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A number of positive bills for the rental housing industry await Gov. Jerry Brown’s approval after the 2014 legislative session came to a close this past weekend. The California Apartment Association helped push a variety of sensible legislation to the governor’s desk, such as a bill that clarifies that leases can be signed electronically, one that streamlines the approval process for water submeters and another that expedites the removal of squatters. Here’s a sampling of CAA’s successes in advancing positive bills: AB 2451 (Daly, D-Anaheim) – Water Submeters: This bill, co-sponsored by the CAA and the Utility Management and Conservation… Read More

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Under a bill that threatens to cripple California businesses, workers with wage disputes — but no evidence to support their claims — could record liens on the real property of landlords and other employers. AB 2416 by Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Monterey, awaits consideration in the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it faces opposition from the California Apartment Association, as well as hundreds of business owners and other industry groups. The scope of AB 2416 goes far beyond grievances over hourly pay. It would allow liens for disputes regarding overtime, meal and rest periods, vacation and commissions, and more. The bill also… Read More

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Halfway through 2014, California lawmakers are a week into their summer recess. You can probably picture it: Legislators back home, updating constituents at town hall meetings and Rotary luncheons, talking up bills they authored, stumped for and stomped down. At the California Apartment Association, we’re as eager as anyone to talk about our continued successes during the past six months in Sacramento. With guidance from CAA’s Legislative Steering Committee, CAA analyzed and lobbied for or against more than 70 bills that could help or hurt the rental housing industry. As you’ll see below, we have had great success stopping the… Read More

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Riverside County has stepped back from plans to more than double the developer fees earmarked for county jail beds – at least for now. Early this month, the Board of Supervisors postponed a vote to rework its developer fee schedule after hearing concerns from the California Apartment Association and the local building industry, The Press Enterprise reported in this article. Under the proposal, the total fee for single-family homes would drop from $4,651 to $4,318, but the amount to deal with jail crowding would balloon from $392 to $885. Developer fees help pay for infrastructure needs caused by new residential… Read More

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After hearing from numerous rental owners and managers, the San Carlos City Council has reduced sewer rates for owners of multi-family housing by nearly 15 percent. The new rates take effect July 1. The council’s 4-1 vote on the issue came during its Monday, June 23 meeting. The lone no vote came from a council member who wanted a more modest, 6 percent rate reduction. After negotiating with the city for over a year, CAA and a coalition of San Carlos rental property owners secured the new pricing model. CAA Tri-County demonstrated that the current rate structure that charged a… Read More

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An Assembly committee Wednesday, June 25, rejected a bill that would have allowed school districts to impose different parcel tax rates on different types of property. SB 1021 by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, received one yes vote and three no votes, with five abstentions, in the Revenue and Taxation Committee. The legislation faced opposition from the California Apartment Association and dozens of other business groups. If SB 1021 had become law, school districts would have been able to charge varying parcel tax rates within a district based on characteristics such as parcel size, improvements to the parcel, or the use… Read More

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Sen. Mark Leno has halted his pursuit of state legislation that would undermine a landlord’s right to leave the rental housing industry. Leno, D-San Francisco, has given up on Senate Bill 1439 after its rejection in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee last week. The bill took aim at the Ellis Act, a landmark 1985 law that bars local governments from making property owners stay in the apartment business. Leno told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday that he’ll probably try to resurrect the bill in 2015. “I’m very committed to this,” he said in the article. The Housing… Read More

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Thanks to the California Apartment Association, a new ban on smoking in Foster City apartment communities will have little impact on landlords. On a 3-2 vote, the City Council passed an anti-smoking ordinance June 2 that will prohibit the activity inside apartments and common areas. The ban includes e-cigarettes. The city had originally decided to exclude apartments from its smoking prohibitions, but faced with mounting pressure from public health advocates and tenants, the council reconsidered its position. CAA Tri-County immediately began months of negotiations with the city to minimize effects and eliminate liability for rental property owners. Thanks to these… Read More

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Proposed changes to warning requirements under Proposition 65 fail to clarify when signs are needed and pose unnecessary burdens and risks to the rental housing industry, the California Apartment Association said this month. These are among the sentiments in CAA’s June 9 comments to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), regarding the agency’s pre-regulatory proposal to change the warnings required under Prop 65. CAA’s comments also ask that its members be permitted to continue using current Prop 65 warning signs, which differ only slightly from those proposed by OEHHA. Extensive comments were also submitted by the California Chamber… Read More

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UPDATE: Leno quits pushing for anti-Ellis Act bill  Before a room brimming with property-rights advocates, an Assembly committee Wednesday rejected Sen. Mark Leno’s anti-Ellis Act bill. The Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee voted 4-3 on June 18 against Senate Bill 1439, possibly sinking the legislation for good. Helping derail Leno’s bill today were dozens of San Franciscans, many holding up neon paper signs condemning SB 1439. The committee also heard from the California Apartment Association, as well as a landlord whose rights would be undermined by Leno’s proposal. Despite being amended after narrowly passing the Senate last month, SB… Read More

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