Read:  AB 2011 

DCP, State Housing Update

Assembly Bill (AB) 2011 | Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act Establishes a streamlined ministerial process for mixed-income and 100% affordable housing in areas zoned for retail, office, and parking, provided that contractors meet certain labor standards.

Note: AB 2011 does not apply to many sites, including industrial properties, vacant lots in very high fire severity zones, environmentally sensitive sites, mobile home parks, and parcels located within 500 feet of a freeway or 3,200 feet of an oil refinery. This bill is operative on July 1, 2023, and sunset on January 1, 2033.

STATUS:  Became law 09/28/22 Chaptered by Secretary of State – Chapter 647, Statutes of 2022.

This bill would create the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022, which would authorize a development proponent to submit an application for a housing development that meets specified objective standards and affordability and site criteria, including being located within a zone where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use, and would make the development a use by right and subject to one of 2 streamlined, ministerial review processes. The bill would require a development proponent for a housing development project approved pursuant to the streamlined, ministerial review process to require, in contracts with construction contractors, that certain wage and labor standards will be met, including a requirement that all construction workers be paid at least the general prevailing rate of wages, as specified. The bill would require a development proponent to certify to the local government that those standards will be met in project construction. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce the obligation to pay prevailing wages. The bill would require a development proponent for a development of 50 or more housing units approved by a local government pursuant to the above-described provisions to require construction contractors to participate in an apprenticeship program or request dispatch of apprentices from a state-approved apprenticeship program, and to make specified health care expenditures for construction craft employees. The bill would require the development proponent to certify compliance with those requirements to the local government and to report monthly to the local government that they are in compliance with those requirements. The bill would subject the development proponent and the construction contractors and subcontractors to specified civil penalties for failing to comply with those requirements, and would require the penalty funds to be deposited in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. The bill would prohibit a local government from imposing any requirement, including increased fees, on the basis that the project is eligible to receive ministerial or streamlined approval. Because the bill would impose new duties on local governments, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.