Each year, Greenbelt Alliance selects priority state legislative areas to focus on that will guide our team in determining opportunities to take action on that will further our mission to educate, advocate, and collaborate to ensure the Bay Area’s lands and communities are resilient to a changing climate. Learn more about our legislative priorities here.
As environmental and housing advocates, we continue to witness the sea change of awareness around climate, equity, and housing issues across the state. Given the overlapping crises around these issues, it’s never been more critical to advocate for multi-benefit solutions and secure meaningful policy wins.
Bills We Endorse
Housing + Transportation
Assembly Bill 1401 (Friedman): This bill would eliminate requirements that homes and commercial buildings near transit or neighborhoods with less car use be built with more parking than is necessary. Take action to support AB 1401 here.
Senate Bill 8 (Glazer): This bill would clarify, for various purposes of the existing Housing Crisis Act of 2019, that “housing development project” includes projects that involve no discretionary approvals, projects that involve both discretionary and nondiscretionary approvals, and projects that include a proposal to construct a single dwelling unit.
Senate Bill 9 (Atkins): This bill streamlines the process for a homeowner to create a duplex or subdivide an existing lot in most residential areas.
Senate Bill 10 (Wiener): This bill would authorize local governments to rezone neighborhoods for increased housing density, up to ten homes per parcel.
Senate Bill 477 (Weiner): This bill would require local governments to provide the Department of Housing and Community Development with critical data needed to evaluate the impact of state laws on housing stock.
Senate Bill 649 (Cortese): This bill would create a State policy that supports greater access to affordable housing for those populations facing displacement.
Assembly Bill 1087 (Chiu): This bill would create a streamlined grant program that coordinates existing clean energy and health programs across the state to provide upgrades in affordable housing and critical facilities located in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
Assembly Bill 561 (Ting): This bill would authorize the Treasurer to develop the Help Homeowners Add New Housing Program with the purpose of assisting homeowners in qualifying for loans to construct additional housing units on their property, including accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units.
Assembly Bill 215 (Chiu): This bill would require the California Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the relative progress toward meeting regional housing needs of each jurisdiction, council of governments, and subregion, as specified.
Assembly Bill 1174 (Grayson): This bill would clarify the requirements that must be met for an approved development to be valid indefinitely.
You can join us in supporting pro housing bills here.
Integrating Resilience Into Existing Planning Processes (Sea Level Rise + Wildfire)
Assembly Bill 67 (Petrie-Norris): This bill would require a state agency to take into account the current and future impacts of sea level rise when planning, designing, building, operating, maintaining, and investing in infrastructure located in the coastal zone, within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, or otherwise vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise or storm surges, or when otherwise approving the allocation of State funds.
Senate Bill 55 (Stern): This bill would prohibit new housing development in very high fire hazard severity zones.
Assembly Bill 52 (Frazier): This bill would require the State Board to include recommendations for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases and black carbon from wildfires.
Senate Bill 1 (Atkins): This bill would create the California Sea Level Rise State and Regional Support Collaborative to provide state and regional information to the public and support to local, regional, and other state agencies for the identification, assessment, planning, and where feasible, mitigation of the adverse environmental, social, and economic effects of sea level rise.
Equitable Climate Adaptation
Assembly Bill 50 (Boerner Hovarth): This bill would establish the Climate Adaptation Center and Regional Support Network in the Ocean Protection Council to provide local governments facing sea level rise challenges with information and scientific expertise necessary to proceed with sea level rise mitigation.
Assembly Bill 897 (Muliins): This bill would require a regional climate network to develop a regional climate adaptation action plan and to submit the plan to the Office of Planning and Research in state government in the Governor’s office for review, comments, and approval as described.
Assembly Bill 125 (Rivas): This bill would authorize the issuance of bonds to finance programs related to, among other things, agricultural lands; food and fiber infrastructure; climate resilience; agricultural professionals including farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers; workforce development and training; air quality; tribes; disadvantaged communities; nutrition; food aid; meat processing facilities; fishing facilities; and fairgrounds.
Assembly Bill 51 (Quirk): This bill would establish guidelines for the formation of regional climate adaptation planning groups and develop criteria for the development of regional climate adaptation plans.
Assembly Bill 11 (Ward): This bill would require the establishment of up to 12 regional climate change authorities to coordinate climate adaptation and mitigation activities in their regions and coordinate with other regional climate adaptation authorities, state agencies, and other relevant stakeholders.
Assembly Bill 339 (Lee and Garcia): This bill would require all open and public meetings of city council or a county board of supervisors that governs a jurisdiction containing at least 250,000 people to include an opportunity for members of the public to attend via a telephonic option and/or an internet-based service option.
Open Space Protection
Senate Bill 799 (Glazer): This bill would direct State Parks to permanently preserve the Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area for conservation purposes including for non-motorized recreation.
Senate Bill 27 (Skinner): This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to establish the Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy that serves as a framework to increase adoption of natural and working lands-based carbon sequestration and that advances the State’s climate goals.
Bills We Oppose
Assembly Bill 1322(Rivas): This bill would allow local elected officials to wipe off the books voter-approved urban growth boundaries and other measures that protect farmland and other sensitive lands, increasing sprawl and undercutting California’s climate, planning, and housing goals.
Help us spread the word about this bill by sharing the following information with other organizations committed to increasing California’s housing supply without undercutting the democratic process or endangering essential voter-adopted protections for farmland and open space:
- Fill out this form to add your organization to the attached sign-on letter (the letter is also available here).
- Upload your logo here for inclusion in the final letter. If you would prefer, you may also submit your organization’s logo via email to adam.scow@gmail.com.
Photo: Bob Glennan via Flickr
