CC SR 20180918 G - Veto Requests SB 828, AB1771, AB2923RANCHO PALOS VERDES CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 09/18/2018
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Consent Calendar
AGENDA DESCRIPTION:
Consideration and possible action to send letters to Governor Brown requesting vetoes
for Senate Bill No. 828, Assembly Bill No. 1771 and Assembly Bill No. 2923
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
(1) Authorize the Mayor to sign veto requests for Senate Bill No. 828 (SB 828) and
Assembly Bill No. 1771 (AB 1771) regarding regional housing needs allocations
(RHNA); and Assembly Bill No. 2923 regarding transit-oriented land use and
zoning authority.
FISCAL IMPACT: None
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: Kit Fox, AICP, Senior Administrative Analyst
REVIEWED BY: Gabriella Yap, Deputy City Manager
APPROVED BY: Doug Willmore, City Manager
ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
A. Draft veto request for SB 828 (page A-1)
B. Draft veto request for AB 1771 (page B-1)
C. Draft veto request for AB 2923 (page C-1)
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
On September 5, 2018, Staff listened in to a League of California Cites (League)
webinar regarding bills pending Governor Brown’s signature or veto. There were a few
bills and issues discussed against which the City Council expressed opposition earlier
this year. Governor Brown has until September 30, 2018, to act upon all of these bills.
Therefore, Staff has prepared veto requests for the Mayor’s signature, based upon
templates provided by the League.
ALTERNATIVES:
In addition to the Staff recommendation, the following alternative action is available for
the City Council’s consideration:
1
1. Do not authorize the Mayor to sign veto requests for one or more of these
bills.
2
September 18, 2018
VIA E-mail: Leg.Unit@gov.ca.gov
The Honorable Edmund G. Brown
Governor, State of California
State Capitol, 1st Fl.
Sacramento, CA 95814
SUBJECT: SB 828 (Wiener) Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA)
Request Veto
Dear Governor Brown:
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes urges your veto on SB 828 (Wiener), which would make
numerous changes to the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) process.
While we greatly appreciate recent amendments, one major concern remains. As outlined in prior
letters, Government Code Section 65584(2) makes it very clear that cities “should undertake all
necessary actions to encourage, promote, and facilitate the development of housing to
accommodate the entire regional housing need.” However, this code section also appropriately
acknowledges that future housing production “may not equal” the housing need established for
the planning process. SB 828 strikes this language and replaces it with a requirement that cities
take “reasonable actions to ensure that future housing production meet, at a minimum, the
regional housing need established for planning purposes.” This change implies that RHNA is a
production mandate, when in fact RHNA is a planning and zoning requirement.
For these reasons, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes respectfully urges you to veto SB 828
(Wiener).
Sincerely,
Susan M. Brooks
Mayor
cc: Senator Scott Weiner, (916) 651-4911
Graciela Castillo-Krings, Deputy Legislative Secretary, Office of Governor Brown
Rancho Palos Verdes City Council
Doug Willmore, City Manager
Gabriella Yap, Deputy City Manager
Jeff Kiernan, League of California Cities, jkiernan@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, cityletters@cacities.org
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September 18, 2018
VIA E-mail: Leg.Unit@gov.ca.gov
The Honorable Edmund G. Brown
Governor, State of California
State Capitol, 1st Fl.
Sacramento, CA 95814
SUBJECT: AB 1771 (Bloom) Regional Housing Needs Assessment.
Request Veto
Dear Governor Brown:
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes urges you to veto AB 1771 (Bloom), which would alter the
process and requirements for developing the methodology for a regional housing needs allocation
(RHNA) and adopting an allocation plan.
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes agrees that the existing RHNA process is not perfect and needs
to be changed in order to better identify regional housing needs and more equitably distribute
needed housing units at all income levels. AB 1771 makes a number of changes to the
methodology and allocation process that make sense. For example, we support expanding the
list of factors the council of government (COG) must include in the development of the RHNA
methodology.
However, we oppose the following provisions that remain in AB 1771:
• Government Code Section 65584.05(f) is deleted from existing law, thus disallowing two
local governments to agree to an alternative distribution of appealed housing allocations
between the affected local governments. Deleting this section would limit regional
cooperation and possibly hinder housing construction.
• Late amendments allow a Council of Governments (COG) to identify significant barriers
to affirmatively furthering fair housing at the regional level and recommend strategies or
actions to overcome those barriers. We believe that the COG is not the appropriate entity
to make such recommendations. Additionally, this new authority would essentially allow
a COG to second guess city land use decisions.
For these reasons, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes urges you to veto AB 1771 (Bloom).
Sincerely,
Susan M. Brooks
Mayor
cc: Assemblymember Richard Bloom
Graciela Castillo-Krings, Deputy Legislative Secretary, Office of Governor Brown
Rancho Palos Verdes City Council
Doug Willmore, City Manager
Gabriella Yap, Deputy City Manager
Jeff Kiernan, League of California Cities, jkiernan@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, cityletters@cacities.org
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September 18, 2018
VIA E-mail: Leg.Unit@gov.ca.gov
The Honorable Edmund G. Brown
Governor, State of California
State Capitol, 1st Fl.
Sacramento, CA 95814
SUBJECT: AB 2923 (Chiu) San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit: TOD
Request for Veto
Dear Governor Brown,
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes urges you to veto AB 2923 (Chiu), which would essentially give
the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) land use authority over BART-owned land
within one-half mile of an existing or planned BART station. This bill encourages future land use
power grabs throughout the state and takes away a constitutionally bestowed authority from a
group of cities.
AB 2923 would mandate cities that have BART stations within their city limits to undertake costly
planning and zoning updates in order to conform to BART’s new transit oriented development
(TOD) zoning standards. This unfunded mandate would place significant costs on cities with
existing or planned BART stations.
Although this bill would not impact our city directly, we see this bill as establishing a poor
precedent which would potentially lead to cities having less authority over land use. If this
measure is signed into law, more special districts will want to have land use authority over their
property. Land use regulation is a constitutionally granted local government function of cities and
counties. Transferring the ability to regulate density, height and parking requirements to a transit
agency may be unconstitutional and will lead to less local accountability to residents in land use
decisions.
Unfortunately, this bill moves in the direction of less democracy and accountability. Divorcing
important land use decisions from those who are impacted will only further fragment community
trust. For these reasons, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes respectfully urges you to veto AB 2923
(Chiu).
Sincerely,
Susan M. Brooks
Mayor
cc: Assemblymember David Chiu
Graciela Castillo-Krings, Deputy Legislative Secretary, Office of Governor Brown
Rancho Palos Verdes City Council
Doug Willmore, City Manager
Gabriella Yap, Deputy City Manager
Jeff Kiernan, League of California Cities, jkiernan@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, cityletters@cacities.org
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