California lawmakers file hundreds of bills before deadline

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — The year started with a legislative trickle of bills coming from the California statehouse.

That slow, but steady, stream of bills soon resembled the atmospheric rivers that have pummeled parts of California over the past several weeks, as lawmakers sought to introduce legislation by Friday’s deadline.

Assembly members and state senators have filed hundreds of bills since they reconvened on Jan. 3. Their next set of deadlines starts in late March, when policy committees must report bills to fiscal committees. That’s followed by a series of smaller deadlines that culminates May 24, when bills must pass out of their respective house to stay alive.

The race to Aug. 31 — the last day of this legislative session — then begins.

The legislation ranges from small tweaks to sweeping changes.

Assemblymember Alex Lee — a Bay Area Democrat — has two bills that would bring significant change to how the state approaches the housing crisis.

Assembly Bill 2584 would prohibit a business that already owns at least 1,000 single-family homes from buying any more houses and turning them into rental property.

“Corporations are buying up whole neighborhoods worth of housing inventory,” Lee said in a statement. “First-time homebuyers are not able to compete with cash offers from these large corporate firms."

According to Lee, large investors can pay cash for single-family homes. Also, these investors have been buying homes that are modest and smaller — houses typically purchased by first-time homebuyers.

Lee also introduced Assembly Bill 2881, which would create the California Housing Authority. That authority’s mission would focus on establishing social housing.

“Our government has to take a more active role in providing housing, and social housing can scale up our supply of affordable homes without overreliance on limited subsidies,” Lee said.

Social housing differs from public housing because people with different levels of income live in it, and it’s self-sufficient because those with higher incomes subsidize those who don’t make as much. Also, social housing would be in mixed-income neighborhoods. It couldn’t be sold or transferred to private, for-profit ventures.

Lee had a previous bill focused on social housing — Assembly Bill 309 — which reached the governor’s desk last year but was vetoed.

Governor Gavin Newsom in his veto message said that bill would have created three social housing projects on excess, state-owned property. However, it also would have made a new process for local government review, infringing on state sovereignty.

Another bill that beat the filing deadline would hamper local government’s ability to impose voter ID requirements.

Senate Bill 1174 was introduced by state Senator Dave Min, an Irvine Democrat, and would prohibit a local government from requiring anyone from showing ID when voting or submitting their ballot.

Min in a statement pointed to Huntington Beach, which placed a voter ID initiative on its March 5 ballot. The ID requirement would apply to municipal elections.

The initiative, if approved by Huntington Beach voters, states that if a conflict appears between city and state election rules, city rules would apply.

“The proponents of this proposal have not identified a single documented case of voter fraud in Huntington Beach that would justify this change,” Min said in a statement. “To the extent that this amendment also would potentially impact county, state, and federal elections, it also puts the city in likely violation of existing state and federal laws.”

A Huntington Beach representative couldn’t be reached for comment.

A bill that would increase penalties for protesters who block highways was introduced by Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, a Republican whose district include Temecula and Murrieta.

Currently, a driver must yield and a pedestrian must move to the closest curb when an emergency vehicle with its lights activated passes. Assembly Bill 2742 would prohibit vehicles and pedestrians, including during a protest, from interfering with an emergency vehicle as it passes.

“When they shut down highways, they’re preventing fire trucks from responding to emergencies, people getting to work, and parents picking up their kids at school,” Sanchez posted on X, formerly Twitter. “I’m introducing a bill to double penalties for protesters blocking traffic.”