July 17th, 2025

Hi Everyone,

As we all have learned, committee hearings are likely to result in a bill being advanced to the next step of the legislative process because everyone wants to help their fellow legislators succeed.

Unsurprisingly, SB 79 passed the Local Government Committee yesterday.It needed 6 ayes to pass and that’s what it got, plus 3 no and 1 NVR (no vote registered).  It now goes for a full vote of the Assembly after legislators return from their summer recess on August 18.

We still have a good chance to defeat this bill.  Only committee members have voted so far.  And many voted yes in committee in an effort to keep the bill alive while amendments were added to make it more acceptable.  Many of them noted that they may become a “no” vote when it comes to the full Assembly for a vote if the bill is not amended to their liking. This bill has taken a lot of amendments but it is still not addressing impacts we are concerned with.  The summer recess is our opportunity to engage directly with our legislators and show them how many of our neighborhoods will be at risk.  They need to see this.  You all have the graphics we sent you and the link to creating the 1/2 mile radius around stations near your home that qualify.  LA and cities statewide plan to add a lot of new dedicated bus lanes which makes more and more of our communities vulnerable. This bill includes current transit stops and future planned stops!

Under the guise of needing more housing near transit, this bill still sweeps through neighborhoods with no regard for its residents, infrastructure or open space. Opening access to our single family neighborhoods has always been the goal of YIMBY, Streets for All, and Abundant Housing who are sponsors of this bill and lobby our legislators hard for its passage. 

NEXT STEP:  Get to your Senator and Assemblymember while they are home for the summer recess. They will not go against Sacramento leadership unless they have push back from their constituents.  That’s the only power we have.  If you just want to call their offices and say you want a no vote on SB 79, that works too. 

We have lots of capacity to build more housing on all our commercial and transit corridors and that is what we need to keep saying. Our neighborhoods are not needed in order to get the housing we need.  Our Housing Element certified by the State, proved that.  

We will send you talking points next week.  We are preparing letters for you to send when legislators are back in Sacramento.  The senate still has the last say on this bill.  That is why we need to meet with senators as well.  We still have work to do together.

Thank you all for staying committed to this fight.

Best,

Maria, Cindy, Jeff, Marc