AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2025
SENATE BILL No. 634
Introduced by Senator Pérez
February 20, 2025
An act to add Sections 11145.1 and 53069.44 to the Go vernment Code, relating to local government. homelessness.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 634, as amended, Pérez. Local government. Homelessness: civil and criminal penalties.
The California Constitution authorizes a county or city to make and enforce within its limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and r egulations not in conflict with g eneral laws. Existing law establishes procedures for the enactment of ordinances by counties and cities and makes a violation of a county or city ordinance, as applicable, a misdemeanor unless by ordinance it is made an infr action. Existing law also prohibits a state agency from adopting or enforcing any rule or a violation of whic h can r esult in the imposition of a fine or imprisonment, or both, unless a statute specifically authorizes the imposition of such fine or imprisonment, or both, for a violation of the rule or regulation.
This bill would pr ohibit a local jurisdiction fr om adopting a local ordinance, or enfor cing an e xisting ordinance, that imposes civil or criminal penalties on a person who is homeless for any act immediately related to homelessness or any act r elated to basic survival, or on a person who is assisting a person who is homeless with any act related to basic survival. The bill would similarly prohibit a state agency from adopting any regulation or issuing any policy or guidance, or enforcing an existing regulation, policy, or guidance, that imposes those civil or
98 criminal penalties. The bill would define various terms for these purposes.
The bill would include findings that c hanges proposed by this bill address a matter of state wide concern rather than a municipal af fair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
Existing law provides for the formation and powers of various local governments, including counties and cities. Existing la w, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Go vernment Reor ganization Act of 2000, provides the sole and e xclusive authority and procedure for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of or ganization and reorganization for cities and districts.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to local government.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no yes. State-mandated local program: no.
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) As of 2024, on any given night, o ver 187,000 people ar e line 4 experiencing homelessness in California, with data from the state’s line 5 Homeless Data Integration System showing over 308,000 people line 6 experiencing homelessness accessing services over the course of line 7 the year and many more at risk of homelessness.
line 8 (2) Homelessness is a policy failur e primarily caused by the line 9 unaffordability of housing in California, with o ver 1,000,000 line 10 extremely low income households spending mor e than one-half line 11 their income on r ent, and not the r esult of per sonal failings of line 12 people experiencing homelessness. This housing crisis is the result line 13 of decades of failed housing policy , coupled with structur al and line 14 institutional r acism, and a lac k of sufficient in vestment in line 15 affordable housing and other programs to address homelessness. line 16 (3) The solution to homelessness is af fordable housing and line 17 robust supportive services, as demonstr ated by year s of line 18 peer-reviewed research.
line 19 (4) Data from the fifth cycle of the Re gional Housing Needs line 20 Assessment (RHNA) showed that jurisdictions in California needed line 21 to add over 277,000 housing units that are affordable to very low line 22 income households o ver the 2013 to 2024 assessment period to 98 — 2 — SB 634
line 1 keep pace with the need for ne w housing , b ut jurisdictions line 2 statewide attained only 21 per cent of that goal, permitting just line 3 over 57,000 units that ar e af fordable to very low income line 4 households.
line 5 (5) Data from the United States Department of Housing and line 6 Urban Development’s Housing In ventory Count showed that in line 7 2024, despite mor e than 300,000 people cycling thr ough line 8 homelessness statewide, California had only 76,000 shelter beds line 9 and 79,000 units of permanent supportive housing. line 10 (6) Homelessness is disproportionately experienced by Black, line 11 Indigenous, and other groups in California that have experienced line 12 historical and continued discrimination, and e xcessive penalties line 13 related to homelessness contrib ute to and e xacerbate the r acist line 14 outcomes in housing and criminal justice.
line 15 (7) Arresting, fining , and jailing people e xperiencing line 16 homelessness for the act of living outside and conducting line 17 life-sustaining activities does not contrib ute to ending their line 18 homelessness.
line 19 (8) A growing body of r esearch suggests that these r esponses line 20 to homelessness add additional barrier s to ending someone’ s line 21 homelessness, including causing people to lose touc h with case line 22 managers, family, and friends seeking to assist them find housing. line 23 (9) These barrier s also including missing work and losing line 24 needed income to get back into housing.
line 25 (10) These barriers also include missing critical health car e line 26 appointments that may contribute to deteriorating health. line 27 (11) These barriers also include loss of key property, including line 28 identification, birth certificates, and other documents that ar e line 29 needed to access subsidized housing, essential services, and public line 30 benefits.
line 31 (12) These barriers also include financial penalties that can line 32 increase debt, dama ge credit, and result in benc h warrants that line 33 result in additional jail time, all of which detracts from efforts to line 34 regain housing.
line 35 (13) Criminalization also adds risks to the community-based line 36 service provider organizations and community members working line 37 with the population e xperiencing homelessness, hindering the line 38 responsiveness of both publicly funded and other community-based line 39 responses to end homelessness.
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line 1 (b) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature in enacting this line 2 act to limit penalties that local and state governments may pursue line 3 for the performance of acts related to experiencing homelessness, line 4 including conducting life-sustaining activities, for the purpose of line 5 removing hindrance to ending California’s homeless crisis. line 6 SEC. 2. Section 11145.1 is added to the Government Code, to line 7 read:
line 8 11145.1. (a) Notwithstanding any other law , a state a gency line 9 shall not adopt any regulation or issue any policy or guidance, or line 10 enforce an existing regulation, policy, or guidance, that imposes line 11 civil or criminal penalties on a per son who is homeless for any line 12 act immediately related to homelessness or any act related to basic line 13 survival, or on a person who is assisting a person who is homeless line 14 with any act related to basic survival.
line 15 (b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
line 16 (1) “Act immediately related to homelessness” means standing, line 17 sitting, laying, or sleeping in a public place , including, but not line 18 limited to, a public street, public park, or other outdoor area that line 19 is open to the public.
line 20 (2) “Act related to basic survival” includes, b ut is not limited line 21 to, the possession of a tent or tarp, erection of a tent or tarp, eating line 22 or drinking, possessing and utilizing blankets or pillows, seeking line 23 shade, and other activities to protect oneself from the elements. line 24 (3) “Homeless” has the same meaning as defined in Section line 25 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section line 26 read on January 10, 2019.
line 27 SEC. 3. Section 53069.44 is added to the Government Code, line 28 to read:
line 29 53069.44. (a) Notwithstanding any other law , a local line 30 jurisdiction shall not adopt a local or dinance, or enfor ce an line 31 existing ordinance, that imposes civil or criminal penalties on a line 32 person who is homeless for any act immediately r elated to line 33 homelessness or any act related to basic survival, or on a person line 34 who is assisting a person who is homeless with any act related to line 35 basic survival.
line 36 (b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
line 37 (1) “Act immediately related to homelessness” means standing, line 38 sitting, laying, or sleeping in a public place , including, but not line 39 limited to, a public street, public park, or other outdoor area that line 40 is open to the public.
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line 1 (2) “Act related to basic survival” includes, b ut is not limited line 2 to, the possession of a tent or tarp, erection of a tent or tarp, eating line 3 or drinking, possessing and utilizing blankets or pillows, seeking line 4 shade, and other activities to protect oneself from the elements. line 5 (3) “Homeless” has the same meaning as defined in Section line 6 578.3 of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that section line 7 read on January 10, 2019.
line 8 (4) “Local jurisdiction” means a city, county, city and county, line 9 or special district.
line 10 SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declar es that ensuring a line 11 compassionate, evidence-based approach to ending homelessness line 12 is a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair as line 13 that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California line 14 Constitution. Therefore, Section 3 of this act, adding Section line 15 53069.44 to the Government Code, applies to all cities, including line 16 charter cities.
line 17 SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Le gislature to enact line 18 legislation relating to local government.
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