Big doings in the California Statehouse today as Senate Bill 827 gets its first public airing. The Sacramento Bee reports:
Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, faces his first major legislative test today on his controversial housing bill that has split special interests in Sacramento.
Opposition has grown more intense over the past three months, with major California cities resisting the proposal that would strip local governments' land use authority in transit-rich areas. San Francisco and Los Angeles are against it, along with the Sierra Club, tenants rights' groups and influential housing advocacy groups including Housing California and the California Housing Consortium.
On the other side, a new political coalition has emerged amid California's unprecedented housing affordability crisis. Backed by wealthy Silicon Valley tech CEOs, California YIMBY, the chief sponsor of Wiener's Senate Bill 827, has made the proposal its biggest priority this year. Development interests also are backing the agenda, and the Natural Resources Defense Council supports the concept, as do professors of urban planning in California's major universities.
Read More
