Lawmakers Kill Rent Control Bill in Contentious Committee Hearing

California lawmakers shelved a bill last week that would have repealed the Costa-Hawkins Act and expanded local rent control ordinances by allowing local jurisdictions to place caps on the price of rents on apartment and other rental properties. Assemblyman Bloom's AB 1506 fell just one vote shy of approval in the Assembly Housing Committee after a marathon 4 hour hearing that saw nearly one thousand individuals testify in support or opposition.

The California Downtown Association joined a coalition that included multi-family developers, independent business groups, and the Realtors in opposition to AB 1506. Our coalition effectively argued that repealing the Costa-Hawkins Act would discourage investment in the existing rental stock and stymie new construction opportunities for rental units thereby worsening the state's housing shortage.

CDA would like to thank the members of the Assembly Housing Committee who supported CDA's position by voting "no" or abstaining on the bill. They are:

Attention now focuses on the pending ballot measure that also seeks to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Act and allow local jurisdictions to impose rent control ordinances. The initiative was cleared by the Secretary of State for signature collection and the sponsors must collect 366,000 valid signatures by June, 2018 in order to qualify for the November general election. The sponsors appear to be well-funded, so we do expect the initiative to qualify. Given this reality we will continue to monitor this issue should the proponents and opponents seek a legislative compromise this year that would avoid a costly statewide ballot measure fight.