CalRHA Public Policy Update - October 2024

Upcoming Election Update
October 7th is the deadline for ballots to be mailed to California voters, and October 21st is the final day to register to vote. The polls then open on November 5th.

There are several open Legislative seats that will be decided in November and many new faces will be coming into office in Sacramento next year. To underscore how term limits have been impacting the tenure of Legislators in Sacramento, after this election, 70% of all Senators and Assembly members will have four or fewer years of experience serving in the California State Legislature. That makes relationship building and advocacy more important than ever.

With the Rent Control ballot initiative (Proposition 33) on the November ballot, the California Rental Housing Association has been actively engaged throughout the year on fundraising and campaigning against the measure.

Legislative Update
Here is the final list of bills that were signed by Governor Newsom that deal with rental housing issues.

• Assembly Bill 2347 (Kalra) - Eviction Delay - Extends the time for tenants to respond to an unlawful detainer (eviction) from 5 court days to 10 court days.
• Assembly Bill 2493 (Pellerin) - Rental Application Fees - Permits a landlord to charge a lease applicant an application screening fee only if the landlord offers an application screening process that considers applications in the order in which they are received, or provides any applicant who is not selected for tenancy with a refund or credit for the application screening fee.
• Assembly Bill 2579 (Quirk-Silva) - Balcony Bill - Extends by one year the deadline for performing inspections of exterior elevated elements (balconies) in all buildings containing three or more multifamily dwelling units, from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026.
• Assembly Bill 2747 (Haney) - Positive Rental Credit Reporting - Requires specified landlords of buildings that have 15 or more rental units to offer each tenant the option of having the tenant's positive rental payment information reported to at least one nationwide consumer reporting agency.
• Assembly Bill 2801 (Friedman) - Security Deposits - Specifies that claims by a landlord against a tenant or deductions from a tenant’s security deposit must be limited to reasonable amounts and be reasonable and necessary to restore the premises back to the condition it was in before the tenancy, except for ordinary wear and tear. Requires that, beginning April 1, 2025, a landlord must take photographs of the unit within a reasonable time after the possession of the unit is returned to the landlord, but before any repairs or cleanings for which the landlord will deduct from the deposit are completed, and that the landlord take photographs of the unit within a reasonable time after the repairs or cleanings are completed. In addition, for tenancies beginning on or after July 1, 2025, a landlord must take photographs of the leased unit immediately before, or at the inception of the tenancy.
• Assembly Bill 3057 (Wilson) - CEQA Exemption for ADU and JADU - Expands an existing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption for city or county adoption of an ordinance to facilitate accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to also include adoption of an ordinance facilitating junior ADUs (JADUs).
• Senate Bill 440 (Skinner) - Regional Housing Authorities - Authorizes two or more local governments to establish a regional housing finance authority (RHFA) to raise, administer, and allocate funding (increase taxes) for affordable housing and provide technical assistance at a regional level for affordable housing development.
• Senate Bill 1103 (Menjivar) - Commercial Tenancies - Requires commercial landlords to provide "qualified commercial tenants" contract translation and notice for month-to-month rent increases or tenancy termination, and places transparency and proportionality requirements on the fees a landlord may impose to recover building operating costs from qualified tenants.
• Senate Bill 1211 (Skinner) - Ministerial Approval of ADUs - Increases the number of detached ADUs eligible for ministerial approval on a lot with an existing multifamily dwelling from no more than two detached ADUs to no more than eight detached ADUs. Prohibits a local agency from requiring replacement of uncovered parking spaces demolished to allow for the construction of an ADU.