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Senate committee advances AB 357 to speed Coastal Commission decisions on student housing
Summary
AB 357 would require the Coastal Commission to issue coastal development permit decisions for student and faculty housing projects within 90 days; bill sponsors say it speeds needed housing while preserving environmental safeguards; supporters include student groups and housing advocates and opponents sought technical protections.
Assemblymember Alvar ez presented Assembly Bill 357 to the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee as a measure to speed approvals for student and faculty housing near California's coast by requiring the California Coastal Commission to make permit decisions within 90 days. The bill’s author said the intent is to "fast track and create certainty for affordable student and faculty housing" while maintaining the protections of the Coastal Act.
Supporters — including Kate Rogers of the Student Homes Coalition, university student groups and housing advocates — told the committee that students are facing housing insecurity and that more campus housing in coastal zones is urgently needed. "We do not have to choose between affordable higher education and coastal protection," Rogers said, adding that certified campus long‑range development plans can allow environmentally consistent projects to proceed more quickly.
An environmental organization, Sustainable Universities Now (SUN), and other community groups acknowledged improvements in the bill’s committee amendments and said they supported amendments that create an abbreviated, de minimis review of long‑range development plan amendments. The author accepted committee amendments on the floor and asked the committee to pass the bill as amended.
The committee moved AB 357 out of committee as amended; the motion was recorded as advancing the bill to the Senate Housing Committee. (Tally: yes 6, no 0 — left on call during the hearing.)
The bill would apply to coastal campus projects consistent with certified development planning documents and includes guardrails that supporters say preserve Coastal Act protections. Opponents and some committee members pressed for continued negotiations on implementation details before the measure advances to the next committee.
