News: Sacramento Bee

Filter

The Sacramento Bee this weekend urged voters to reject Measure C, the local rent control measure on the city of Sacramento’s Nov. 3 ballot. The newspaper notes that Measure C should not even be appearing before city voters. Last year, rent control proponents promised to withdraw their measure from the ballot if the city Council were to adopt is own rent control ordinance.  But when the city did just that in summer 2019, only two of the three proponents kept their commitment and submitted withdrawal letters; a third, Michelle Pariset of Public Advocates, did not, leaving the rent control initiative in… Read More

Tagged: Sacramento Valley

The California Apartment Association is opposing a measure that’s seeking to create one of the largest tax increases in state history. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 22 proposes to ask voters to approve a 10 percent “surcharge” on California employers. Companies with annual net income of more than $1 million that are subject to corporate income and franchise taxes in California would be required to pay the new tax. The tax proposal comes from Assemblymen Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, and has met fierce opposition from a large coalition of business groups, including CAA.

Tagged:

After a month-long summer recess, California lawmakers are back in Sacramento and working with Gov. Jerry Brown on a package of bills intended to help fix the state’s housing crisis.

Tagged:

Supporters of a property tax surcharge that would have undermined Proposition 13 have abandoned efforts to qualify their measure for the November ballot. The property-tax initiative, dubbed the “Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Act,” aimed to create a tax surcharge on all commercial and residential properties in the state assessed at over $3 million. Collecting the 585,407 signatures required by March 21 proved too high a hurdle, campaign strategist Bill Carrick said in this Sacramento Business Journal story. Moreover, Carrick said the initiative would have faced plenty of competition for tax dollars if it managed to appear before… Read More

Tagged:

A union-led push to change Proposition 13 through the ballot box is in for a fight from the business community. On Thursday morning, a group called Make It Fair launched a campaign to put changes to Prop. 13 before voters in 2016, the Sacramento Bee reported. Resistance, however, is already mounting against any push for a split roll or stripping away of tax protections. “California’s small businesses struggle every day to overcome our state’s massive tax burden and keep their doors open,” Rex Hime, president of the California Business Properties Association, said in this Bee article. “By continuing to raise… Read More

Tagged:

Wasting water could cost California landlords and tenants hundreds of dollars and constitute a criminal infraction. This week, the state’s Water Resources Control Board made violating some water conservation measures akin to a traffic ticket. About the measure In light of California’s severe drought — and insufficient water conservation over the past several months — the California Water Resources Control Board has banned the following: Washing down driveways and sidewalks Watering of outdoor landscapes that cause excess runoff Using a hose to wash a motor vehicle, unless the hose is fitted with a shut-off nozzle Using potable water in a… Read More

Tagged:

California lawmakers this year introduced an array of bills that would lower the voting requirement to approve taxes for local infrastructure, schools, libraries, and the like. But the chances of these bills passing the Legislature – at least this year — are slim at best. That’s reassuring to the California Apartment Association and other business groups in a coalition that’s opposed the measures, which would amend the state Constitution and undermine Proposition 13. Each requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, and the support of voters, to become law. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has said lawmakers have bigger… Read More

Tagged:

The Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee today stubbed out a bill by Assemblyman Marc Levine that would have banned smoking in apartments, condos and townhomes. “Assembly Bill 746 would have created an enforcement nightmare for property managers while infringing on the privacy rights of law-abiding tenants,” said Debra Carlton, senior vice president of public affairs for the California Apartment Association. “We also want to remind Californians that property owners already have the right, thanks to legislation we sponsored, to ban smoking at individual properties.”

Tagged:

California could become the first state in the nation to ban tobacco smoking in apartments, regardless of what tenants, landlords and local government have to say about it. In addition to forbidding smoking inside all multifamily dwellings, Assembly Bill 746 would prohibit the practice outside rental units — except in conspicuously marked, designated areas that meet several criteria. Violating AB 746, an infraction, would bring a fine of up to $100. Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, introduced the bill Feb. 21. It’s sponsored by the American Lung Association. The California Apartment Association has not taken a position on the bill,… Read More

Tagged: