Laguna Hills City Council
April 22, 2025

From: Marcella Lawson
To: Public Comments
Subject: Item 7.1.1
Date: Monday, April 21, 2025 5:01:50 PM
Dear Laguna Hills City Council,
As a Laguna Hills resident, I'm writing to voice my support for including the maximum number of affordable housing units, at the low and very low income levels, in the Village at Laguna Hills project. And most importantly, to develop the affordable housing units as early in the project as possible. We all know that the city and the region have far too few affordable housing units, so the urgency of providing these units is very high. It is essential that affordable housing is available for everyone who works in Laguna Hills, including employees working in daycare centers, grocery stores, landscaping, trash collection, teachers and so many more.

In this regard, I also call for affordable housing units to be included in the various development projects on Mill Creek, Ridge Route and others. Lake Forest has been successful in putting up affordable housing projects and so can we! Regarding SB 16, I'm very much in favor of minimizing burdensome recording keeping, but at the same time, the goal of SB 16, to rapidly produce a significant quantity of temporary housing, to get all unsheltered homeless off the street as soon as possible, is an important goal. We have far too few shelter beds and far too few vouchers and many individuals and families who need them. I encourage the city to work toward this goal with minimal administrative burden. The time and effort should go into putting up the temporary housing.

Sincerely,
Marcella Lawson
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Public Comments
April 22, 2025
Item No. 7.1.1
From: Jennifer Lee
To: Kayle McDonald
Subject: FW: Support for Laguna Hills Mall revisions
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 2:22:52 PM
Attachments: P4H%20Laguna%20Hills%20Support%20Letter.pdf.pdf From: Elizabeth Hansburg P4H <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 1:59 PM
To: Jennifer Lee <[email protected]>
Subject: Support for Laguna Hills Mall revisions
Hello City Clerk,
Please find attached our letter of support for the proposed changes to the Laguna Hills Mall redevelopment that will be considered, or received and filed, at the council meeting this evening.

Could you please see that the letter is distributed to the council members? Thank you! Best regards,
Elizabeth Hansburg
Cofounder, Director
People for Housing OC
Public Comments
April 22, 2025
Item No. 7.1.1
Fighting for a future of abundant housing in Orange County. peopleforhousing.org
April 22, 2025
City Council
City of Laguna Hills
24035 El Toro Road
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
SUPPORT: Support for Proposed Housing Developments and Major Project Modifications Dear Members of the City Council,
On behalf of People for Housing OC, I am writing in strong support of the proposed changes to the Laguna Hills Mall redevelopment plans currently under review by the City, including the redevelopment of for-sale housing the Village at Laguna Hills and the broader move to include a pad for 100% affordable housing development with supportive services in place of 200 inclusionary units.

People for Housing OC is the Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) organization for Orange County, California. We represent Orange County residents who support more affordable and attainable housing opportunities and more diverse housing options in our communities. The City of Laguna Hills has an opportunity to lead by example—creating not just more housing, but better housing. By prioritizing developments that go beyond below-market-rate rent and incorporate services that meet residents’ real-life needs, the City is taking meaningful steps toward long-term stability, dignity, and community well-being.

The proposed modification by MGP Fund X Laguna Hills, LLC to transfer a development-ready pad for the construction of a standalone affordable housing building is especially commendable. This change would allow for all 200 below-market-rate units to be built simultaneously, accelerating access for those most in need, including seniors and veterans.

Concentrating these units in a thoughtfully designed, service-rich environment increases the potential for success, not just for residents but for the community as a whole. 1 Furthermore, this project — along with others currently under review, such as the developments on Mill Creek Drive and Avenida de la Carlota — reflects an evolving understanding of the housing needs in our region. With changes in office demand, the decline of traditional retail, and the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City’s flexibility and responsiveness are both timely and necessary.

As advocates, we fully support the City’s efforts to align housing development with supportive infrastructure, community services, and forward-thinking land use. We urge the Council to approve the proposed modifications and continue negotiations with MGP to ensure the timely delivery of affordable, high-quality housing options.

Thank you for your leadership and commitment to a more inclusive Laguna Hills. Please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions or require additional information.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Hansburg
Cofounder & Director
Fighting for a future of abundant housing in Orange County. peopleforhousing.org
2 From: Alejandra Perez Matus
To: Jennifer Lee; Kayle McDonald
Subject: Comments on Village at Laguna Hills Major Project Modifications and Formation of an Ad Hoc Committee (Agenda Item 7.1.1)
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 3:24:33 PM
Attachments: image.png
Proposed changes to DA Agreement for Village at Laguna Hills - LH.docx.pdf Hi,
On behalf of The Kennedy Commission I am submitting a comment letter for tonight's City Council Meeting.

Thank you,
Alejandra Perez Matus
Project Manager
Public Comments
April 22, 2025
Item No. 7.1.1
April 22, 2025
Mayor Joshua Sweeney and Members of the City Council
City of Laguna Hills Santa Ana City Hall
24035 El Toro Road
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
RE: Comments on Village at Laguna Hills Major Project Modifications and Formation of an Ad Hoc Committee (Agenda Item 7.1.1)
To The Honorable Mayor Sweeney and Members of the City Council, The Kennedy Commission (the Commission) is a broad-based coalition of residents and community organizations advocating for the production of homes affordable for families earning less than $30,000 annually in Orange County. Since 2001, we have successfully partnered with jurisdictions across the county to create housing and land-use policies that increase affordable housing opportunities for lower-income working families.

We appreciate the City's consideration of the proposed changes to the Village at Laguna Hills project, particularly the approach to transferring a development-ready pad for the creation of 200 affordable homes. This represents an important step toward bringing affordable housing to Laguna Hills and responding to the critical needs of the region. We also support the formation of an Ad Hoc Committee to help guide these discussions and ensure that the community’s priorities remain central to the process.

As part of the City's upcoming negotiations, we respectfully encourage a focus on both the depth and breadth of affordability within the project. Specifically, we encourage the City to explore opportunities to achieve deeper affordability—particularly homes affordable to low- and very low-income households—and to consider options to increase the overall number of affordable units beyond the currently proposed 200.

Given the significant public investment and community interest in this project, maximizing affordable housing opportunities would be a meaningful way to ensure the Village at Laguna Hills is a vibrant, inclusive development that reflects the needs of a broad range of residents.

We value the City’s ongoing leadership in advancing housing solutions and look forward to continuing to support your efforts. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (949) 250-0909 or [email protected].

Sincerely,
Cesar Covarrubias
Executive Director
1 From: [email protected]
To: Public Comments
Cc: Juan Muñoz; "Christine Miller"
Subject: Item 7.1.1: Village at Laguna Hills DA
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 3:48:17 PM
Attachments: 2025.04.22_CC Comments_Village at Laguna Hills.pdf Dear Mayor Sweeney and Honorable Councilmembers:

On behalf of UNITE HERE Local 11 (“Local 11”), this office submits the attached comment letter on the above-referenced item.

In short, Local 11 is concerned with the proposed Major Project Modifications given the Project Site appears largely vacant with seemingly no vertical development to the Project Site as proposed under the Development Agreement (DA) approved three years ago. The Applicant is now seeking Major Project Modifications suggesting unforeseen market conditions, but it is unclear whether this would amount to an ‘excusable delay’ (as that term is defined under the DA) or excuse other pending milestones due under the DA (provided as Exhibit C to the attached comment letter). This seems to be something that should be addressed by the City prior to agreeing to initiate renegotiations.

Additionally, as compared to the Project proposed under the DA, the Major Project Modifications seem to fundamentally alter many aspects of the Project (e.g., adding lower-density townhomes and single-family homes, 40 percent reduction in retail space, elimination of office, etc.). Furthermore, it is unclear to the extent these Project changes will undergo additional environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or consider additional mitigation measures related to traffic demand management (TDM) measures and other strategies to reduce the Project’s vehicle mile traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts. For these reasons (which are discussed in the attached comment letter), Local 11 respectfully requests the City continue this item until these live questions/issues are addressed before agreeing to start renegotiations with the Applicant.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any issues retrieving the attached document, and please have staff confirm receipt of this message.

Very truly yours,
Jordan R. Sisson, Esq.

Law Office of Jordan R. Sisson
3993 Orange St., Ste. 201
Riverside, CA 92501
Office: 951-405-8127
Direct: 951-542-2735
[email protected]
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL: This electronic message contains information from the Law Office of Jordan R.

Sisson and is attorney work product confidential or privileged. The information is intended solely for the use of the individual(s)or entity(ies) named above. If you have received this transmission in error, please destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading or saving in any manner.

Public Comments
April 22, 2025
Item No. 7.1.1
April 22, 2025
VIA EMAIL:

City Council, City of Laguna Hills
c/o City Clerk ([email protected])
Re: Item 7.1.1, City Council / Planning Agency Hearing Scheduled 4/22/2025; Major Project Modifications to the Village at Laguna Hills Development Agreement Dear Mayor Sweeney and Honorable Councilmembers:

On behalf of UNITE HERE Local 11 (“Local 11”), this office respectfully provides the following comments1 to the City of Laguna Hills (“City”) in response to the above-referenced item2 involving GP Fund X Laguna Hills, LLC (“MGP” or “Applicant”)’s request to initiate Major Project Modifications to a previously executed Development Agreement between the City and Applicant in April 2022 (“DA”) involving the proposed Village at Laguna Hills Mixed-Use Project (“Project”) on an approximately 68-acre site where the former Laguna Hills Mall once stood (“Site”). The proposed Major Project Modifications would include a series of changes to the Project, including a reduction in total housing, adding a second hotel, eliminating office space and a second-story cinema, reducing retail space, removing parking structures, and segregating 200 below-market-rate (“BMR”) affordable units to a development-ready pad to the City or third-party developer to build as a standalone affordable housing development (“Project Changes”). These Project Changes are also reflected by comparing the Site Plan of the Project as proposed under the DA (attached hereto as Exhibit A), as compared to the Site Plan included with the Applicant’s letter (attached hereto as Exhibit B).

We thank the City for the opportunity to provide comments on the Major Project Modification. Local 11 has a significant interest in the Project given it represents more than 25,000 workers employed in hotels, restaurants, airports, sports arenas, and convention centers throughout Southern California and Phoenix, Arizona—including members who live in the City of Laguna Hills.

In short, we are concerned with the proposed Major Project Modifications given the Project Site appears largely vacant with seemingly no vertical development to the Project Site as proposed under the DA (approved three years ago). The Applicant is now seeking Major Project Modifications suggesting unforeseen market conditions, but it is unclear whether this would amount to an excusable delay (as that term is defined under the DA) or excuse other pending milestones due under the DA (attached hereto as Exhibit C). This seems to be something that should be addressed by the City prior to agreeing to initiate renegotiations. Additionally, other Project Changes seem to fundamentally alter many aspects of the Project (e.g., adding lower-density townhomes and singlefamily homes, 40 percent reduction in retail space, elimination of office, etc.). Furthermore, it is unclear to the extent the Project Changes will undergo additional environmental review under the 1 Herein, page citations are either the stated pagination (i.e., “p. #”) or PDF-page location (i.e., “PDF p. #”) 2 Including but not limited to the “Agenda Packet” retrieved from the City’s website. (See https://lagunahillsca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/746/files/agenda/2085.) Item 7.1.1, Council/Planning Hearing (4/22/25)
RE: Village at Laguna Hills Development Agreement

California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) or consider additional mitigation measures related to traffic demand management (“TDM”) measures and other strategies to reduce the Project’s vehicle mile traveled (“VMT”) and greenhouse gas (“GHG”) impacts.

For these reasons, Local 11 respectfully requests the City continue this item until these live questions/issues are addressed before agreeing to start renegotiations with the Applicant. The remainder of this letter highlights six (6) issues and live questions.

1. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF PENDING MILESTONES AND PAST ANNUAL DA REVIEWS? As mentioned above, the Project Site appears largely vacant with seemingly no vertical development to the Project Site as proposed under the DA (approved three years ago). 3 The
Applicant is now seeking a Major Project Modification suggesting unforeseen market conditions. It is unclear whether this would amount to an excusable delay, as that term is defined under sections

1.20 and 22.1 of the DA (discussed below). Also discussed below, the DA contemplates phased development, various fees owed to the City, periodic annual DA reviews, and multiple milestones ranging from 90 days to 20 years after the DA date (as shown in Exhibit C attached hereto). This office has not been able to locate on the City’s website any DA annual reviews or other indicia related to the Applicant’s compliance with Milestone One (i.e., 90 days after the DA date) through Milestone Three (18 Months from the DA date), which involve various fees and Final Maps related to Phase One development. (See Exh. C.) Milestone 4 (i.e., 48 months after the DA date) also relates to various fees owed to the City. (Id.) While Milestone 3 seems to be subject to the “excusable delay” provisions, the other Milestones are not. (Id.) Whether the Applicant has complied with these Milestones, the results of any prior annual DA reviews, and whether the current reason why the Applicant is seeking Major Project Modifications seems to be something that the City should address prior to deciding whether to renegotiate. To that end, below are some factors that the City may want to consider.

EXCUSABLE DELAY (DA §§ 1.20, 22.1): According to the Agenda Packet (p. 170), Applicant is seeking to initiate Major Project Modifications due to “shifts in economic and market conditions ….” According to the Applicant, the prevailing economic and market conditions are “dynamic and unprecedented changes in market conditions, including lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in remote work, and shopper preferences for online retail.” (Id., at 175.) However, the DA was approved in March 2022 after a long series of negotiations and hearings scheduled from April 2021 through March 2022.4 This is well after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, so arguably, COVID-19 was not a surprise to the Applicant. Additionally, notwithstanding the growth of e-commerce, which has been known for decades, the spike in e-commerce during the 3 See e.g., Google Images, https://www.google.com/maps/@33.6122348,- 117.7058906,3a,75y,227.09h,95.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sTNHIslETz0NqtwSA_x59mw!2e0!6shttps:%2F% 2Fstreetviewpixelspa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26 pitch%3D5.293851955076633%26panoid%3DTNHIslETz0NqtwSA_x59mw%26yaw%3D227.08748665154457!7i163 84!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQyMC4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDU1SAFQAw%3D%3D. 4 See City Council Regular Session (3/8/22) Agenda Packet, pp. 45-48, https://lagunahillsca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/606/files/agenda/1246.

Item 7.1.1, Council/Planning Hearing (4/22/25)
RE: Village at Laguna Hills Development Agreement

initial COVID-19 outbreak seems to have normalized by 2021.5 Thus, it is unclear whether any of these reasons would amount to “excusable delay” as that term is defined under the DA (e.g., economic delay, force majeure delay, etc.). (See “March 2022 Agenda Packet,”6 PDF p. 300, 304, 347-349 [Sections 1.20, 22.1].)
PHASE DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC BENEFITS, FEES (DA §§ 5.4, 7, 10): The Project as proposed under the DA is shown in the Project Site plan attached hereto as Exhibit A. (March 2022 Agenda Packet, PDF p. 370-371 [Exh. C of the DA].) Under Section 5.4, the DA contemplated the Project would be built in multiple phases (e.g., Phase 1, Phase 2, Subsequent phases). (Id., at PDF pp. 320- 325). The DA also contemplated various public benefits under Section 7 (i.e., community benefit fees, affordable housing mixed in with residential buildings, village park improvements, etc.) (id., at PDF pp. 327-329) and various fees owed to the City under Section 10 (e.g., community benefit fees, public park in-lieu fees, public art in-lieu fees, etc.) (id., at PDF p. 331- 338, 365-368 [Exh. B of the DA].) Thus, this raises the question of what milestones have been met to date or are due in the near future.

ANNUAL REVIEW AND MILESTONES (DA § 18, EXH. D): Many of the above-mentioned DA obligations are subject to specific milestones ranging from 90 days of the DA agreement (i.e., Milestone One) to 20 years from the DA (Milestone Nine). (id., at PDF pp. 372-375 [Exh. D to the DA].) So too, the DA is subject to periodic annual review under Section 18. (Id., at pp. 89-90.) Thus, this raises the question of whether these annual reviews have occurred and whether the Applicant has been making significant progress in reaching the milestones it agreed to three years ago.

2. WOULD THE REDUCTION OF HOUSING BE POTENTIALLY INCONSISTENT WITH HOUSING ELEMENT? According to the Agenda Packet (p. 171), the Major Project Modifications would include a reduction in total residential units from 1,500 to 1,456. According to the Applicant, the “addition of townhouses and single-family detached units will provide additional housing options for Laguna Hills residents. We are aware that such housing optionality is a key concern for many City residents.” (Id., at p. 175.) However, while the Project site plan as approved under the DA was comprised solely of higher-density multifamily structures (see Exh. A), the Project Changes under the Major Project Modifications would dedicate a substantial portion of the Site to lower-density townhomes and single-family units (which now comprise more than half of the proposed dwelling units) (see Exh. B). Thus, the Project Changes would produce less overall housing, encourage no additional affordable units beyond the already required 200 units, and eliminate a significant number of multifamily units by allowing less dense townhouses and single-family homes. This could be considered inconsistent with some of the City’s provisions under its Housing Element (2021-2029),7 such as Goal H-2 and Policies H-2.1, -2.3, -3.2, -3.3, -6, and -7 (to name a few). (See Housing Element, PDF pp. 255-265.)
/ / /
5 See Marketplace Pulse, U.S. E-Commerce Growth Rate 2001-2024 (showing U.S. E-Commerce growth rate from 2001 Q1 through 2024 Q3 citing Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce), https://www.marketplacepulse.com/stats/us-e-commerce-growth-rate. 6 City Council Regular Session (3/22/22) Agenda Packet, https://lagunahillsca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/570/files/agenda/1157. 7 City Housing Element (2021-2029),
https://www.lagunahillsca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8354/LagunaHills_March24Readoption_Redline?bid Id=.

Item 7.1.1, Council/Planning Hearing (4/22/25)
RE: Village at Laguna Hills Development Agreement

3. IS SEGREGATION OF THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPONENT CONSISTENT WITH HOUSING POLICIES?
According to the Agenda Packet (p. 171), the Major Project Modifications would include the Applicant transferring a development-ready pad to the City or an affordable housing developer for the construction of 200 below-market-rate (“BMR”) units. While acknowledging the Project would have resulted in the BMR inclusionary housing being spread across market-rate multifamily buildings, the Applicant claims the Project Change (i.e., allowing a standalone affordable building for 200 BMR units) would allow “all BMR units simultaneously” (i.e., rather than piecemeal) and “increases the potential to maximize affordable housing opportunities for seniors and veterans as contemplated by the Original Agreement.” (Id., at p. 176.) However, the Project, as proposed under the DA, would have created mixed-income housing rather than segregating the affordable housing to its separate location. This may be inconsistent with Housing Element policies encouraging mixed-income housing. (See Housing Element, PDF pp. 259-272 [Programs H-6 and H-7].) Additionally, given both the Project and the Project Changes would result in the same 200 BMR units, it is unclear how the transfer of the development-ready pad would “maximize affordable housing opportunities [,]” as claimed by the Applicant. (Agenda Report, p. 176.) As currently proposed, it does not seem that the Applicant is proposing an increase in BMR units.

4. HOW WILL CUTTING HALF OF THE RETAIL SPACE AFFECT THE CITY’S TAX BASE? According to the Agenda Packet (p. 171), the Major Project Modifications would include reducing retail space to 150,000 square feet, eliminating a second-story cinema, and shifting to experiential retail clustered around a relocated Village Park. According to the Applicant, the Project Changes would call “for more experiential retail, with restaurants and shops clustered around a relocated Village Park that will be prominently visible from El Toro Road.” (Id., at p. 176.) However, the Project under the DA called for 250,000 square feet of retail (as shown in Exhibit A attached hereto), including at least 140,000 square feet of retail in Phase I development. (See March 2022 Agenda Packet, PDF p. 60, 66 [DA §§ 1.48, 5.4.1(A) & (C)].) The Final Map application for this initial 140,000-sf of retail was supposed to occur by Milestone Three (i.e., 18 months from DA), with construction completed by Milestone Six (i.e., 7 years after the DA). (See Exhibit C attached hereto.) Given that the Project was to replace the prior mall (i.e., a large tax generator), the size and time of the retail square footage were arguably essential aspects of the DA. Thus, there is a live question of whether the Project Changes would substantially reduce the City’s tax base.

Additionally, the Applicant should clarify what experiential retail means, given it may include uses that were not previously considered in the prior CEQA review.

5. THE PROJECT’S MULTI-PHASE CONSTRUCTION NEEDS TO BE CLARIFIED.

As discussed above, the Project under the DA was contemplated to occur over a multi-phase approach. The Project Changes do not address whether the Project as a whole would still be developed under a multi-phase approach and/or which Project components (as proposed under the Project Changes) would occur during Phase 1, Phase 2, or subsequent phases. This, too, should be addressed, including during any subsequent CEQA analysis (i.e., phased construction versus simultaneous construction with overlapping emissions).
/ / /
Item 7.1.1, Council/Planning Hearing (4/22/25)
RE: Village at Laguna Hills Development Agreement

6. WILL THE INCREASED HOTEL ROOMS AND OTHER PROJECT CHANGES CONSIDER ENHANCED TDM STRATEGIES AND OTHER VMT/GHG-REDUCING MEASURES?
According to the Agenda Packet (p. 171), the Major Project Modifications would include an additional hotel raising the hotel rooms from 100-150 to 225 rooms. According to the Applicant, the added hotel “would be a substantial driver of additional City tax revenue.” (Id., at p. 176.) However, it is not discussed whether the Project will seek to incorporate additional TDM strategies or incorporate other measures intended to reduce VMTs and GHGs. Thus, if the City is entertaining Project Changes, Local 11 urges the City to consider the Project’s consistency with applicable goals, policies, strategies, measures, and other provisions under relevant plans, including but not limited to:
• The Southern California Association of Governments (“SCAG”) Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (“RTP/SCS”), particularly those related to Communities goals and TDM policies/strategies under Mobility goals. 8 • Mitigation measures identified under SCAG’s RTP/SCS, particularly those related to projectlevel mitigation for air quality, GHGs, transportation, and other relevant resources.9 • VMT and GHG reduction measures urged by the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association (“CAPCOA”), particularly those related to transportation, land use, energy, and other relevant subsectors.10
• Local actions suggested in the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) Scoping Plans, particularly those intended to reduce VMTs and promote affordable housing.11 / / /
8 See e.g., 2024 RTP/SCS, pp. 12, 85, 88-112, 90, 113-121, 126-135 (listing various goals, subgoals, regional policies, and implementing strategies, particularly those related to Communities goal and Mobility TDMs), https://scag.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/23-2987-connect-socal-2024-final-complete-040424.pdf; 9 2024 RTP/SCS, p. 110 (RTP/SCS subject to Program Environmental Impact Report (“PEIR”), which includes Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (“MMRP”) that identifies various project-level mitigation measures (“PMM(s)”) that can be implemented by local governments); https://scag.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/23-2987-connect-socal-2024-final-complete-040424.pdf; see also SCAG (Apr. 2024) MMRP for the 2024 RTP/SCS PEIR, pp. A-3 – A-47 (PMMs related to Agriculture and Forestry, Air Quality, Biological Resources, GHG, Transportation, and Utilities and Service Systems), https://scag.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/exhibit_a_mmrp_508_final.pdf; SCAG (May 2020) MMRP for the 2020 RTP/SCS PEIR, pp. 2-52 (same), https://scag.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/exhibita_connectsocal_peir.pdf. 10 CAPCOA (Dec. 2021) Handbook for Analyzing Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions, Assessing Climate Vulnerabilities, and Advancing Health and Equity, pp. 28-30, 45-49 (listing measures), pp. 50-373 (discussing individual measures), https://www.airquality.org/ClimateChange/Documents/Final%20Handbook_ AB434.pdf; see also CAPCOA (Aug. 2010) Quantifying GHGs and Mitigation, pp. 64-74, 82-84 (listing measures), 94-486 (discussing individual measures), https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/ DocumentCenter/View/34123/CAPCOA-2010-GHG-Quantification-PDF 11 See e.g., CARB 2017 Scoping Plan, Appendix B (Local Action), pp. 1-10, https://ww3.arb.ca.gov/cc/scopingplan/2030sp_appb_localaction_final.pdf; CARB 2022 Scoping Plan, Appendix D (Local Action), pp. 11-12, 22-23, https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-11/2022-spappendix-d-local-actions.pdf.

Item 7.1.1, Council/Planning Hearing (4/22/25)
RE: Village at Laguna Hills Development Agreement

In conclusion, Local 11 thanks the City for the opportunity to provide these comments and respectfully requests the City continue this item until the live questions/issues discussed above are addressed before agreeing to start renegotiations with the Applicant. Additionally, Local 11 looks forward to participating in the review process for the Project Changes, DA Amendment, and CEQA review. This office requests all notices concerning any CEQA/land use actions involving the Project and Project Approvals as required under applicable law. (See e.g., Pub. Res. Code §§ 21092.2, 21167(f); Gov. Code § 65092.) Please send notice by electronic and regular mail and inform us of any fees associated with this request. Thank you for consideration of these comments. We ask that this letter be placed in the Project’s administrative record.

Sincerely,
__________________________________________________
Jordan R. Sisson
Attorney for UNITE HERE Local 11

ATTACHMENTS
Exh. A. DA Site Plan
Exh. B. Proposed Major Project Modifications Site Plan
Exh. C. DA Milestone
EXHIBIT A: DA SITE PLAN1
1 Agenda Packet (3/22/22), pp. 370-371, https://lagunahillsca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/570/files/agenda/1157.

EXHIBIT A (continued)
EXHIBIT B: Major Project Modification Site Plan2
2 Agenda Report (4/22/25) p. 179
Exhibit C: DA Milestones3
3 Agenda Packet (3/22/22), pp. 118-##, https://lagunahillsca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/570/files/agenda/1157.

Exhibit C (continued)
Exhibit C (continued)
Exhibit C (continued)

CITY OF LAGUNA HILLS
Supplemental Agenda Material Memo
Supplemental Agenda Materials related to an item on a City Council Agenda, submitted to the City Council after distribution of the agenda packet, will be available for public inspection at the same time the materials are distributed to the City Council. Supplemental Agenda Materials are available for inspection during normal business hours in the City Clerk’s office located at 24035 El Toro Road, Laguna Hills, California. In addition, such materials will be made available for public review at the same time the materials are distributed to the City Council on the City’s website at: https://lagunahillsca.portal.civicclerk.com/ and at the respective public meeting.

DATE: April 22, 2025
TO: City Council
City Staff
FROM: Jennifer Lee, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Agenda Item No. 4.13 and No. 4.16 – Recommendation to Oppose Unless Amended: SB 16, and Opposition to AB 647
This memo is to note a correction made to the recent staff reports titled: “Recommendation to Oppose Unless Amended: SB 16 (Blakespear) – Homeless Housing Reporting Requirements” and “Opposition to AB 647 (Gonzalez) – Housing Development Approvals:

Residential Units.”
Upon review, it was discovered that the versions of AB 647 and SB 16 originally attached to the reports were incorrect. The attachment for AB 647 referenced a 2023 bill related to grocery workers, rather than the intended 2025 housing measure. Similarly, the SB 16 attachment referenced an unrelated 2021 version concerning peace officer records. Both staff reports have been updated to include the correct versions of the bills corresponding with the analysis provided.

Attachments:

Senate Bill 16
Assembly Bills 647
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2025
SENATE BILL No. 16
Introduced by Senator Blakespear
December 2, 2024
An act relating to homelessness. An act to amend Section 65583 of the Government Code, to add Article 3 (commencing with Section 50245) to Chapter 6.5 of Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 5963.02 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to homelessness.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 16, as amended, Blakespear. Homelessness. Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program: housing element: Integrated Plan for Behavioral Health Services and Outcomes.
(1)  The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development that includes, among other things, a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to include, among other things, an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints that are relevant to meeting these needs.

For a local government that does not receive funding to address the population of individuals who are unhoused pursuant to certain state programs, this bill would require the assessment to include, among other things, specified data regarding the population of individuals who are unhoused and a description of key actions that will be taken to reduce individuals who are unhoused based on the data. By imposing additional duties on local governments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

98 (2)  Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (HHAP) for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, counties, and tribes in 6 rounds, which are administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Upon appropriation by the Legislature, this bill would establish Round 7 of the HHAP program. To be eligible for a Round 7 base program allocation, the bill would require specified jurisdictions to apply as part of a region and be signatory to a Round 7 regionally coordinated homeless action plan that has been approved by the department. The bill would require the plan to include an inventory of existing and planned city-operated shelters, the expected cost for those shelters, and a commitment by counties to contribute 50% of the expected costs, as specified.

On or before the end of the 2025–26 fiscal year, the bill would require a grantee to submit to the department an update on its regionally coordinated homeless action plan activities for department review, as specified. The bill would authorize a board of supervisors of a county to adopt a resolution determining that contributing 50% of expected costs is financially infeasible, as specified. If a county adopts the resolution, the bill would require the department to determine the contribution percentage of the county, as specified. On or before the end of the 2025–26 fiscal year, the bill would require cities to submit to the department the actual operating cost of city-operated shelters and require counties to reimburse cities for any excess contributions.

The bill would authorize the department to withhold 50% of funds from a grantee until the department has approved the update. (3)  Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, funds a system of county mental health plans for the provision of mental health services, as specified. Existing law authorizes the MHSA to be amended by a 2⁄3 vote of the Legislature if the amendments are consistent with and further the intent of the MHSA. Existing law authorizes the Legislature to add provisions to clarify procedures and terms of the MHSA by majority vote. Existing law, the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA), a legislative act amending the MHSA that was approved by the voters as Proposition 1 98 SB 16 — 2 —
at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election, recast the MHSA.

The BHSA requires each county to prepare and submit an integrated plan, including sections for specified programs and services, such as services provided through federal grants or other county mental health and substance use disorder programs, and annual updates to the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission and the State Department of Health Care Services.

This bill would additionally require the integrated plan to include a section regarding programs and services relating to Round 7 of the HHAP program, as prescribed.
(4)  The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (5)  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.

Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions, as defined, with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified.

This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to address homelessness.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no yes.

State-mandated local program: no yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. (a)  The Legislature finds and declares all of the line 2 following:
line 3 (1)  California has the largest number of residents who are line 4 unhoused, with over 123,000 people who are unhoused on a given line 5 night, which is almost 30 percent of the nation’s number, according line 6 to the United States Department of Housing and Urban line 7 Development’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Report. 98 — 3 — SB 16
line 1 (2)  The state’s crisis of individuals who are unhoused is the line 2 product of the state’s affordable housing shortage. line 3 (3)  Innovative, cost-effective models for interim housing, which line 4 provide noncongregate spaces for people to live and sleep in safety, line 5 have been implemented in jurisdictions across the state. line 6 (4)  These interim housing models are a scalable, timely solution line 7 to the population of individuals who are unhoused while the state line 8 builds sufficient permanent affordable housing to address the line 9 state’s affordable housing shortage.
line 10 (5)  California’s counties manage and operate regional social line 11 service systems that deliver vital safety net programs and benefits line 12 to Californians in need.
line 13 (b)  Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that this act line 14 promotes collaboration between cities and counties on the line 15 operation of facilities serving individuals who are unhoused and line 16 further integrates those facilities into regional social service line 17 systems.
line 18 SEC. 2. Section 65583 of the Government Code is amended to line 19 read:
line 20 65583. The housing element shall consist of an identification line 21 and analysis of existing and projected housing needs and a line 22 statement of goals, policies, quantified objectives, financial line 23 resources, and scheduled programs for the preservation, line 24 improvement, and development of housing. The housing element line 25 shall identify adequate sites for housing, including rental housing, line 26 factory-built housing, mobilehomes, and emergency shelters, and line 27 shall make adequate provision for the existing and projected needs line 28 of all economic segments of the community. The housing element line 29 shall contain all of the following:
line 30 (a)  An assessment of housing needs and an inventory of line 31 resources and constraints that are relevant to the meeting of these line 32 needs. The assessment and inventory shall include all of the line 33 following:
line 34 (1)  An analysis of population and employment trends and line 35 documentation of projections and a quantification of the locality’s line 36 existing and projected housing needs for all income levels. These line 37 existing and projected needs shall include the locality’s share of line 38 the regional housing need in accordance with Section 65584. line 39 (2)  An analysis and documentation of household characteristics, line 40 including level of payment compared to ability to pay, housing 98 SB 16 — 4 —
line 1 characteristics, including overcrowding, and housing stock line 2 condition.
line 3 (3)  An inventory of land suitable and available for residential line 4 development, including vacant sites and sites having realistic and line 5 demonstrated potential for redevelopment during the planning line 6 period to meet the locality’s housing need for a designated income line 7 level, and an analysis of the relationship of zoning and public line 8 facilities and services to these sites, and an analysis of the line 9 relationship of the sites identified in the land inventory to the line 10 jurisdiction’s duty to affirmatively further fair housing. line 11 (4)  (A)  The identification of one or more zoning designations line 12 that allow residential uses, including mixed uses, where emergency line 13 shelters are allowed as a permitted use without a conditional use line 14 or other discretionary permit and that are suitable for residential line 15 uses. The identified zoning designations shall include sufficient line 16 sites meeting the requirements of subparagraph (H) with sufficient line 17 capacity, as described in subparagraph (I), to accommodate the line 18 need for emergency shelter identified in paragraph (7), except that line 19 each local government shall identify a zoning designation or line 20 designations that can accommodate at least one year-round line 21 emergency shelter. If the local government cannot identify a zoning line 22 designation or designations with sufficient capacity, the local line 23 government shall include a program to amend its zoning ordinance line 24 to meet the requirements of this paragraph within one year of the line 25 adoption of the housing element. The local government may line 26 identify additional zoning designations where emergency shelters line 27 are permitted with a conditional use permit. The local government line 28 shall also demonstrate that existing or proposed permit processing, line 29 development, and management standards that apply to emergency line 30 shelters are objective and encourage and facilitate the development line 31 of, or conversion to, emergency shelters.
line 32 (B)  Emergency shelters shall only be subject to the following line 33 written, objective standards:
line 34 (i)  The maximum number of beds or persons permitted to be line 35 served nightly by the facility.
line 36 (ii)  Sufficient parking to accommodate all staff working in the line 37 emergency shelter, provided that the standards do not require more line 38 parking for emergency shelters than other residential or commercial line 39 uses within the same zone.
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line 1 (iii)  The size and location of exterior and interior onsite waiting line 2 and client intake areas.
line 3 (iv)  The provision of onsite management.
line 4 (v)  The proximity to other emergency shelters, provided that line 5 emergency shelters are not required to be more than 300 feet apart. line 6 (vi)  The length of stay.
line 7 (vii)  Lighting.
line 8 (viii)  Security during hours that the emergency shelter is in line 9 operation.
line 10 (C)  For purposes of this paragraph, “emergency shelter” shall line 11 include other interim interventions, including, but not limited to, line 12 a navigation center, bridge housing, and respite or recuperative line 13 care.
line 14 (D)  The permit processing, development, and management line 15 standards applied under this paragraph shall not be deemed to be line 16 discretionary acts within the meaning of the California line 17 Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section line 18 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
line 19 (E)  If a local government has adopted written, objective line 20 standards pursuant to subparagraph (B), the local government shall line 21 include an analysis of the standards in the analysis of constraints line 22 pursuant to paragraph (5).
line 23 (F)  A local government that can demonstrate, to the satisfaction line 24 of the department, the existence of one or more emergency shelters line 25 either within its jurisdiction or pursuant to a multijurisdictional line 26 agreement that can accommodate that jurisdiction’s need and the line 27 needs of the other jurisdictions that are a part of the agreement for line 28 emergency shelter identified in paragraph (7) may comply with line 29 the zoning requirements of subparagraph (A) by identifying a line 30 zoning designation where new emergency shelters are allowed line 31 with a conditional use permit.
line 32 (G)  A local government with an existing ordinance or ordinances line 33 that comply with this paragraph shall not be required to take line 34 additional action to identify zoning designations for emergency line 35 shelters. The housing element must only describe how existing line 36 ordinances, policies, and standards are consistent with the line 37 requirements of this paragraph.
line 38 (H)  The zoning designation or designations where emergency line 39 shelters are allowed, as described in subparagraph (A), shall include line 40 sites that meet at least one of the following standards:
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line 1 (i)  Vacant sites zoned for residential use.
line 2 (ii)  Vacant sites zoned for nonresidential use that allow line 3 residential development, if the local government can demonstrate line 4 how the sites with this zoning designation that are being used to line 5 satisfy the requirements of paragraph (1) are located near amenities line 6 and services that serve people experiencing homelessness, which line 7 may include health care, transportation, retail, employment, and line 8 social services, or that the local government will provide free line 9 transportation to services or offer services onsite. line 10 (iii)  Nonvacant sites zoned for residential use or for line 11 nonresidential use that allow residential development that are line 12 suitable for use as a shelter in the current planning period, or which line 13 can be redeveloped for use as a shelter in the current planning line 14 period. A nonvacant site with an existing use shall be presumed line 15 to impede emergency shelter development absent an analysis based line 16 on substantial evidence that the use is likely to be discontinued line 17 during the planning period. The analysis shall consider current line 18 market demand for the current uses, market conditions, and line 19 incentives or standards to encourage shelter development. line 20 (I)  The zoning designation or designations shall have sufficient line 21 sites meeting the requirements of subparagraph (H) to line 22 accommodate the need for shelters identified pursuant to paragraph line 23 (7). The number of people experiencing homelessness that can be line 24 accommodated on any site shall be demonstrated by dividing the line 25 square footage of the site by a minimum of 200 square feet per line 26 person, unless the locality can demonstrate that one or more line 27 shelters were developed on sites that have fewer square feet per line 28 person during the prior planning period or the locality provides line 29 similar evidence to the department demonstrating that the site can line 30 accommodate more people experiencing homelessness. Any line 31 standard applied pursuant to this subparagraph is intended only line 32 for calculating site capacity pursuant to this section, and shall not line 33 be construed as establishing a development standard applicable to line 34 the siting, development, or approval of a shelter. line 35 (J)  Notwithstanding subparagraph (H), a local government may line 36 accommodate the need for emergency shelters identified pursuant line 37 to paragraph (7) on sites owned by the local government if it line 38 demonstrates with substantial evidence that the sites will be made line 39 available for emergency shelter during the planning period, they line 40 are suitable for residential use, and the sites are located near 98 — 7 — SB 16
line 1 amenities and services that serve people experiencing line 2 homelessness, which may include health care, transportation, retail, line 3 employment, and social services, or that the local government will line 4 provide free transportation to services or offer services onsite. line 5 (5)  An analysis of potential and actual governmental constraints line 6 upon the maintenance, improvement, or development of housing line 7 for all income levels, including the types of housing identified in line 8 paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), and for persons with disabilities line 9 as identified in the analysis pursuant to paragraph (7), including line 10 land use controls, building codes and their enforcement, site line 11 improvements, fees, and other exactions required of developers, line 12 local processing and permit procedures, historic preservation line 13 practices and policies and an assessment of how existing and line 14 proposed historic designations affect the locality’s ability to meet line 15 its share of the housing need pursuant to paragraph (1), and any line 16 locally adopted ordinances that directly impact the cost and supply line 17 of residential development. The analysis shall also demonstrate line 18 local efforts to remove governmental constraints that hinder the line 19 locality from meeting its share of the regional housing need in line 20 accordance with Section 65584 and from meeting the need for line 21 housing for persons with disabilities, supportive housing, line 22 transitional housing, and emergency shelters identified pursuant line 23 to paragraph (7).
line 24 (6)  An analysis of potential and actual nongovernmental line 25 constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or development line 26 of housing for all income levels, including the availability of line 27 financing, the price of land, the cost of construction, the requests line 28 to develop housing at densities below those anticipated in the line 29 analysis required by subdivision (c) of Section 65583.2, and the line 30 length of time between receiving approval for a housing line 31 development and submittal of an application for building permits line 32 for that housing development that hinder the construction of a line 33 locality’s share of the regional housing need in accordance with line 34 Section 65584. The analysis shall also demonstrate local efforts line 35 to remove nongovernmental constraints that create a gap between line 36 the locality’s planning for the development of housing for all line 37 income levels and the construction of that housing. line 38 (7)  (A)  An analysis of any special housing needs, such as those line 39 of the elderly; persons with disabilities, including a developmental line 40 disability, as defined in Section 4512 of the Welfare and 98 SB 16 — 8 —
line 1 Institutions Code; extremely low income households; large line 2 families; farmworkers; families with female heads of households; line 3 and families and persons in need of emergency shelter. The need line 4 for emergency shelter shall be assessed based on the capacity line 5 necessary to accommodate the most recent homeless point-in-time line 6 count conducted before the start of the planning period, the need line 7 for emergency shelter based on number of beds available on a line 8 year-round and seasonal basis, the number of shelter beds that go line 9 unused on an average monthly basis within a one-year period, and line 10 the percentage of those in emergency shelters that move to line 11 permanent housing solutions. The need for emergency shelter may line 12 be reduced by the number of supportive housing units that are line 13 identified in an adopted 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness line 14 and that are either vacant or for which funding has been identified line 15 to allow construction during the planning period. An analysis of line 16 special housing needs by a city or county may include an analysis line 17 of the need for frequent user coordinated care housing services. line 18 (B)  For the seventh and subsequent revisions of the housing line 19 element, the analysis required in subparagraph (A) shall also line 20 include an analysis of the housing needs of acutely and extremely line 21 low income households.
line 22 (8)  An analysis of opportunities for energy conservation with line 23 respect to residential development. Cities and counties are line 24 encouraged to include weatherization and energy efficiency line 25 improvements as part of publicly subsidized housing rehabilitation line 26 projects. This may include energy efficiency measures that line 27 encompass the building envelope, its heating and cooling systems, line 28 and its electrical system.
line 29 (9)  An analysis of existing assisted housing developments that line 30 are eligible to change from low-income housing uses during the line 31 next 10 years due to termination of subsidy contracts, mortgage line 32 prepayment, or expiration of restrictions on use. “Assisted housing line 33 developments,” for the purpose of this section, shall mean line 34 multifamily rental housing that receives governmental assistance line 35 under federal programs listed in subdivision (a) of Section line 36 65863.10, state and local multifamily revenue bond programs, line 37 local redevelopment programs, the federal Community line 38 Development Block Grant Program, or local in-lieu fees. “Assisted line 39 housing developments” shall also include multifamily rental units line 40 that were developed pursuant to a local inclusionary housing 98 — 9 — SB 16
line 1 program or used to qualify for a density bonus pursuant to Section line 2 65916.
line 3 (A)  The analysis shall include a listing of each development by line 4 project name and address, the type of governmental assistance line 5 received, the earliest possible date of change from low-income line 6 use, and the total number of elderly and nonelderly units that could line 7 be lost from the locality’s low-income housing stock in each year line 8 during the 10-year period. For purposes of state and federally line 9 funded projects, the analysis required by this subparagraph need line 10 only contain information available on a statewide basis. line 11 (B)  The analysis shall estimate the total cost of producing new line 12 rental housing that is comparable in size and rent levels, to replace line 13 the units that could change from low-income use, and an estimated line 14 cost of preserving the assisted housing developments. This cost line 15 analysis for replacement housing may be done aggregately for line 16 each five-year period and does not have to contain a line 17 project-by-project cost estimate.
line 18 (C)  The analysis shall identify public and private nonprofit line 19 corporations known to the local government that have legal and line 20 managerial capacity to acquire and manage these housing line 21 developments.
line 22 (D)  The analysis shall identify and consider the use of all federal, line 23 state, and local financing and subsidy programs that can be used line 24 to preserve, for lower income households, the assisted housing line 25 developments, identified in this paragraph, including, but not line 26 limited to, federal Community Development Block Grant Program line 27 funds, tax increment funds received by a redevelopment agency line 28 of the community, and administrative fees received by a housing line 29 authority operating within the community. In considering the use line 30 of these financing and subsidy programs, the analysis shall identify line 31 the amounts of funds under each available program that have not line 32 been legally obligated for other purposes and that could be line 33 available for use in preserving assisted housing developments. line 34 (10)  For a local government that does not receive funding line 35 pursuant to the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention line 36 program (Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50216)) or the line 37 Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Housing, Assistance, and line 38 Prevention Program (Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section line 39 50230) of Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code), line 40 all of the following:
98 SB 16 — 10 —
line 1 (A)  An itemized list of the specific federal, state, and local line 2 resources available to assist individuals who are unhoused, line 3 including interim and permanent housing, and mental and line 4 behavioral health services.
line 5 (B)  A description of the actions taken by the local government line 6 to connect individuals who are unhoused to the resources described line 7 in subparagraph (A).
line 8 (C)  (i)  Most up-to-date data on the population of individuals line 9 who are unhoused, which shall include all of the following:
line 10 (I)  The number of individuals who are unhoused. line 11 (II)  The average length of time individuals are unhoused. line 12 (III)  The number and percentage of individuals who are line 13 unhoused that moved into permanent housing.
line 14 (IV)  The number of people who become unhoused after moving line 15 into permanent housing.
line 16 (V)  The number of people who became unhoused for the first line 17 time.
line 18 (VI)  The number of people who become unhoused after exiting line 19 institutional settings, including, but not limited to, jails, prisons, line 20 and hospitals.
line 21 (ii)  The data specified in clause (i) shall be disaggregated by line 22 age, racial, and ethnic demographics.
line 23 (D)  A description of key actions that will be taken to reduce line 24 individuals who are unhoused based on the data points described line 25 in subparagraph (C).
line 26 (E)  Actions taken to coordinate with cities in the region, counties line 27 or council of governments, and identification and analysis of the line 28 specific roles and responsibilities regarding outreach and site line 29 coordination, siting and use of available land, the development of line 30 shelter, interim, and permanent housing options, and the line 31 coordination and connection to the delivery of services to line 32 individuals who are unhoused, or at risk of becoming unhoused, line 33 including specifying roles and coordination plans in relation to line 34 the Mental Health Services Act or Behavioral Health Services Act, line 35 within the region.
line 36 (F)  Identify programs that prevent individuals from becoming line 37 unhoused and other actions taken to prevent vulnerable populations line 38 from becoming unhoused, such as current and former foster youth, line 39 veterans, persons exiting the judicial system, and persons with line 40 special housing needs.
98 — 11 — SB 16
line 1 (b)  (1)  A statement of the community’s goals, quantified line 2 objectives, and policies relative to affirmatively furthering fair line 3 housing and to the maintenance, preservation, improvement, and line 4 development of housing.
line 5 (2)  It is recognized that the total housing needs identified line 6 pursuant to subdivision (a) may exceed available resources and line 7 the community’s ability to satisfy this need within the content of line 8 the general plan requirements outlined in Article 5 (commencing line 9 with Section 65300). Under these circumstances, the quantified line 10 objectives need not be identical to the total housing needs. The line 11 quantified objectives shall establish the maximum number of line 12 housing units by income category that can be constructed, line 13 rehabilitated, and conserved over a five-year time period. line 14 (c)  A program that sets forth a schedule of actions during the line 15 planning period, each with a timeline for implementation, that may line 16 recognize that certain programs are ongoing, such that there will line 17 be beneficial impacts of the programs within the planning period, line 18 that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake line 19 to implement the policies and achieve the goals and objectives of line 20 the housing element through the administration of land use and line 21 development controls, the provision of regulatory concessions and line 22 incentives, the utilization of appropriate federal and state financing line 23 and subsidy programs when available, and the utilization of moneys line 24 in a low- and moderate-income housing fund of an agency if the line 25 locality has established a redevelopment project area pursuant to line 26 the Community Redevelopment Law (Division 24 (commencing line 27 with Section 33000) of the Health and Safety Code). In order to line 28 make adequate provision for the housing needs of all economic line 29 segments of the community, the program shall do all of the line 30 following:
line 31 (1)  Identify actions that will be taken to make sites available line 32 during the planning period with appropriate zoning and line 33 development standards and with services and facilities to line 34 accommodate that portion of the city’s or county’s share of the line 35 regional housing need for all income levels that could not be line 36 accommodated on sites identified in the inventory completed line 37 pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) without rezoning, and line 38 to comply with the requirements of Section 65584.09. Sites shall line 39 be identified as needed to affirmatively further fair housing and line 40 to facilitate and encourage the development of a variety of types 98 SB 16 — 12 —
line 1 of housing for all income levels, including multifamily rental line 2 housing, factory-built housing, mobilehomes, housing for line 3 agricultural employees, supportive housing, single-room occupancy line 4 units, emergency shelters, and transitional housing. line 5 (A)  Where the inventory of sites, pursuant to paragraph (3) of line 6 subdivision (a), does not identify adequate sites to accommodate line 7 the need for groups of all household income levels pursuant to line 8 Section 65584, a program for rezoning of those sites, subject to line 9 the following deadlines:
line 10 (i)  For the adoption of the sixth revision of the housing element, line 11 jurisdictions with an eight-year housing element planning period line 12 pursuant to Section 65588, including adoption of minimum density line 13 and development standards or, for a jurisdiction in the coastal zone, line 14 any necessary local coastal program amendments related to land line 15 use designations, changes in intensity of land use, zoning line 16 ordinances, or zoning district maps, consistent with Sections 30512, line 17 30512.2, 30513, and 30514 of the Public Resources Code, shall line 18 be completed no later than three years after either the date the line 19 housing element is adopted pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section line 20 65585 or the date that is 90 days after receipt of comments from line 21 the department pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 65585, line 22 whichever is earlier, unless the deadline is extended pursuant to line 23 subdivision (f). Notwithstanding the foregoing, for a local line 24 government that fails to adopt a housing element that the line 25 department has found to be in substantial compliance with this line 26 article within 120 days of the statutory deadline in Section 65588 line 27 for adoption of the housing element, rezoning of those sites, line 28 including adoption of minimum density and development standards line 29 or, for a jurisdiction in the coastal zone, any necessary local coastal line 30 program amendments related to land use designations, changes in line 31 intensity of land use, zoning ordinances, or zoning district maps, line 32 consistent with Sections 30512, 30512.2, 30513, and 30514 of the line 33 Public Resources Code, shall be completed no later than one year line 34 from the statutory deadline in Section 65588 for adoption of the line 35 housing element.
line 36 (ii)  For adoption of the seventh and all subsequent revisions of line 37 the housing element, rezonings shall be completed no later than line 38 one year from the statutory deadline in Section 65588 for adoption line 39 of the housing element.
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line 1 (iii)  Notwithstanding clause (ii), for the adoption of the seventh line 2 and all subsequent revisions of the housing element, rezonings line 3 shall be completed no later than three years and 90 days after the line 4 statutory deadline in Section 65588 for adoption of the housing line 5 element, unless the deadline is extended pursuant to subdivision line 6 (f). This clause shall apply only if the local government complies line 7 with all of the following:
line 8 (I)  The local government submits a draft element or draft line 9 amendment to the department for review pursuant to paragraph line 10 (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 65585 at least 90 days before the line 11 statutory deadline established in Section 65588 for adoption of the line 12 housing element.
line 13 (II)  The local government receives from the department findings line 14 that the draft element or draft amendment substantially complies line 15 with this article pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of line 16 Section 65585 on or before the statutory deadline set forth in line 17 Section 65588 for adoption of the housing element. line 18 (III)  The local government adopts the draft element or draft line 19 amendment that the department found to substantially comply with line 20 this article no later than 120 days after the statutory deadline set line 21 forth in Section 65588.
line 22 (B)  Where the inventory of sites, pursuant to paragraph (3) of line 23 subdivision (a), does not identify adequate sites to accommodate line 24 the need for groups of all household income levels pursuant to line 25 Section 65584, the program shall identify sites that can be line 26 developed for housing within the planning period pursuant to line 27 subdivision (h) of Section 65583.2. The identification of sites shall line 28 include all components specified in Section 65583.2. line 29 (C)  Where the inventory of sites pursuant to paragraph (3) of line 30 subdivision (a) does not identify adequate sites to accommodate line 31 the need for farmworker housing, the program shall provide for line 32 sufficient sites to meet the need with zoning that permits line 33 farmworker housing use by right, including density and line 34 development standards that could accommodate and facilitate the line 35 feasibility of the development of farmworker housing for low- and line 36 very low income households.
line 37 (2)  (A)  Assist in the development of adequate housing to meet line 38 the needs of extremely low, very low, low-, and moderate-income line 39 households.
98 SB 16 — 14 —
line 1 (B)  For the seventh and subsequent revisions of the housing line 2 element, the program shall also assist in the development of line 3 adequate housing to meet the needs of acutely low income line 4 households.
line 5 (3)  Address and, where appropriate and legally possible, remove line 6 governmental and nongovernmental constraints to the maintenance, line 7 improvement, and development of housing, including housing for line 8 all income levels and housing for persons with disabilities. The line 9 program shall remove constraints to, and provide reasonable line 10 accommodations for housing designed for, intended for occupancy line 11 by, or with supportive services for, persons with disabilities. line 12 Transitional housing and supportive housing shall be considered line 13 a residential use of property and shall be subject only to those line 14 restrictions that apply to other residential dwellings of the same line 15 type in the same zone. Supportive housing, as defined in Section line 16 65650, shall be a use by right in all zones where multifamily and line 17 mixed uses are permitted, as provided in Article 11 (commencing line 18 with Section 65650).
line 19 (4)  Conserve and improve the condition of the existing line 20 affordable housing stock, which may include addressing ways to line 21 mitigate the loss of dwelling units demolished by public or private line 22 action.
line 23 (5)  Promote and affirmatively further fair housing opportunities line 24 and promote housing throughout the community or communities line 25 for all persons regardless of race, religion, sex, marital status, line 26 ancestry, national origin, color, familial status, or disability, and line 27 other characteristics protected by the California Fair Employment line 28 and Housing Act (Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of line 29 Division 3 of Title 2), Section 65008, and any other state and line 30 federal fair housing and planning law.
line 31 (6)  Preserve for lower income households the assisted housing line 32 developments identified pursuant to paragraph (9) of subdivision line 33 (a). The program for preservation of the assisted housing line 34 developments shall utilize, to the extent necessary, all available line 35 federal, state, and local financing and subsidy programs identified line 36 in paragraph (9) of subdivision (a), except where a community has line 37 other urgent needs for which alternative funding sources are not line 38 available. The program may include strategies that involve local line 39 regulation and technical assistance.
98 — 15 — SB 16
line 1 (7)  Develop a plan that incentivizes and promotes the creation line 2 of accessory dwelling units that can be offered at affordable rent, line 3 as defined in Section 50053 of the Health and Safety Code, for line 4 very low, low-, or moderate-income households. For purposes of line 5 this paragraph, “accessory dwelling units” has the same meaning line 6 as “accessory dwelling unit” as defined in subdivision (a) of line 7 Section 66313.
line 8 (8)  Include an identification of the agencies and officials line 9 responsible for the implementation of the various actions and the line 10 means by which consistency will be achieved with other general line 11 plan elements and community goals.
line 12 (9)  Include a diligent effort by the local government to achieve line 13 public participation of all economic segments of the community line 14 in the development of the housing element, and the program shall line 15 describe this effort.
line 16 (10)  (A)  Affirmatively further fair housing in accordance with line 17 Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 8899.50) of Division 1 of line 18 Title 2. The program shall include an assessment of fair housing line 19 in the jurisdiction that shall include all of the following line 20 components:
line 21 (i)  A summary of fair housing issues in the jurisdiction and an line 22 assessment of the jurisdiction’s fair housing enforcement and fair line 23 housing outreach capacity.
line 24 (ii)  An analysis of available federal, state, and local data and line 25 knowledge to identify integration and segregation patterns and line 26 trends, racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty and line 27 affluence, disparities in access to opportunity, and disproportionate line 28 housing needs, including displacement risk. The analysis shall line 29 identify and examine such patterns, trends, areas, disparities, and line 30 needs, both within the jurisdiction and comparing the jurisdiction line 31 to the region in which it is located, based on race and other line 32 characteristics protected by the California Fair Employment and line 33 Housing Act (Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of line 34 Division 3 of Title 2) and Section 65008.
line 35 (iii)  An assessment of the contributing factors, including the line 36 local and regional historical origins and current policies and line 37 practices, for the fair housing issues identified under clauses (i) line 38 and (ii).
line 39 (iv)  An identification of the jurisdiction’s fair housing priorities line 40 and goals, giving highest priority to those factors identified in 98 SB 16 — 16 —
line 1 clause (iii) that limit or deny fair housing choice or access to line 2 opportunity, or negatively impact fair housing or civil rights line 3 compliance, and identifying the metrics and milestones for line 4 determining what fair housing results will be achieved. line 5 (v)  Strategies and actions to implement those priorities and line 6 goals, which may include, but are not limited to, enhancing line 7 mobility strategies and encouraging development of new affordable line 8 housing in areas of opportunity, as well as place-based strategies line 9 to encourage community revitalization, including preservation of line 10 existing affordable housing, and protecting existing residents from line 11 displacement.
line 12 (B)  A jurisdiction that completes or revises an assessment of line 13 fair housing pursuant to Subpart A (commencing with Section line 14 5.150) of Part 5 of Subtitle A of Title 24 of the Code of Federal line 15 Regulations, as published in Volume 80 of the Federal Register, line 16 Number 136, page 42272, dated July 16, 2015, or an analysis of line 17 impediments to fair housing choice in accordance with the line 18 requirements of Section 91.225 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal line 19 Regulations in effect before August 17, 2015, may incorporate line 20 relevant portions of that assessment or revised assessment of fair line 21 housing or analysis or revised analysis of impediments to fair line 22 housing into its housing element.
line 23 (C)  (i)  The requirements of this paragraph shall apply to housing line 24 elements due to be revised pursuant to Section 65588 on or after line 25 January 1, 2021.
line 26 (ii)  The assessment required pursuant to this paragraph shall be line 27 completed before the planning agency makes its first draft revision line 28 of a housing element available for public comment pursuant to line 29 subdivision (b) of Section 65585.
line 30 (D)  (i)  The department shall develop a standardized reporting line 31 format for programs and actions taken pursuant to this paragraph. line 32 The standardized reporting format shall enable the reporting of all line 33 of the assessment components listed in subparagraph (A) and, at line 34 a minimum, include all of the following fields:
line 35 (I)  Timelines for implementation.
line 36 (II)  Responsible party or parties.
line 37 (III)  Resources committed from the local budget to affirmatively line 38 further fair housing.
line 39 (IV)  Action areas.
line 40 (V)  Potential impacts of the program.
98 — 17 — SB 16
line 1 (ii)  A local government shall utilize the standardized report line 2 format developed pursuant to this subparagraph for the seventh line 3 and each subsequent revision of the housing element. line 4 (d)  (1)  A local government may satisfy all or part of its line 5 requirement to identify a zone or zones suitable for the line 6 development of emergency shelters pursuant to paragraph (4) of line 7 subdivision (a) by adopting and implementing a multijurisdictional line 8 agreement, with a maximum of two other adjacent communities, line 9 that requires the participating jurisdictions to develop at least one line 10 year-round emergency shelter within two years of the beginning line 11 of the planning period.
line 12 (2)  The agreement shall allocate a portion of the new shelter line 13 capacity to each jurisdiction as credit toward its emergency shelter line 14 need, and each jurisdiction shall describe how the capacity was line 15 allocated as part of its housing element.
line 16 (3)  Each member jurisdiction of a multijurisdictional agreement line 17 shall describe in its housing element all of the following:
line 18 (A)  How the joint facility will meet the jurisdiction’s emergency line 19 shelter need.
line 20 (B)  The jurisdiction’s contribution to the facility for both the line 21 development and ongoing operation and management of the line 22 facility.
line 23 (C)  The amount and source of the funding that the jurisdiction line 24 contributes to the facility.
line 25 (4)  The aggregate capacity claimed by the participating line 26 jurisdictions in their housing elements shall not exceed the actual line 27 capacity of the shelter.
line 28 (e)  Except as otherwise provided in this article, amendments to line 29 this article that alter the required content of a housing element line 30 shall apply to both of the following:
line 31 (1)  A housing element or housing element amendment prepared line 32 pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 65588 or Section 65584.02, line 33 when a city, county, or city and county submits a draft to the line 34 department for review pursuant to Section 65585 more than 90 line 35 days after the effective date of the amendment to this section. line 36 (2)  Any housing element or housing element amendment line 37 prepared pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 65588 or Section line 38 65584.02, when the city, county, or city and county fails to submit line 39 the first draft to the department before the due date specified in line 40 Section 65588 or 65584.02.
98 SB 16 — 18 —
line 1 (f)  The deadline for completing required rezoning pursuant to line 2 subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) shall be line 3 extended by one year if the local government has completed the line 4 rezoning at densities sufficient to accommodate at least 75 percent line 5 of the units for lower income households and if the legislative line 6 body at the conclusion of a public hearing determines, based upon line 7 substantial evidence, that any of the following circumstances exists:
line 8 (1)  The local government has been unable to complete the line 9 rezoning because of the action or inaction beyond the control of line 10 the local government of any other state, federal, or local agency. line 11 (2)  The local government is unable to complete the rezoning line 12 because of infrastructure deficiencies due to fiscal or regulatory line 13 constraints.
line 14 (3)  The local government must undertake a major revision to line 15 its general plan in order to accommodate the housing-related line 16 policies of a sustainable communities strategy or an alternative line 17 planning strategy adopted pursuant to Section 65080. line 18 The resolution and the findings shall be transmitted to the line 19 department together with a detailed budget and schedule for line 20 preparation and adoption of the required rezonings, including plans line 21 for citizen participation and expected interim action. The schedule line 22 shall provide for adoption of the required rezoning within one year line 23 of the adoption of the resolution.
line 24 (g)  (1)  If a local government fails to complete the rezoning by line 25 the deadline provided in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of line 26 subdivision (c), as it may be extended pursuant to subdivision (f), line 27 except as provided in paragraph (2), a local government may not line 28 disapprove a housing development project, nor require a line 29 conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other line 30 locally imposed discretionary permit, or impose a condition that line 31 would render the project infeasible, if the housing development line 32 project, (A) is proposed to be located on a site required to be line 33 rezoned pursuant to the program action required by that line 34 subparagraph and, (B) complies with applicable, objective general line 35 plan and zoning standards and criteria, including design review line 36 standards, described in the program action required by that line 37 subparagraph. Any subdivision of sites shall be subject to the line 38 Subdivision Map Act (Division 2 (commencing with Section line 39 66410)). Design review shall not constitute a “project” for purposes 98 — 19 — SB 16
line 1 of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public line 2 Resources Code.
line 3 (2)  A local government may disapprove a housing development line 4 described in paragraph (1) if it makes written findings supported line 5 by substantial evidence on the record that both of the following line 6 conditions exist:
line 7 (A)  The housing development project would have a specific, line 8 adverse impact upon the public health or safety unless the project line 9 is disapproved or approved upon the condition that the project be line 10 developed at a lower density. As used in this paragraph, a “specific, line 11 adverse impact” means a significant, quantifiable, direct, and line 12 unavoidable impact, based on objective, identified written public line 13 health or safety standards, policies, or conditions as they existed line 14 on the date the application was deemed complete. line 15 (B)  There is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or line 16 avoid the adverse impact identified pursuant to paragraph (1), other line 17 than the disapproval of the housing development project or the line 18 approval of the project upon the condition that it be developed at line 19 a lower density.
line 20 (3)  The applicant or any interested person may bring an action line 21 to enforce this subdivision. If a court finds that the local agency line 22 disapproved a project or conditioned its approval in violation of line 23 this subdivision, the court shall issue an order or judgment line 24 compelling compliance within 60 days. The court shall retain line 25 jurisdiction to ensure that its order or judgment is carried out. If line 26 the court determines that its order or judgment has not been carried line 27 out within 60 days, the court may issue further orders to ensure line 28 that the purposes and policies of this subdivision are fulfilled. In line 29 any such action, the city, county, or city and county shall bear the line 30 burden of proof.
line 31 (4)  For purposes of this subdivision, “housing development line 32 project” means a project to construct residential units for which line 33 the project developer provides sufficient legal commitments to the line 34 appropriate local agency to ensure the continued availability and line 35 use of at least 49 percent of the housing units for very low, low-, line 36 and moderate-income households with an affordable housing cost line 37 or affordable rent, as defined in Section 50052.5 or 50053 of the line 38 Health and Safety Code, respectively, for the period required by line 39 the applicable financing.
98 SB 16 — 20 —
line 1 (h)  An action to enforce the program actions of the housing line 2 element shall be brought pursuant to Section 1085 of the Code of line 3 Civil Procedure.
line 4 (i)  Notwithstanding any other law, the otherwise applicable line 5 timeframe set forth in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) and line 6 subdivision (d) of Section 21080.3.1 of the Public Resources Code, line 7 and paragraph (3) of subdivision (d) of Section 21082.3 of the line 8 Public Resources Code, for a Native American tribe to respond to line 9 a lead agency and request consultation in writing is extended by line 10 30 days for any housing development project application line 11 determined or deemed to be complete on or after March 4, 2020, line 12 and prior to December 31, 2021.
line 13 (j)  On or after January 1, 2024, at the discretion of the line 14 department, the analysis of government constraints pursuant to line 15 paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) may include an analysis of line 16 constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or development line 17 of housing for persons with a characteristic identified in subdivision line 18 (b) of Section 51 of the Civil Code. The implementation of this line 19 subdivision is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature line 20 in the annual Budget Act or another statute for this purpose. line 21 SEC. 3. Article 3 (commencing with Section 50245) is added line 22 to Chapter 6.5 of Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety line 23 Code, to read:
line 24
line 25 Article 3. Round 7 of the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and line 26 Prevention Program
line 27
line 28 50245. For the purposes of this article:
line 29 (a)  “City” means a city or city and county that is legally line 30 incorporated to provide local government services to its line 31 population. A city can be organized either under the general laws line 32 of this state or under a charter adopted by the local voters. line 33 (b)  “City-operated shelter” means low barrier navigation line 34 centers, interim housing, safe parking sites, and safe camping sites line 35 that are owned or leased by a city and are operated by a city or line 36 by a nonprofit provider contracted by a city.
line 37 (c)  “Low barrier navigation center” means a low barrier line 38 navigation center, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 65660 line 39 of the Government Code.
98 — 21 — SB 16
line 1 50246. (a)  Upon appropriation by the Legislature, Round 7 line 2 of the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program is line 3 hereby established.
line 4 (b)  The department shall administer all aspects of the program line 5 in accordance with this article.
line 6 50247. (a)  To be eligible for a Round 7 base program line 7 allocation, a jurisdiction that is not a tribe shall apply as part of line 8 a region and shall be signatory to a Round 7 regionally line 9 coordinated homelessness action plan that has been approved by line 10 the department.
line 11 (b)  The department shall approve a Round 7 regionally line 12 coordinated homelessness action plan when the department line 13 determines that the plan meets all of the requirements of this line 14 section.
line 15 (c)  The Round 7 regionally coordinated homelessness action line 16 plan shall include all of the following components:
line 17 (1)  For each city, an inventory of existing and planned line 18 city-operated shelters. The inventory must include the location, line 19 size, and capacity of each shelter.
line 20 (2)  The expected costs for city-operated shelters listed in line 21 paragraph (1).
line 22 (A)  Counties shall coordinate with cities to determine the line 23 expected costs.
line 24 (B)  Cities shall provide counties with estimates of the annual line 25 total cost to operate the shelters.
line 26 (C)  Beginning on January 1, 2026, the expected costs shall not line 27 exceed 125 percent of the most recent three-year average of the line 28 annual cost to operate the city’s shelters.
line 29 (3)  (A)  A commitment by counties to contribute 50 percent of line 30 the expected costs described in paragraph (2). The contribution line 31 may include the value of resources provided to city shelters, line 32 including any of the following:
line 33 (i)  Social services provided to clients of city shelters. line 34 (ii)  Assistance with services, infrastructure, and capacity line 35 building under the Providing Access and Transforming Health line 36 (PATH) program pursuant to Section 14184.700 of the Welfare line 37 and Institutions Code. The value of the resource provided pursuant line 38 to this clause shall be incentive payments, grants, or other financial line 39 support made to cities pursuant to Section 14184.700 of the line 40 Welfare and Institutions Code as a result of the assistance. 98 SB 16 — 22 —
line 1 (iii)  Staff and contractors provided to city-operated shelters. line 2 The value of the resource provided pursuant to this clause shall line 3 be the cost of providing staff and contractors.
line 4 (B)  The Legislature finds and declares that the purpose of this line 5 paragraph is to:
line 6 (i)  Ensure counties provide funding to offset one-half of cities’ line 7 costs to operate their facilities serving individuals who are line 8 unhoused.
line 9 (ii)  Permit the value of services counties provide to support the line 10 operation of city shelters to be applied toward the mandatory line 11 funding counties provide. These services may include staffing, line 12 assistance with billing Medi-Cal managed care organizations, and line 13 benefits programs, including CalWORKS and CalFresh, provided line 14 to clients of cities’ homeless-serving facilities. line 15 (d)  The regionally coordinated homelessness action plan shall line 16 be reflected in a memorandum of understanding committing each line 17 signatory to participation in, and to comply with, the regionally line 18 coordinated homelessness action plan.
line 19 50248. (a)  (1)  On or before the end of the 2025–26 fiscal line 20 year, a grantee shall submit to the department an update on their line 21 Round 7 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan line 22 activities, which shall include the contribution made pursuant line 23 paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 50247. line 24 (2)  The department shall, within 30 days, review the update and line 25 report its findings to the participating grantee pursuant to this line 26 subdivision.
line 27 (3)  If the department finds that the grantee has adhered to the line 28 requirements of this article, or concludes that the grantee has line 29 addressed any shortcomings in the update, the department shall line 30 approve the update.
line 31 (4)  (A)  If the department finds that a grantee failed to adhere line 32 to the requirements of this article, the department may require the line 33 participating jurisdictions in the region to make specific changes line 34 needed to meet the requirements of this article and may require line 35 the participating jurisdictions to provide a corrective action plan line 36 to the update to the regionally coordinated action plan to address line 37 these findings. Participating jurisdictions shall accomplish these line 38 changes or submit a corrective action plan, as applicable, within line 39 30 days of being notified by the department.
98 — 23 — SB 16
line 1 (B)  The department shall have 30 days to review the changes line 2 or corrective action plan, as applicable, to determine if they line 3 addressed the department’s concerns and approve the update, or line 4 to provide the grantee with additional guidance and a deadline line 5 for making changes or further amending the corrective action plan line 6 to address the department’s concerns.
line 7 (b)  (1)  A board of supervisors of a county may adopt a line 8 resolution determining that complying with paragraph (3) of line 9 subdivision (c) of Section 50247 is financially infeasible and the line 10 county has made attempts to obtain maximum funding available line 11 to the county.
line 12 (2)  If a board of supervisors adopt a resolution pursuant to line 13 paragraph (1), the department shall conduct a review of a county’s line 14 financial documents to determine the contribution percentage that line 15 is financially feasible.
line 16 (3)  A county shall contribute the contribution percentage line 17 determined by the department pursuant to paragraph (2). line 18 (c)  (1)  On or before the end of the 2025–26 fiscal year, cities line 19 shall submit to the department the actual operating cost of line 20 city-operated shelters.
line 21 (2)  If the counties’ contribution exceed the contribution required line 22 by paragraph (3) of subdivision (c) of Section 50247, cities shall line 23 reimburse the counties the excess contribution. line 24 (d)  The department may withhold 50 percent of the funds from line 25 a grantee until the department has approved the update to the line 26 grantee’s Round 7 regionally coordinated homelessness action line 27 plan.
line 28 SEC. 4. Section 5963.02 of the Welfare and Institutions Code line 29 is amended to read:
line 30 5963.02. (a)  (1)  Each county shall prepare and submit an line 31 integrated plan and annual updates to the Behavioral Health line 32 Services Oversight and Accountability Commission and the line 33 department.
line 34 (2)  All references to the three-year program and expenditure line 35 plan mean the integrated plan.
line 36 (3)  Each county’s board of supervisors shall approve the line 37 integrated plan and annual updates by June 30 prior to the fiscal line 38 year or years the integrated plan or update would cover. 98 SB 16 — 24 —
line 1 (4)  A county shall not use the integrated plan to demonstrate line 2 compliance with federal law, state law, or requirements imposed line 3 by the department related to programs listed in subdivision (c). line 4 (b)  (1)  Each section of the integrated plan and annual update line 5 listed in subdivision (c) shall be based on available funding or line 6 obligations under Section 30025 of the Government Code and line 7 corresponding contracts for the applicable fiscal years and in line 8 accordance with established stakeholder engagement and planning line 9 requirements as required in Section 5963.03.
line 10 (2)  A county shall consider relevant data sources, including line 11 local data, to guide addressing local needs, including the prevalence line 12 of mental health and substance use disorders, the unmet need for line 13 mental health and substance use disorder treatment in the county, line 14 behavioral health disparities, and the homelessness point-in-time line 15 count, in preparing each integrated plan and annual update, and line 16 should use the data to demonstrate how the plan appropriately line 17 allocates funding between mental health and substance use disorder line 18 treatment services.
line 19 (3)  A county shall consider the population needs assessment of line 20 each Medi-Cal managed care plan, as defined in subdivision (j) of line 21 Section 14184.101, that covers residents of the county in preparing line 22 each integrated plan and annual update.
line 23 (4)  A county shall consider the community health improvement line 24 plan of the local health jurisdiction for the county in preparing line 25 each integrated plan and annual update.
line 26 (5)  A county shall stratify data to identify behavioral health line 27 disparities and consider approaches to eliminate disparities, line 28 including, but not limited to, promising practices, models of care, line 29 community-defined evidence practices, workforce diversity, and line 30 cultural responsiveness in preparing each integrated plan and line 31 annual update.
line 32 (6)  A county shall report and consider the achievement of line 33 defined goals and outcomes measures of the prior integrated plan line 34 and annual update, in addition to other data and information as line 35 specified by the department pursuant to Section 5963.05, in line 36 preparing each integrated plan and annual update. line 37 (7)  A county with a population greater than 200,000 shall line 38 collaborate with the five most populous cities in the county, line 39 managed care plans, and continuums of care to outline respective 98 — 25 — SB 16
line 1 responsibilities and coordination of services related to housing line 2 interventions described in Section 5830.
line 3 (8)  A county shall consider input and feedback into the plan line 4 provided by stakeholders, including, but not limited to, those with line 5 lived behavioral health experience, including peers and families. line 6 (c)  The integrated plan and annual updates shall include a section line 7 for each of the following:
line 8 (1)  (A)  Community mental health services provided pursuant line 9 to Part 2 (commencing with Section 5600).
line 10 (B)  Programs and services funded from the Behavioral Health line 11 Services Fund pursuant to Section 5890, including a description line 12 of how the county meets the requirements of paragraph (7) of line 13 subdivision (b).
line 14 (C)  Programs and services funded by the Projects for Assistance line 15 in Transition from Homelessness grant pursuant to Sections line 16 290cc-21 to 290cc-35, inclusive, of Title 42 of the United States line 17 Code.
line 18 (D)  Programs and services funded by the Community Mental line 19 Health Services Block Grant pursuant to Sections 300x to 300x-9, line 20 inclusive, of Title 42 of the United States Code. line 21 (E)  Programs and services funded by the Substance Abuse Block line 22 Grant pursuant to Sections 300x-21 to 300x-35, inclusive, of Title line 23 42 of the United States Code.
line 24 (F)  Programs and services provided pursuant to Article 5 line 25 (commencing with Section 14680) of Chapter 8.8 of Part 3 of line 26 Division 9 and Chapter 8.9 (commencing with Section 14700) of line 27 Part 3 of Division 9.
line 28 (G)  Programs and services provided pursuant to Article 3.2 line 29 (commencing with Section 14124.20) of Chapter 7 of Part 3 of line 30 Division 9.
line 31 (H)  Programs and services provided pursuant to Section line 32 14184.401.
line 33 (I)  Programs and services funded by distributions from the line 34 Opioid Settlements Fund established pursuant to Section 12534 line 35 of the Government Code.
line 36 (J)  Services provided through other federal grants or other line 37 county mental health and substance use disorder programs. line 38 (K)  Programs and services provided pursuant to paragraph (3) line 39 of subdivision (c) of Section 50247 of the Health and Safety Code. 98 SB 16 — 26 —
line 1 (2)  A budget that includes the county planned expenditures and line 2 reserves for the county distributions from the Behavioral Health line 3 Service Fund and any other funds allocated to the county to provide line 4 the services and programs set forth in paragraph (1). The budget line 5 shall also include proposed adjustments pursuant to the line 6 requirements set forth in paragraph (c) of Section 5892. line 7 (3)  (A)  A description of how the integrated plan and annual line 8 update aligns with statewide behavioral health goals and outcome line 9 measures, including goals and outcome measures to reduce line 10 identified disparities, as defined by the department in consultation line 11 with counties, stakeholders, and the Behavioral Health Services line 12 and Oversight Accountability Commission, pursuant to Section line 13 5963.05.
line 14 (B)  Outcome measures may include, but are not limited to, line 15 measures that demonstrate achievement of goals to reduce line 16 homelessness among those eligible for housing interventions line 17 pursuant to Section 5830 and measures that demonstrate reductions line 18 in the number of people who are justice-involved in the county line 19 and who are eligible adults or older adults, as defined in Section line 20 5892, or eligible children and youth, as defined in Section 5892. line 21 (4)  A description of how the integrated plan aligns with local line 22 goals and outcome measures for behavioral health, including goals line 23 and outcome measures to reduce identified disparities. line 24 (5)  The programs and services specified in paragraph (1) shall line 25 include descriptions of efforts to reduce identified disparities in line 26 behavioral health outcomes.
line 27 (6)  A description of the data sources considered to meet the line 28 requirements specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b). line 29 (7)  A description of how the county has considered the unique line 30 needs of LGBTQ+ youth, justice-involved youth, child line 31 welfare-involved, justice-involved adults, and older adults in the line 32 housing intervention program pursuant to Part 3.2 (commencing line 33 with Section 5830) and Full Service Partnership program pursuant line 34 to Part 4.1 (commencing with Section 5887).
line 35 (8)  A description of its workforce strategy, to include actions line 36 the county will take to ensure its county and noncounty contracted line 37 behavioral health workforce is well-supported and culturally and line 38 linguistically concordant with the population to be served, and line 39 robust enough to achieve the statewide and local behavioral health 98 — 27 — SB 16
line 1 goals and measures. This description shall include how the county line 2 will do all of the following:
line 3 (A)  Maintain and monitor a network of appropriate, high-quality, line 4 culturally and linguistically concordant county and noncounty line 5 contracted providers, where applicable, that is sufficient to provide line 6 adequate access to services and supports for individuals with line 7 behavioral health needs.
line 8 (B)  Meet federal and state standards for timely access to care line 9 and services, considering the urgency of the need for services. line 10 (C)  Ensure the health and welfare of the individual and support line 11 community integration of the individual.
line 12 (D)  Promote the delivery of services in a culturally competent line 13 manner to all individuals, including those with limited English line 14 proficiency and diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and line 15 disabilities, regardless of age, religion, sexual orientation, and line 16 gender identity.
line 17 (E)  Ensure physical access, reasonable accommodations, and line 18 accessible equipment for individuals with physical, intellectual line 19 and developmental, and mental disabilities.
line 20 (F)  Select and retain all contracted network providers, including line 21 ensuring all contracted providers meet minimum standards for line 22 license, certification, training, experience, and credentialing line 23 requirements.
line 24 (G)  Ensure that the contractor’s hiring practices meet applicable line 25 nondiscrimination standards and demonstrate best practices in line 26 promoting diversity and equity.
line 27 (H)  Adequately fund contracts to ensure that noncounty line 28 contracted providers are resourced to achieve the behavioral health line 29 goals outlined in their contract for the purposes of meeting line 30 statewide metrics.
line 31 (I)  Conduct oversight of compliance of all federal and state laws line 32 and regulations of all contracted network providers. line 33 (J)  Fill county vacancies and retain county employees providing line 34 direct behavioral health services, if applicable. line 35 (9)  A description of the system developed to transition a line 36 beneficiary’s care between the beneficiary’s mental health plan line 37 and their managed care plan based upon the beneficiary’s health line 38 condition.
98 SB 16 — 28 —
line 1 (10)  Certification by the county behavioral health director, that line 2 ensures that the county has complied with all pertinent regulations, line 3 laws, and statutes, including stakeholder participation requirements. line 4 (11)  Certification by the county behavioral health director and line 5 by the county chief administration officer or their designee that line 6 the county has complied with fiscal accountability requirements, line 7 as directed by the department, and that all expenditures are line 8 consistent with applicable state and federal law. line 9 (d)  The county shall submit its integrated plan and annual line 10 updates to the department and the commission in a form and line 11 manner prescribed by the department.
line 12 (e)  The department shall post on its internet website, in a timely line 13 manner, the integrated plan submitted by every county pursuant line 14 to this section.
line 15 (f)  This section shall become operative on July 1, 2026, if line 16 amendments to the Mental Health Services Act are approved by line 17 the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election. line 18 SEC. 5. The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of line 19 this act amending Section 65583 of the Government Code line 20 addresses a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal line 21 affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the line 22 California Constitution. Therefore, Section 2 of this act applies to line 23 all cities, including charter cities.
line 24 SEC. 6. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that line 25 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to line 26 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made line 27 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division line 28 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
line 29 SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact line 30 legislation to address homelessness.

O
98 — 29 — SB 16

CITY OF LAGUNA HILLS
Supplemental Agenda Material Memo
Supplemental Agenda Materials related to an item on a City Council Agenda, submitted to the City Council after distribution of the agenda packet, will be available for public inspection at the same time the materials are distributed to the City Council. Supplemental Agenda Materials are available for inspection during normal business hours in the City Clerk’s office located at 24035 El Toro Road, Laguna Hills, California. In addition, such materials will be made available for public review at the same time the materials are distributed to the City Council on the City’s website at: https://lagunahillsca.portal.civicclerk.com/ and at the respective public meeting.

DATE: April 22, 2025
TO: City Council
City Staff
FROM: Jennifer Lee, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Agenda Item No. 4.13 and No. 4.16 – Recommendation to Oppose Unless Amended: SB 16, and Opposition to AB 647
This memo is to note a correction made to the recent staff reports titled: “Recommendation to Oppose Unless Amended: SB 16 (Blakespear) – Homeless Housing Reporting Requirements” and “Opposition to AB 647 (Gonzalez) – Housing Development Approvals:

Residential Units.”
Upon review, it was discovered that the versions of AB 647 and SB 16 originally attached to the reports were incorrect. The attachment for AB 647 referenced a 2023 bill related to grocery workers, rather than the intended 2025 housing measure. Similarly, the SB 16 attachment referenced an unrelated 2021 version concerning peace officer records. Both staff reports have been updated to include the correct versions of the bills corresponding with the analysis provided.

Attachments:

Senate Bill 16
Assembly Bills 647
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2025
california legislature—2025–26 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 647
Introduced by Assembly Member Mark González
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Wicks)
February 13, 2025
An act to amend Section 68501 of the Government Code, relating to courts. An act to amend Section 65585 of, and to add Section 65852.22 to, the Government Code, relating to housing.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 647, as amended, Mark González. Courts: Judicial Council.

Housing development approvals: residential units.
(1)  Existing law, the Planning and Zoning law, requires a proposed housing development containing no more than 2 residential units within a single-family residential zone to be considered ministerially, without discretionary review or hearing, if the proposed housing development meets certain requirements, including, among other requirements, that the parcel subject to the proposed housing development is located within a city, the boundaries of which include some portion of either an urbanized area or urban cluster, as defined, or, for unincorporated areas, a legal parcel wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as defined. Existing law authorizes a local agency to impose objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards that do not conflict with specified provisions, except as provided.

This bill would require a proposed housing development containing no more than 8 residential units that is located on a lot with an existing single-family home or is zoned for 8 or fewer residential units to be

98 considered ministerially, without discretionary review or hearing, if the proposed housing development meets certain requirements, including, among other requirements, that the proposed housing development dedicates at least one residential unit to deed-restricted affordable housing to households making at or below 80% of the area median income, as specified. The bill would prohibit a local agency from applying any development standard that will have the effect of physically precluding the construction of a housing development that meets those requirements, as specified, and from imposing on a housing development subject to these provisions any objective zoning standard or objective design standard that meets certain criteria, including imposing any requirement that applies to a project solely or partially on the basis that the housing development receives approval pursuant to these provisions. The bill would prohibit a setback, height limitation, lot coverage limitation, floor area ratio, or other standard that would limit residential development capacity from being required for certain structures.

Existing law requires an application for a proposed housing development containing no more than 2 residential units within a single-family residential zone, as described above, to be considered approved or denied within 60 days from the date the local agency receives a completed application, and requires the application to be deemed approved if the agency has not approved or denied the application within those 60 days. Existing law requires a permitting agency that denies an application described above to, within 60 days from the date the local agency receives the application, return in writing a full set of comments to the applicant with a list of items that are defective or deficient and a description of how the application can be remedied by the applicant. Existing law authorizes a local agency to adopt an ordinance to implement these provisions, as specified.

This bill would require a local agency to ministerially consider, without discretionary review or a hearing, an application submitted to the local agency pursuant to these provisions, and to approve or deny an application for a housing development project submitted to a local agency pursuant to these provisions within 60 days from the date the local agency receives the completed application. The bill would deem an application approved if the local agency does not approve or deny the completed application within those 60 days. The bill would require a local agency that denies an application, within 60 days from the date the local agency receives the completed application, to return in writing 98 AB 647 — 2 —
a full set of comments to the applicant with a list of items that are defective or deficient and a description of how the applicant can remedy the application. By requiring local planning officials to review and approve applications for housing development projects, as described above, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The bill would authorize a local agency to disapprove a housing development project that meets the above-described requirements if it makes a written finding, based upon a preponderance of the evidence, that the proposed housing development project would have a specific, adverse impact, as specified, upon public health and safety and for which there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific, adverse impact. The bill would authorize a local agency to adopt an ordinance to implement these provisions, as specified. (2)  Existing law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes certain mandatory elements. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine whether the housing element is in substantial compliance with specified provisions of that law.

Existing law requires the department to notify a city, county, or city and county, and authorizes the department to notify the office of the Attorney General, that the city, county, or city and county is in violation of state law if the department finds that, among other things, the local government has taken action in violation of specified provisions of law.

This bill would also include among those specified provisions the changes proposed by the bill.
(3)  Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects.

By establishing a streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain housing developments, this bill would expand the exemption for the ministerial approval of projects under CEQA. Under the bill, an 98 — 3 — AB 647
ordinance adopted by a local agency to implement certain provisions of the bill would not be considered a project under CEQA. (4)  The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (5)  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.

Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law authorizes the chairperson of the Judicial Council to appoint committees, as prescribed, to advise with the council in studying various matters relating to the business of the courts, simplifying and improving the administration of justice, and other duties of the council.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no yes.

State-mandated local program: no yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the line 2 Better Urban Infill and Livable Design (BUILD) Housing Act of line 3 2025.
line 4 SEC. 2. Section 65585 of the Government Code is amended to line 5 read:
line 6 65585. (a)  In the preparation of its housing element, each city line 7 and county shall consider the guidelines adopted by the department line 8 pursuant to Section 50459 of the Health and Safety Code. Those line 9 guidelines shall be advisory to each city or county in the line 10 preparation of its housing element.
line 11 (b)  (1)  (A)  At least 90 days prior to adoption of a revision of line 12 its housing element pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 65588, line 13 or at least 60 days prior to the adoption of a subsequent amendment line 14 to this element, the planning agency shall submit a draft element line 15 revision or draft amendment to the department. The local line 16 government of the planning agency shall make the first draft line 17 revision of a housing element available for public comment for at line 18 least 30 days and, if any comments are received, the local 98 AB 647 — 4 —
line 1 government shall take at least 10 business days after the 30-day line 2 public comment period to consider and incorporate public line 3 comments into the draft revision prior to submitting it to the line 4 department. For any subsequent draft revision, the local line 5 government shall post the draft revision on its internet website and line 6 shall email a link to the draft revision to all individuals and line 7 organizations that have previously requested notices relating to line 8 the local government’s housing element at least seven days before line 9 submitting the draft revision to the department. line 10 (B)  The planning agency staff shall collect and compile the line 11 public comments regarding the housing element received by the line 12 city, county, or city and county and provide these comments to line 13 each member of the legislative body before it adopts the housing line 14 element.
line 15 (C)  The department shall review the draft and report its written line 16 findings to the planning agency within 90 days of its receipt of the line 17 first draft submittal for each housing element revision pursuant to line 18 subdivision (e) of Section 65588 or within 60 days of its receipt line 19 of a subsequent draft amendment or an adopted revision or adopted line 20 amendment to an element. The department shall not review the line 21 first draft submitted for each housing element revision pursuant line 22 to subdivision (e) of Section 65588 until the local government has line 23 made the draft available for public comment for at least 30 days line 24 and, if comments were received, has taken at least 10 business line 25 days to consider and incorporate public comments pursuant to line 26 paragraph (1).
line 27 (2)  (A)  At least 90 days prior to the initial adoption of a revision line 28 of its housing element pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 65588, line 29 and at least 7 days prior to any subsequent adoption submittal if line 30 changes have occurred to the inventory of sites, a local government line 31 shall do both of the following:
line 32 (i)  Make a draft of its inventory of sites required pursuant to line 33 paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 65583 available to the line 34 department and the public and post the draft inventory on its line 35 internet website.
line 36 (ii)  Send an email to all individuals and organizations that have line 37 previously requested notices notifying them that the inventory has line 38 been updated that includes a link to the draft inventory on its line 39 website.
98 — 5 — AB 647
line 1 (B)  The requirements of this paragraph shall apply to the seventh line 2 and each subsequent revision of the housing element. line 3 (c)  In the preparation of its findings, the department may consult line 4 with any public agency, group, or person. The department shall line 5 receive and consider any written comments from any public line 6 agency, group, or person regarding the draft or adopted element line 7 or amendment under review.
line 8 (d)  In its written findings, the department shall determine line 9 whether the draft element or draft amendment substantially line 10 complies with this article.
line 11 (e)  Prior to the adoption of its draft element or draft amendment, line 12 the legislative body shall consider the findings made by the line 13 department. If the department’s findings are not available within line 14 the time limits set by this section, the legislative body may act line 15 without them.
line 16 (f)  If the department finds that the draft element or draft line 17 amendment does not substantially comply with this article, the line 18 legislative body shall take one of the following actions:
line 19 (1)  (A)  Change the draft element or draft amendment to line 20 substantially comply with this article.
line 21 (B)  Any change to a draft element or draft amendment pursuant line 22 to subparagraph (A) shall be completed in accordance with line 23 subdivision (b). This subparagraph does not constitute a change line 24 in, but is declaratory of, existing law.
line 25 (2)  Adopt the draft element or draft amendment without changes. line 26 The legislative body shall include in its resolution of adoption line 27 written findings that explain the reasons the legislative body line 28 believes that the draft element or draft amendment substantially line 29 complies with this article despite the findings of the department. line 30 (g)  (1)  Promptly following the adoption of its element or line 31 amendment, the planning agency shall submit a copy of the adopted line 32 element or amendment and any findings made pursuant to line 33 paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) to the department. line 34 (2)  This subdivision shall not be construed to excuse a legislative line 35 body from complying with subdivision (f). This paragraph does line 36 not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law. line 37 (h)  The department shall, within 60 days, review adopted line 38 housing elements or amendments and any findings pursuant to line 39 paragraph (2) of subdivision (f), make a finding as to whether the 98 AB 647 — 6 —
line 1 adopted element or amendment is in substantial compliance with line 2 this article, and report its findings to the planning agency. line 3 (i)  (1)  (A)  The department shall review any action or failure line 4 to act by the city, county, or city and county that it determines is line 5 inconsistent with an adopted housing element or Section 65583, line 6 including any failure to implement any program actions included line 7 in the housing element pursuant to Section 65583. The department line 8 shall issue written findings to the city, county, or city and county line 9 as to whether the action or failure to act substantially complies line 10 with this article, and provide a reasonable time no longer than 30 line 11 days for the city, county, or city and county to respond to the line 12 findings before taking any other action authorized by this section, line 13 including the action authorized by subparagraph (C). line 14 (B)  If the department finds that the city’s, county’s, or city and line 15 county’s action or failure to act does not substantially comply with line 16 its adopted housing element or its obligations pursuant to Section line 17 65583, there shall be a rebuttable presumption of invalidity in any line 18 legal action challenging that action or failure to act. line 19 (C)  If the department finds that the action or failure to act by line 20 the city, county, or city and county does not substantially comply line 21 with this article, and if it has issued findings pursuant to this section line 22 that an amendment to the housing element substantially complies line 23 with this article, the department may revoke its findings until it line 24 determines that the city, county, or city and county has come into line 25 compliance with this article.
line 26 (2)  The department may consult with any local government, line 27 public agency, group, or person, and shall receive and consider line 28 any written comments from any public agency, group, or person, line 29 regarding the action or failure to act by the city, county, or city line 30 and county described in paragraph (1), in determining whether the line 31 housing element substantially complies with this article. line 32 (j)  The department shall notify the city, county, or city and line 33 county and may notify the office of the Attorney General that the line 34 city, county, or city and county is in violation of state law if the line 35 department finds that the housing element or an amendment to this line 36 element, or any action or failure to act described in subdivision line 37 (i), does not substantially comply with this article or that any local line 38 government has taken an action in violation of the following:
line 39 (1)  Housing Accountability Act (Section 65589.5). line 40 (2)  Section 65863.
98 — 7 — AB 647
line 1 (3)  Chapter 4.3 (commencing with Section 65915). line 2 (4)  Section 65008.
line 3 (5)  Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Chapter 654, Statutes of 2019, line 4 Sections 65941.1, 65943, and 66300).
line 5 (6)  Section 8899.50.
line 6 (7)  Section 65913.4.
line 7 (8)  Article 11 (commencing with Section 65650). line 8 (9)  Article 12 (commencing with Section 65660). line 9 (10)  Section 65913.11.
line 10 (11)  Section 65400.
line 11 (12)  Section 65863.2.
line 12 (13)  Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 65912.100). line 13 (14)  Section 65905.5.
line 14 (15)  Chapter 13 (commencing with Section 66310). line 15 (16)  Section 65852.21.
line 16 (17)  Section 65852.22.
line 17 (17)
line 18 (18)  Section 65852.24.
line 19 (18)
line 20 (19)  Section 66411.7.
line 21 (19)
line 22 (20)  Section 65913.16.
line 23 (20)
line 24 (21)  Article 2 (commencing with Section 66300.5) of Chapter line 25 12.
line 26 (21)
line 27 (22)  Section 65852.28.
line 28 (22)
line 29 (23)  Section 65913.4.5.
line 30 (23)
line 31 (24)  Section 66499.41.
line 32 (24)
line 33 (25)  Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program line 34 (Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 50216) and Chapter 6.5 line 35 (commencing with Section 50230) of Part 1 of Division 31 of the line 36 Health and Safety Code).
line 37 (25)
line 38 (26)  Encampment Resolution Funding program (Chapter 7 line 39 (commencing with Section 50250) of Part 1 of Division 31 of the line 40 Health and Safety Code).
98 AB 647 — 8 —
line 1 (26)
line 2 (27)  Family Homelessness Challenge Grants and Technical line 3 Assistance Program (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 50255) line 4 of Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code). line 5 (27)
line 6 (28)  (A)  Article 11.5 (commencing with Section 65658). line 7 (B)  This paragraph shall become operative only if Assembly line 8 Bill 3068 of the 2023–24 Regular Session of the Legislature is line 9 enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2025. line 10 (k)  Commencing July 1, 2019, prior to the Attorney General line 11 bringing any suit for a violation of the provisions identified in line 12 subdivision (j) related to housing element compliance and seeking line 13 remedies available pursuant to this subdivision, the department line 14 shall offer the jurisdiction the opportunity for two meetings in line 15 person or via telephone to discuss the violation, and shall provide line 16 the jurisdiction written findings regarding the violation. This line 17 paragraph does not affect any action filed prior to the effective line 18 date of this section. The requirements set forth in this subdivision line 19 do not apply to any suits brought for a violation or violations of line 20 paragraphs (1) and (3) to (9), inclusive, of subdivision (j). line 21 (l)  In any action or special proceeding brought by the Attorney line 22 General relating to housing element compliance pursuant to a line 23 notice or referral under subdivision (j), the Attorney General may line 24 request, upon a finding of the court that the housing element does line 25 not substantially comply with the requirements of this article line 26 pursuant to this section, that the court issue an order or judgment line 27 directing the jurisdiction to bring its housing element into line 28 substantial compliance with the requirements of this article. The line 29 court shall retain jurisdiction to ensure that its order or judgment line 30 is carried out. If a court determines that the housing element of line 31 the jurisdiction substantially complies with this article, it shall line 32 have the same force and effect, for purposes of eligibility for any line 33 financial assistance that requires a housing element in substantial line 34 compliance and for purposes of any incentives provided under line 35 Section 65589.9, as a determination by the department that the line 36 housing element substantially complies with this article. line 37 (1)  If the jurisdiction has not complied with the order or line 38 judgment after 12 months, the court shall conduct a status line 39 conference. Following the status conference, upon a determination line 40 that the jurisdiction failed to comply with the order or judgment 98 — 9 — AB 647
line 1 compelling substantial compliance with the requirements of this line 2 article, the court shall impose fines on the jurisdiction, which shall line 3 be deposited into the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund. Any line 4 fine levied pursuant to this paragraph shall be in a minimum line 5 amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per month, but shall not line 6 exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per month, except line 7 as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3). In the event that the line 8 jurisdiction fails to pay fines imposed by the court in full and on line 9 time, the court may require the Controller to intercept any available line 10 state and local funds and direct such funds to the Building Homes line 11 and Jobs Trust Fund to correct the jurisdiction’s failure to pay. line 12 The intercept of the funds by the Controller for this purpose shall line 13 not violate any provision of the California Constitution. line 14 (2)  If the jurisdiction has not complied with the order or line 15 judgment after three months following the imposition of fees line 16 described in paragraph (1), the court shall conduct a status line 17 conference. Following the status conference, if the court finds that line 18 the fees imposed pursuant to paragraph (1) are insufficient to bring line 19 the jurisdiction into compliance with the order or judgment, the line 20 court may multiply the fine determined pursuant to paragraph (1) line 21 by a factor of three. In the event that the jurisdiction fails to pay line 22 fines imposed by the court in full and on time, the court may line 23 require the Controller to intercept any available state and local line 24 funds and direct such funds to the Building Homes and Jobs Trust line 25 Fund to correct the jurisdiction’s failure to pay. The intercept of line 26 the funds by the Controller for this purpose shall not violate any line 27 provision of the California Constitution.
line 28 (3)  If the jurisdiction has not complied with the order or line 29 judgment six months following the imposition of fees described line 30 in paragraph (1), the court shall conduct a status conference. Upon line 31 a determination that the jurisdiction failed to comply with the order line 32 or judgment, the court may impose the following:
line 33 (A)  If the court finds that the fees imposed pursuant to line 34 paragraphs (1) and (2) are insufficient to bring the jurisdiction into line 35 compliance with the order or judgment, the court may multiply line 36 the fine determined pursuant to paragraph (1) by a factor of six. line 37 In the event that the jurisdiction fails to pay fines imposed by the line 38 court in full and on time, the court may require the Controller to line 39 intercept any available state and local funds and direct such funds line 40 to the Building Homes and Jobs Trust Fund to correct the 98 AB 647 — 10 —
line 1 jurisdiction’s failure to pay. The intercept of the funds by the line 2 Controller for this purpose shall not violate any provision of the line 3 California Constitution.
line 4 (B)  The court may order remedies available pursuant to Section line 5 564 of the Code of Civil Procedure, under which the agent of the line 6 court may take all governmental actions necessary to bring the line 7 jurisdiction’s housing element into substantial compliance pursuant line 8 to this article in order to remedy identified deficiencies. The court line 9 shall determine whether the housing element of the jurisdiction line 10 substantially complies with this article and, once the court makes line 11 that determination, it shall have the same force and effect, for all line 12 purposes, as the department’s determination that the housing line 13 element substantially complies with this article. An agent appointed line 14 pursuant to this paragraph shall have expertise in planning in line 15 California.
line 16 (4)  This subdivision does not limit a court’s discretion to apply line 17 any and all remedies in an action or special proceeding for a line 18 violation of any law identified in subdivision (j). line 19 (m)  In determining the application of the remedies available line 20 under subdivision (l), the court shall consider whether there are line 21 any mitigating circumstances delaying the jurisdiction from coming line 22 into compliance with state housing law. The court may consider line 23 whether a city, county, or city and county is making a good faith line 24 effort to come into substantial compliance or is facing substantial line 25 undue hardships.
line 26 (n)  Nothing in this section shall limit the authority of the office line 27 of the Attorney General to bring a suit to enforce state law in an line 28 independent capacity. The office of the Attorney General may seek line 29 all remedies available under law including those set forth in this line 30 section.
line 31 (o)  Notwithstanding Sections 11040 and 11042, if the Attorney line 32 General declines to represent the department in any action or line 33 special proceeding brought pursuant to a notice or referral under line 34 subdivision (j), the department may appoint or contract with other line 35 counsel for purposes of representing the department in the action line 36 or special proceeding.
line 37 (p)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the statute of line 38 limitations set forth in subdivision (a) of Section 338 of the Code line 39 of Civil Procedure shall apply to any action or special proceeding line 40 brought by the office of the Attorney General or pursuant to a 98 — 11 — AB 647
line 1 notice or referral under subdivision (j), or by the department line 2 pursuant to subdivision (o).
line 3 (q)  The amendments to this section made by the act adding this line 4 subdivision shall not be construed to limit the department’s ability line 5 to enforce programmatic requirements or remedies against cities, line 6 counties, and continuums of care pursuant to the Homeless line 7 Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (Chapter 6 line 8 (commencing with Section 50216) and Chapter 6.5 (commencing line 9 with Section 50230) of Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and line 10 Safety Code), the Encampment Resolution Funding program line 11 (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 50250)), and the Family line 12 Homelessness Challenge Grants and Technical Assistance Program line 13 (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 50255)).
line 14 SEC. 3. Section 65852.22 is added to the Government Code, line 15 to read:
line 16 65852.22. (a)  A proposed housing development containing no line 17 more than eight residential units that is located on a lot with an line 18 existing single-family home or is zoned for eight or fewer line 19 residential units shall be considered ministerially, without line 20 discretionary review or a hearing, if the proposed housing line 21 development meets all of the following requirements:
line 22 (1)  (A)  The proposed housing development dedicates at least line 23 one residential unit to deed-restricted affordable housing to line 24 households making at or below 80 percent of the area median line 25 income. The residential unit shall be subject to a recorded deed line 26 restriction for affordable rent for a period of 55 years for rental line 27 units and for affordable cost for a period of 45 years for line 28 owner-occupied units.
line 29 (B)  For purposes of this paragraph, the following definitions line 30 apply:
line 31 (i)  “Affordable cost” has the same meaning as ”affordable line 32 housing cost” described in Section 50052.5 of the Health and line 33 Safety Code.
line 34 (ii)  “Affordable rent” has the same meaning as “affordable line 35 rent” described in Section 50053 of the Health and Safety Code. line 36 (iii)  “Area median income” has the same meaning as “area line 37 median income” as published by the department pursuant to line 38 Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.
98 AB 647 — 12 —
line 1 (2)  Each of the residential units in the proposed housing line 2 development may be leased, sold, or conveyed in any manner under line 3 applicable law, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
line 4 (A)  Rental housing.
line 5 (B)  Part of a common interest development, pursuant to the line 6 Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (Part 5 line 7 (commencing with Section 4000) of Division 4 of the Civil Code). line 8 (C)  Part of a tenancy in common, as described in Section 685 line 9 of the Civil Code.
line 10 (D)  Part of a housing cooperative, as defined in Section 817 of line 11 the Civil Code.
line 12 (3)  The site of the housing development project satisfies both line 13 of the following requirements:
line 14 (A)  It is located in a residential zone.
line 15 (B)  (i)  The lot is a legal parcel located within either of the line 16 following:
line 17 (I)  An incorporated city, the boundaries of which include some line 18 portion of an urbanized area.
line 19 (II)  An urbanized area or urban cluster.
line 20 (ii)  For purposes of this subparagraph, the following definitions line 21 apply:
line 22 (I)  “Urbanized area” means an urbanized area designated by line 23 the United States Census Bureau, as published in the Federal line 24 Register, Volume 77, Number 59, on March 27, 2012. line 25 (II)  “Urban cluster” means an urban cluster designated by the line 26 United States Census Bureau, as published in the Federal Register, line 27 Volume 77, Number 59, on March 27, 2012.
line 28 (4)  The development of the housing development project does line 29 not require the demolition or alteration of any of the following line 30 types of housing:
line 31 (A)  Housing that is subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, line 32 or law that restricts rent to levels affordable to persons and line 33 families of low, very low, or extremely low income. line 34 (B)  Housing that is subject to any form of rent or price control line 35 through a local public entity’s valid exercise of its police power. line 36 (C)  Housing occupied by tenants within the five years preceding line 37 the date of the application, including housing that has been line 38 demolished or that tenants have vacated before the submission of line 39 the application for a development permit.
98 — 13 — AB 647
line 1 (5)  The housing development project will be served by a public line 2 water system and a municipal sewer system.
line 3 (6)  The housing development project is not located on a site line 4 that is any of the following:
line 5 (A)  (i)  An area of the coastal zone subject to paragraph (1) or line 6 (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 30603 of the Public Resources line 7 Code.
line 8 (ii)  An area of the coastal zone that is not subject to a certified line 9 local coastal program or a certified land use plan. line 10 (iii)  An area of the coastal zone that is vulnerable to five feet line 11 of sea level rise, as determined by the National Oceanic and line 12 Atmospheric Administration, the Ocean Protection Council, the line 13 United States Geological Survey, the University of California, or line 14 a local agency’s coastal hazards vulnerability assessment. line 15 (iv)  In a parcel in the coastal zone and located on either of the line 16 following:
line 17 (I)  On, or within a 100-foot radius of, a wetland, as defined in line 18 Section 30121 of the Public Resources Code.
line 19 (II)  On prime agricultural land, as defined in Sections 30113 line 20 and 30241 of the Public Resources Code.
line 21 (B)  Either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance, line 22 as defined pursuant to United States Department of Agriculture line 23 land inventory and monitoring criteria, as modified for California, line 24 and designated on the maps prepared by the Farmland Mapping line 25 and Monitoring Program of the Department of Conservation, or line 26 land zoned or designated for agricultural protection or line 27 preservation by a local ballot measure that was approved by the line 28 voters of that jurisdiction.
line 29 (C)  Wetlands, as defined in the United States Fish and Wildlife line 30 Service Manual, Part 660 FW 2 (June 21, 1993).
line 31 (D)  Within a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, as line 32 determined by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection line 33 pursuant to Section 51178, or within the state responsibility area, line 34 as defined in Section 4102 of the Public Resources Code. This line 35 subparagraph does not apply to sites that have adopted fire hazard line 36 mitigation measures pursuant to existing building standards or line 37 state fire mitigation measures applicable to the development, line 38 including, but not limited to, standards established under all of line 39 the following or their successor provisions:
98 AB 647 — 14 —
line 1 (i)  Section 4291 of the Public Resources Code or Section 51182, line 2 as applicable.
line 3 (ii)  Section 4290 of the Public Resources Code. line 4 (iii)  Chapter 7A of the California Building Standards Code line 5 (Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations). line 6 (E)  A hazardous waste site that is listed pursuant to Section line 7 65962.5 or a hazardous waste site that is otherwise designated by line 8 the Department of Toxic Substances Control, unless either of the line 9 following apply:
line 10 (i)  The site is an underground storage tank site that received a line 11 uniform closure letter issued pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section line 12 25296.10 of the Health and Safety Code based on closure criteria line 13 established by the State Water Resources Control Board for line 14 residential use or residential mixed uses. This section does not line 15 alter or change the conditions to remove a site from the list of line 16 hazardous waste sites listed pursuant to Section 65962.5. line 17 (ii)  The State Department of Public Health, the State Water line 18 Resources Control Board, the Department of Toxic Substances line 19 Control, or a local agency making a determination pursuant to line 20 subdivision (c) of Section 25296.10 of the Health and Safety Code, line 21 has otherwise determined that the site is suitable for residential line 22 use or residential mixed uses.
line 23 (F)  Within a delineated earthquake fault zone, as determined line 24 by the State Geologist in any official maps published by the State line 25 Geologist, unless the development complies with applicable seismic line 26 protection building code standards adopted by the California line 27 Building Standards Commission under the California Building line 28 Standards Law (Part 2.5 (commencing with Section 18901) of line 29 Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code), and by any local line 30 building department under Chapter 12.2 (commencing with Section line 31 8875) of Division 1 of Title 2.
line 32 (G)  Within a special flood hazard area subject to inundation line 33 by the 1-percent annual chance flood (100-year flood) as line 34 determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency line 35 (FEMA) in any official maps published by FEMA. If a development line 36 proponent is able to satisfy all applicable federal qualifying criteria line 37 in order to provide that the site satisfies this subparagraph and is line 38 otherwise eligible for streamlined approval under this section, a line 39 local agency shall not deny the application on the basis that the line 40 development proponent did not comply with any additional permit 98 — 15 — AB 647
line 1 requirement, standard, or action adopted by that local agency that line 2 is applicable to that site. A development may be located on a site line 3 described in this subparagraph if either of the following are met:
line 4 (i)  The site has been subject to a Letter of Map Revision line 5 prepared by FEMA and issued to the local jurisdiction. line 6 (ii)  The site meets FEMA requirements necessary to meet line 7 minimum flood plain management criteria of the National Flood line 8 Insurance Program pursuant to Part 59 (commencing with Section line 9 59.1) and Part 60 (commencing with Section 60.1) of Subchapter line 10 B of Chapter I of Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations. line 11 (H)  Within a regulatory floodway as determined by FEMA in line 12 any official maps published by FEMA, unless the development has line 13 received a no-rise certification in accordance with Section line 14 60.3(d)(3) of Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations. If a line 15 development proponent is able to satisfy all applicable federal line 16 qualifying criteria in order to provide that the site satisfies this line 17 subparagraph and is otherwise eligible for streamlined approval line 18 under this section, a local agency shall not deny the application line 19 on the basis that the development proponent did not comply with line 20 any additional permit requirement, standard, or action adopted line 21 by that local agency that is applicable to that site. line 22 (I)  Lands identified for conservation in an adopted natural line 23 community conservation plan pursuant to the Natural Community line 24 Conservation Planning Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section line 25 2800) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code), a habitat line 26 conservation plan pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act line 27 of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), or other adopted natural line 28 resource protection plan.
line 29 (J)  Habitat for protected species identified as candidate, line 30 sensitive, or species of special status by state or federal agencies, line 31 fully protected species, or species protected by the federal line 32 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), the line 33 California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing line 34 with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code), or line 35 the Native Plant Protection Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with line 36 Section 1900) of Division 2 of the Fish and Game Code). line 37 (K)  Lands under conservation easement.
line 38 (b)  (1)  A local agency shall not apply any development standard line 39 that will have the effect of physically precluding the construction line 40 of a housing development that meets the requirements of 98 AB 647 — 16 —
line 1 subdivision (a). This subdivision shall not be interpreted to require line 2 a local agency to waive or reduce development standards if the line 3 waiver or reduction would have a specific, adverse impact, as line 4 defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 65589.5, line 5 upon health or safety, and for which there is no feasible method line 6 to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific, adverse impact. line 7 (2)  Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a local agency shall not line 8 impose on a housing development subject to this section any line 9 objective zoning standard or objective design standard that does line 10 or is any of the following:
line 11 (A)  Imposes any requirement that applies to a project solely or line 12 partially on the basis that the housing development receives line 13 approval pursuant to this section.
line 14 (B)  Requires a setback between the units, except as required in line 15 the California Building Standards Code (Title 24 of the California line 16 Code of Regulations).
line 17 (C)  Requires that parking be enclosed or covered. line 18 (D)  Imposes side and rear setbacks from the original lot line line 19 inconsistent with subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision line 20 (b) of Section 65852.21.
line 21 (E)  Imposes height restrictions less than that of one story above line 22 the maximum height otherwise applicable to the parcel. line 23 (F)  Imposes off-street parking requirements.
line 24 (G)  Imposes a floor area ratio standard that is less than 2.0. line 25 (3)  Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no setback, height limitation, line 26 lot coverage limitation, floor area ratio, or other standard that line 27 would limit residential development capacity shall be required for line 28 an existing structure or a structure constructed in the same location line 29 and within the same dimensions as an existing structure. line 30 (c)  (1)  A local agency shall ministerially consider, without line 31 discretionary review or a hearing, an application submitted to the line 32 local agency pursuant to this section.
line 33 (2)  A local agency shall approve or deny an application for a line 34 housing development project submitted to a local agency pursuant line 35 to this section within 60 days from the date the local agency line 36 receives a completed application. If the local agency does not line 37 approve or deny a completed application within 60 days, the line 38 application shall be deemed approved. If the local agency denies line 39 the application, the local agency shall, within 60 days from the line 40 date the local agency receives the completed application, return 98 — 17 — AB 647
line 1 in writing a full set of comments to the applicant with a list of items line 2 that are defective or deficient and a description of how the line 3 applicant can remedy the application.
line 4 (d)  A local agency may disapprove a housing development line 5 project that meets the requirements of this section if it makes a line 6 written finding, based upon a preponderance of the evidence, that line 7 the proposed housing development project would have a specific, line 8 adverse impact, as defined and determined in paragraph (2) of line 9 subdivision (d) of Section 65589.5, upon public health and safety line 10 and for which there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate line 11 or avoid the specific, adverse impact.
line 12 (e)  A local agency may adopt an ordinance to implement the line 13 provisions of this section. An ordinance adopted to implement this line 14 section shall not be considered a project under Division 13 line 15 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code. line 16 (f)    The Legislature finds and declares that the provision of line 17 adequate housing, in light of the severe shortage of housing at all line 18 income levels in this state, is a matter of statewide concern and is line 19 not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article line 20 XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, this section serves a line 21 significant and legitimate public purpose by eliminating potential line 22 restrictions that could inhibit the production of adequate housing, line 23 and applies to all cities, including charter cities. line 24 (g)  For purposes of this section, “local agency” means a city, line 25 county, or city and county, whether general law or chartered. line 26 SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 27 Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because line 28 a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service line 29 charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or line 30 level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section line 31 17556 of the Government Code.
line 32 SECTION 1. Section 68501 of the Government Code is line 33 amended to read:
line 34 68501. The chairperson of the Judicial Council may appoint line 35 committees composed of official court reporters, judges, retired line 36 judges, attorneys, and experts in specialized fields, or any line 37 combination thereof, to advise with the Judicial Council in studying line 38 the condition of business in the several courts and the means for line 39 simplifying and improving the administration of justice, and in 98 AB 647 — 18 —
line 1 the performance of any other duties of the council authorized or line 2 imposed by law.

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