We did it! Thank you to everyone who emailed and called legislators, attended town hall meetings, passed out flyers, and forwarded information to your friends and family
to stop this mis-guided bill.
You deserve this moment of celebration!
Going forward we understand that the housing issue must be addressed, but what is needed this time are well-thought-out, effective solutions that incentivize and support the development of truly affordable housing. This will require a more nuanced and complex portfolio of local and state solutions that allow cities to build the needed housing without having to give up local control.
Better Way Forward and Livable California,
and many other grass root organizations, will be involved in the effort to put forth ideas that truly address the "affordable" housing problem (
see Better Way Forward press release).
They intend to bring all parties to the table so the solutions created are adopted by communities throughout California, and are not dictated by the tech, developer and real estate special interests.
Within minutes of SB50 failing, Senator Wiener introduced two bills SB899 and SB902 (“Density Bonuses” and “General Plan”) to push more versions of SB50 though this year. This will require our continued vigilance. We have won 3 rounds. Standby.
And finally, we want to thank the following Senators for listening to their constituents:
Senators voting no:
Ben Allen, Pat Bates. Andreas Borgeas, Bill Dodd, Maria Elena Durazo, Steve Glazer, Bob Hertzberg, Jerry Hill, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Brian Jones, Holly Mitchell, Anthony Portantino, Susan Rubio, Henry Stern and Scott Wilk.
Senators who abstained:
Bob Archuleta, Steven Bradford, Ling Ling Chang, Mike Morrell and Tom Umberg.
