Assembly Local Government Committee advances housing, energy and small-business bills; AB 24 held without recommendation

The California State Assembly Local Government Committee on an undisclosed date advanced multiple measures on housing, clean energy and small-business permitting while holding one transportation-representation bill after it failed to receive a second.

The committee advanced measures that its members and witnesses said are intended to speed permitting for housing and restaurants, update the state’s solar-use easement approach for water-constrained farmland, and create tools for downtown recovery. Assemblymember DeMayo’s bill to alter board selection at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) — aimed at increasing representation for unincorporated rural areas — did not receive a second and was held without recommendation.

AB 24 (DeMayo): held after no second Assemblymember DeMayo presented AB 24 as a response to long-running complaints about SANDAG decisions and perceived underinvestment in rural road projects. “My bill would require that 1 of the 2 board seats the San Diego County Board of Supervisors receives, 1 of the 2 board seats, will not be selected by the Board of Supervisors because they are, again, representing cities, but rather the San Diego, association of planning groups,” DeMayo said during the hearing. He framed the change as a way to give the county’s roughly 600,000 unincorporated residents—about 18% of the county population—“the voice they deserve” on regional transportation decisions.

Committee members asked for more local input. One member said the change “needs to marinate” with local officials before a statutory change is adopted. The bill did receive a motion but no second; the chair left the file open pending a possible second and therefore the bill was held in committee without recommendation.

AB 11 56 (Wicks): modernize solar use easements; passed to Utilities and Energy AB 11 56, presented by Assemblymember Wicks, seeks to update the state’s 2011 solar-use easement program for Williamson Act lands to allow water-constrained farmland to convert…