to a tenant for a project unit constructed using low-income housing tax credits. This bill would require that a housing development project be a use by right upon the request of an applicant who submits an application for streamlined approval, on any land owned by an independent institution of higher education or religious institution on or before January 1, 2024, if the development satisfies specified criteria, including that the development is not adjoined to any site where more than one-third of the square footage on the site is dedicated to industrial use. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. Among other things, the bill would require that 100% of the units, exclusive of manager units, in a housing development project eligible for approval as a use by right under these provisions be affordable to lower income households, except that 20% of the units may be for moderate-income households, and 5% of the units may be for staff of the independent institution of higher education or the religious institution that owns the land, provided that the units affordable to lower income households are offered at affordable rent, as set in an amount consistent with the rent limits established by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, or affordable housing cost, as specified. The bill would authorize the development to include ancillary uses on the ground floor of the development, as specified. This bill would specify that a housing development project that is eligible for approval as a use by right under the bill is also eligible for a density bonus, incentives, or concessions, or waivers or reductions of development and parking standards, except as specified. The bill would require a development subject to these provisions to provide off-street parking of up to one space per unit, unless a state law or local ordinance provides for a lower standard of parking, in which case the law or ordinance applies. The bill would prohibit a local government from imposing any parking requirement on a development subject to these provisions if the development is located within one-half mile walking distance of public transit, either a high-quality transit corridor or a major transit stop, as those terms are defined, or it is within one block of a car share vehicle. This bill would require a local government that determines a proposed development is in conflict with any objective planning standards, as specified, to provide the developer with written documentation explaining those conflicts under a specified timeframe. The bill would provide that the development shall be deemed to satisfy the required objective planning standards if the local government fails to provide the requisite documentation explaining any conflicts. The bill would authorize a local government to conduct a design review, as described, only if the design review focuses on compliance with the requisite criteria of a streamlined, ministerial review process. The bill would prohibit a local government from using a design review, as specified, from inhibiting, chilling, or precluding a streamlined, ministerial approval. The bill would require a local government to issue a subsequent permit for developments approved under the provisions of this act. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA does not apply to the ministerial approval of projects. This bill, by requiring approval of certain development projects as a use by right, would expand the exemption for ministerial approval of projects under CEQA. The bill would repeal its provisions as of January 1, 2036. By adding to the duties of local planning officials with respect to approving certain development projects, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , prohibits, in instances in which there is a government rent subsidy, the use of a financial or income standard in assessing eligibility for the rental of housing that is not based on the portion of the rent to be paid by the tenant. FEHA requires the Civil Rights Department to enforce specific provisions of the act, including the provision described above. This bill would additionally prohibit the use of a person's credit history as part of the application process for a rental housing accommodation without offering the applicant the option of providing lawful, verifiable alternative evidence of the applicant's reasonable ability to pay the portion of the rent to be paid by the tenant, including, but not limited to, government benefit payments, pay records, and bank statements, in instances in which there is a government rent subsidy. The bill would, if the applicant elects to provide lawful, verifiable alternative evidence of the applicant's reasonable ability to pay, require the housing provider to provide the applicant reasonable time to respond with that alternative evidence and reasonably consider that alternative evidence in lieu of the person's credit history in determining whether to offer the rental accommodation to the applicant.

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, authorizes a local agency, by ordinance or ministerial approval, to provide for the creation of accessory dwelling units in areas zoned for residential use, as specified. Existing law authorizes a local agency to impose standards on accessory dwelling units that include, but are not limited to, parking, height, setback, landscape, architectural review, and maximum size of a unit. This bill would require each local agency, by January 1, 2025, to develop a program for the preapproval of accessory dwelling unit plans, whereby the local agency accepts accessory dwelling unit plan submissions for preapproval and approves or denies the preapproval applications, as specified. The bill would authorize a local agency to charge a fee to an applicant for the preapproval of an accessory dwelling unit plan, as specified. The bill would require the local agency to post preapproved accessory dwelling unit plans and the contact information of the applicant on the local agency's internet website. The bill would require a local agency to either approve or deny an application for a detached accessory dwelling unit within 30 days that utilizes either an accessory dwelling unit plan preapproved by the local agency within the current triennial California Building Standards Code rulemaking cycle or a plan that is identical to a plan used in an application for a detached accessory dwelling unit approved by the local agency within the current triennial California Building Standards Code rulemaking cycle. By imposing new duties on local agencies, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law establishes the CalHome Program, administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development, to support existing homeownership programs aimed at lower and very low income households, among other purposes. Under the program, funds may be used to enable low- and very low income households to become or remain homeowners, and to provide disaster relief assistance to households at or below 120% of that area median income. Existing law also authorizes the department to make grants to local agencies or nonprofit corporations to construct accessory dwelling units and to repair, reconstruct, or rehabilitate, in whole or in part, accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units. This bill would specify that for home ownership development projects that include construction of accessory dwelling units or junior accessory dwelling units, neither the CalHome Program nor any administrative rule or guideline implementing the CalHome Program precludes those dwelling units from being separately conveyed to separate lower income households on separate parcels created pursuant to specified law. Existing law authorizes loan funds to be used for the purchase of real property, site development, predevelopment, construction period expenses incurred on home ownership development projects, and permanent financing for mutual housing or cooperative developments. This bill would require units within home ownership development projects that receive CalHome Program funds to initially be sold to and occupied by a lower income household and be subject to a recorded covenant, with a term of at least 30 years, which contains one or more specified provisions, including a resale restriction. This bill would require the department to implement the changes made by the bill into program guidelines and notices of funding availability released after December 31, 2024.

(1) Existing law, the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Housing Finance Act, establishes the Bay Area Housing Finance Agency to raise, administer, and allocate funding for affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay area, as defined, and provide technical assistance at a regional level for tenant protection, affordable housing preservation, and new affordable housing production. Existing law requires the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority and executive board of the Association of Bay Area Governments to form an advisory committee composed of 9 representatives with knowledge and experience in the areas of affordable housing finance and development, tenant protection, and housing preservation. This bill would require the authority and executive board to form an advisory committee composed of at least 9 and no more than 11 representatives with knowledge and expertise in the areas of affordable housing finance, construction workforce, and development, tenant protection, and housing preservation. The act provides the authority with various powers, including the power to place a measure on the ballot to raise revenue and allocate funds throughout the San Francisco Bay area, apply for and receive grants or loans from public and private entities, incur and issue bonds and other indebtedness, and otherwise incur liabilities or obligations. The act authorizes the authority to allocate and deploy financing to cities, counties, other public agencies within the San Francisco Bay area and private affordable housing developers to finance affordable housing development, as specified. This bill would specify that the authority is limited to placing only one measure on the ballot per election. The bill would also authorize the authority to deploy financing to nonprofit corporations to finance affordable housing development, as specified. Existing law authorizes a city or county, or an agency created pursuant to a joint powers agreement, to issue revenue bonds to defray the costs of acquiring home mortgages or making loans to lending institutions in order to enable them to make home mortgages, and the costs of studies and surveys, insurance premiums, underwriting fees, legal, accounting and marketing services incurred in connection with the issuance and sale of bonds, as specified. This bill would authorize the authority to issue mortgage revenue bonds, pursuant to provisions described above; acquire, hold, develop, operate, and dispose of real property; and create one or more California limited liability companies of which the authority is the sole member. (2) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. This bill would exempt from CEQA any actions taken by the authority to raise, administer, or allocate funding for tenant protection, affordable housing preservation, or new affordable housing production or to provide technical assistance consistent with the authority's purpose. (3) Existing law authorizes the executive board of the authority to impose a commercial linkage fee, as defined, in an amount not to exceed ten dollars ($10) per square foot, within the San Francisco Bay area, as specified. Existing law requires the expenditures of proceeds from a commercial linkage fee be limited to affordable housing production, preservation, and tenant protection programs. This bill would authorize the expenditures of proceeds from a commercial linkage fee to include the authority's related administrative costs. (4) The act defines "authority revenues" to include, without limitation, revenues generated by any special tax, fee, or charge imposed by the authority, other than ad valorem property taxes. Existing law, the Revenue Bond Law of 1941, requires a local agency to annually publish a summary statement showing, among other things, the amount of gross revenues from revenue bonds. This bill would revise and recast the definition of "authority revenue" to also include loan repayments, investment income, or income derived from the ownership or operation of real property. The bill would provide for prioritization of spending of authority revenues. The bill would require the authority to publish the above-described summary statement not more than 9 months after the close of each fiscal year. (5) Existing law requires the authority to distribute regional housing revenue, as defined, in the form of a grant, loan, or other financing tool in a manner that achieves certain minimum shares over 5-year periods. In this regard, existing law requires 5% of those regional housing revenues for tenant protection programs for low- and moderate-income households, which includes, among other things, preeviction and eviction legal services and providing emergency rental assistance for lower income households. This bill would include homelessness prevention services, as specified, as an eligible expense under tenant protection programs for low- and moderate-income households. (6) Existing law requires the authority to distribute funds received through the authorized funding measures according to specified provisions, which in part require each county to adopt a county expenditure plan applicable to county housing revenue. Existing law requires, in order for the expenditure plan to be deemed complete, the expenditure plan to specify, among other things, a description of any specific project or program proposed to receive funding. This bill would additionally require the plan to demonstrate that the county has consulted with each city in the county, excluding cities that receive a direct allocation. (7) Existing law requires, if the authority proposes a measure that will generate revenues and that requires voter approval, the board of supervisors of the relevant county or counties to call a special election on the measure. Existing law requires each county included in the measure to use the exact ballot question, impartial analysis, and summary of the expenditure plan provided by the authority. Existing law requires these materials to include, among other things, an estimate of the number of affordable housing units to be built or preserved by household income category served, and a description of any specific projects planned to be funded. This bill would instead require each county included in the measure to use the election materials provided by the authority, including the exact ballot question, impartial analysis, and full text of the ballot measure for inclusion in the voter information pamphlet. The bill would make conforming changes. By changing the duties of local officials with respect to elections procedures for revenue measures on behalf of the authority, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) 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.

The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act authorizes an owner of residential real property to establish the initial and subsequent rental rates for a dwelling or unit with respect to which certain criteria are met, including that the dwelling or unit is alienable separate from the title to any other dwelling unit or is a subdivided interest in a subdivision, as specified. The act exempts certain tenancies and dwelling units from these provisions, including a unit where the previous tenancy been terminated by the owner pursuant to specified law. This bill would authorize a jurisdiction to require the owner of a residential real property that is subject to an ordinance or charter provision that controls the rental rate to permit a tenant who is not subject to eviction for nonpayment and who has a permanent physical disability related to mobility to move to an available comparable or smaller unit, as defined, located on an accessible floor of the property if certain conditions are met. The bill would require an owner who grants a request pursuant to these provisions to allow the tenant to retain their lease at the same rental rate and terms of the existing lease if certain conditions are met, including, among others, the move is determined to be necessary to accommodate the tenant's disability related to mobility and the new dwelling or unit is in the same building or on the same parcel with at least 4 other units.

Existing law prohibits an owner of residential real property from, over the course of any 12-month period, increasing the gross rental rate for a dwelling or a unit more than 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower, of the lowest gross rental rate charged for that dwelling or unit at any time during the 12 months before the effective date of the increase, as prescribed. This bill would require the owner of qualifying residential property, as defined, that provides parking with the qualifying residential property to unbundle parking from the price of rent, as specified. The bill would define "unbundled parking" as the practice of selling or leasing parking spaces separate from the lease of the residential use. The bill would define "qualifying residential property" as any dwelling or unit that is intended for human habitation that (1) is issued a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2025, (2) consists of 16 or more residential units, and (3) is located within the County of Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Shasta, or Ventura. The bill would provide a tenant of a qualifying residential property with a right of first refusal to parking spaces built for their unit, as specified. The bill would prohibit a tenant's failure to pay the parking fee of a separately leased parking agreement from forming the basis of any unlawful detainer action against the tenant. The bill would authorize a property owner, if a tenant fails to pay by the 45th day following the date payment is owed for a separately leased parking space, to revoke that tenant's right to lease that parking spot. The bill would exempt certain properties from these provisions, including residential properties with individual garages that are functionally a part of the property and housing developments where 100% of the units, exclusive of any manager's unit or units, are restricted as affordable housing for persons and families of low or moderate income. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Shasta, and Ventura.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for its physical development, and the development of certain lands outside its boundaries, that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Existing law also authorizes the legislative body of a city or a county to adopt ordinances establishing requirements for parking. When an entity receiving parking is not using that parking to meet public automobile parking requirements, this bill would require a local agency, as defined, to allow entities with underutilized parking to share their underutilized parking with the public, local agencies, or other entities, if those entities submit a shared parking agreement, as defined, to the local agency, and information identifying the benefits of the proposed shared parking agreement. The bill would require a local agency to allow parking spaces identified in a shared parking agreement to count toward meeting automobile parking requirements for a new or existing development or use, including, but not limited to, shared parking in underutilized spaces and in parking lots and garages that will be constructed as part of the development or developments when specified conditions regarding the distance between the entities that will share the parking are met. The bill would require a local agency to approve the shared parking agreement if it includes, among other things, a parking analysis using peer-reviewed methodologies developed by a professional planning association, as specified. The bill would require a local agency to decide whether to approve or deny the shared parking agreement and determine how many parking spaces can be reasonably shared between uses to fulfill parking requirements if the shared parking agreement does not include this parking analysis. If the local agency is required to decide whether to approve or deny an agreement for specified developments under these provisions, the bill would require the local agency to notify all property owners within 300 feet of the shared parking spaces of the proposed agreement and to hold a public meeting if it receives a request to do so within 14 days of notifying property owners, as provided. The bill would specify that these notification and public meeting requirements would not apply to local agencies that enact an ordinance that provides for shared parking agreements, including ordinances enacted before January 1, 2024. The bill would require a local agency, private landowner, or lessor to examine the feasibility of shared parking agreements to replace new parking construction or limit the number of new parking spaces that will be constructed when state funds are being used on a proposed new development or other public funds are being used to develop a parking structure or surface parking, as specified. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply to land owned or leased by the state. By imposing new requirements on local governments when reviewing and approving new developments, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.