SB 423 · Housing Laws Navigator
Bills · 2023-2024 Session

SB 423

Land use: streamlined housing approvals: multifamily housing developments.Ch. 778, Stats. 2023 · chaptered 2023-10-11 · Later amended

Key provisions · Claude summary of the digest, not bill text

Extended the SB 35 streamlined, ministerial approval process for multifamily housing to January 1, 2036, and revised its eligibility standards, including opening certain coastal zone sites, replacing the fire hazard exclusion, and changing labor requirements.

  • Extension to 2036. Extended the streamlined, ministerial approval process to January 1, 2036, and allowed the Department of General Services, at its discretion, to act in place of a local government for development on state-owned or leased property.
  • Coastal zone. Narrowed the coastal zone exclusion to developments meeting specified conditions, required eligible coastal developments to obtain a coastal development permit approved if consistent with the certified local coastal program's objective standards, and applied these changes in the coastal zone on or after January 1, 2025.
  • Fire hazard and equine sites. Replaced the high or very high fire hazard severity zone exclusion with an exclusion for sites in the state responsibility area unless specified standards are adopted. Excluded qualified sites in equine or equestrian districts for applications submitted from January 1, 2024, to before July 1, 2025.
  • Labor standards. Replaced the prevailing wage and skilled and trained workforce standards with a certification that specified wage and labor standards will be met, including prevailing wages enforced by the Labor Commissioner. Exempted projects of 10 or fewer units that are not otherwise public works from prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and health care requirements.
  • Approval process. Required approval when the planning director or equivalent finds consistency with objective standards, required all local departments to meet streamlined timelines, and barred requiring postentitlement standards or unrelated studies before approval. Limited planning commission review to design review only.
  • Public meeting and unit counts. Required a public meeting within 45 days of a notice of intent for projects in moderate resource, low resource, or high segregation and poverty areas, held by the planning commission in jurisdictions over 250,000 population. Counted all projects on a site, and on adjacent sites subdivided after January 1, 2023, toward total units, and added an alternative affordable rent definition for 100% lower income projects.

Paraphrased from the Legislative Counsel’s Digest. Check the bill text before relying on it.

ClaudeGreen text is a summary heading written by Claude to help navigate. It is not statute text; the statute text is in black.

Preamble

SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares that it has provided reforms and incentives to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing. Those reforms and incentives can be found in the following provisions:

(a) Housing element law (Article 10.6 (commencing with Section 65580) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code).

(b) Extension of statute of limitations in actions challenging the housing element and brought in support of affordable housing (subdivision (d) of Section 65009 of the Government Code).

(c) Restrictions on disapproval of housing developments (Section 65589.5 of the Government Code).

(d) Priority for affordable housing in the allocation of water and sewer hookups (Section 65589.7 of the Government Code).

(e) Least cost zoning law (Section 65913.1 of the Government Code).

(f) Density Bonus Law (Section 65915 of the Government Code).

(g) Accessory dwelling units (Sections 65852.150 and 65852.2 of the Government Code).

(h) By-right housing, in which certain multifamily housing is designated a permitted use (Section 65589.4 of the Government Code).

(i) No-net-loss-in zoning density law limiting downzonings and density reductions (Section 65863 of the Government Code).

(j) Requiring persons who sue to halt affordable housing to pay attorney’s fees (Section 65914 of the Government Code) or post a bond (Section 529.2 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

(k) Reduced time for action on affordable housing applications under the approval of development permits process (Article 5 (commencing with Section 65950) of Chapter 4.5 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code).

(l) Limiting moratoriums on multifamily housing (Section 65858 of the Government Code).

(m) Prohibiting discrimination against affordable housing (Section 65008 of the Government Code).

(n) California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).

(o) Community Redevelopment Law (Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000) of Division 24 of the Health and Safety Code, and in particular Sections 33334.2 and 33413 of the Health and Safety Code).

(p) Streamlining housing approvals during a housing shortage (Section 65913.4 of the Government Code).

(q) Housing sustainability districts (Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 66200) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code).

(r) Streamlining agricultural employee housing development approvals (Section 17021.8 of the Health and Safety Code).

(s) The Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 330 (Chapter 654 of the Statutes of 2019)).

(t) Allowing four units to be built on single-family parcels statewide (Senate Bill 9 (Chapter 162 of the Statutes of 2021)).

(u) The Middle Class Housing Act of 2022 (Section 65852.24 of the Government Code).

(v) Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 (Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 65912.100) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code).

SEC. 2In the navigator:§ 65913.4changes

Section 65913.4 of the Government Code is amended to read:

SEC. 3

The Legislature finds and declares that ensuring access to affordable housing is a matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, Section 2 of this act amending Section 65913.4 of the Government Code applies to all cities, including charter cities.

SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.

Source: LegiScan API, chaptered text of SB 423 (2023-2024 Session).

Bill text is the chaptered version from LegiScan (California Legislature); spacing is normalized. Code section text in a bill is the text that bill chaptered, not necessarily the law in effect today. Not legal advice.