SB 50...

Dear Neighbors,

The California State Senate voted on SB 50 yesterday and it FAILED to pass....

They voted again this morning and it FAILED to pass again.

But something bizarre happened....After the second FAILING vote,  Sen. Wiener, SB 50 author, hightailed it to the back of the room and the meeting stopped... for a very long time.

Senators were strolling around, chatting with colleagues, on cell phones, waiting, waiting..etc.

This went on for a very long time...

Finally, Sen. Dodd asked the hearing moderator  (not sure what his official title is) 'What is going on?!"

He answered they had 'extended a courtesy' to Sen. Wiener to continue the debate, which was happening somewhere in the back, out of camera range....(you can watch state hearings on computer)

For a very long time.

He was lobbying Senators back there while the ones that had already voted, twice, were made to wait.

Then after the very long break, they took the vote again.....and again, and again, and again, and again....and SB 50 FAILED...again and again and again and again...

Activist and Attorney Hydee Feldstein, who has spoken at many of the 'STOP SB 50' Town Halls around the city, explains more below..

Yes, this was very unusual.

Also, below is L.A.Councilmember Paul  Koretz's LA Times SB 50  'Letter to the Editor'....which expresses specifically some of the impacts of SB 50 on L.A.

L.A. City Council voted unanimously to oppose SB 50.

Cities, communities, many organizations across the state opposed SB 50, and made their opposition known in Sacramento.

Thank you everyone, for all the emails, phone calls, etc. etc. etc.

They heard us!

Please thank them.

Our Senator is Ben Allen, who has been opposed all along....

senator.allen@senate.ca.gov

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THURSDAY....

SB50 JUST FAILED ON RECONSIDERATION! Lots of people have asked if the long wait like the one at the Senate hearing today, as a 'courtesy' was unusual.  The first answer is that a level of 'courtesy' is NOT unusual.   The real answer is that while some 'courtesy' is customary, the on going 'courtesy' extended to Sen. Wiener has been extraordinary: 1.  Sen Wiener was extended 'courtesy' by Sen Portantino and his Appropriation Committee in making this a "2 year bill" which gave Sen.Wiener 6+ months to take comments and fix the problems.   He made almost no meaningful changes and wasted the time with arrogance. 2.  He published Amendments on January 6 and took NO comments for 3 weeks. 3.  He was extended 'courtesy' by Sen. Toni Atkins, Senate President, who pulled the bill out of The Appropriations Committee, where Committee Chair, Sen. Portantino, was still very opposed, and he stopped it in his Committee last time, and it looked like most in his Committee opposed it, and it may have been stopped there again, and she moved it into The Rules Committee.. but WAIT!... she then skipped The Rules Committee altogether and brought it right to the Senate floor for a floor motion. 4.  He was extended 'courtesy' by 100% of the Democratic Senators who voted to allow the bill to proceed to a (premature) vote. 5  He was extended 'courtesy' all day yesterday by deferring the calling of the vote, and allowing him to re-call the absent Senators while he worked the room. 6.  He was extended 'courtesy' by Gov Newsom who offered to endorse the bill if he accepted the changes required by the League of California Cities (they are OPPOSED)  7.  He was extended 'courtesy' on a reconsideration yesterday. 8.  He was extended 'courtesy' this morning by taking up everything else on the Agenda first. 9.  He was extended 'courtesy' by delaying the opening for a Republican caucus. 10.  He was extended 'courtesy' by re-calling the absent Senators and then deferring this vote yet again today, for TWO hours, while all the other Senators had to stand around waiting for him on the Senate floor. 11.  He was extended 'courtesy' by re-calling the absent Senators again, FOUR TIMES, after the TWO hours of arm-twisting and lobbying, in the middle of a Senate meeting, while everyone waited, and yet more delay. THIS HAS BEEN A MESS AND SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ALLOWED. The HALLWAY LOBBYING by Senator Wiener and his allies was horrific. 

 There were all kinds of promises made to Senators of SUPPORT, Committee Chair positions, etc. etc. etc. They did not work and our Senators held firm under tremendous pressure. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

Now we need to get on with the hard work of addressing the AFFORDABLE HOUSING and SHELTER crisis and do so quickly and well. Hydee Feldstein -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SB 50 Would Fill L.A. With Unaffordable Luxury Housing - Los Angeles Times

L.A. City Councilmember Paul Koretz https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-29/sb-50-would-create-a-city-of-unaffordable-housing-in-luxury-high-rises Letters to the Editor

SB 50 Would Create a City of Unaffordable Housing in Luxury High-Rises....

To the editor:

I am gravely concerned for the future of Los Angeles if we are forced to implement Senate Bill 50, a one-size-fits-all response to California’s affordable housing shortage that would allow high-density housing in any neighborhood close to transit.

It has the potential to decimate every single-family neighborhood in Los Angeles while also worsening our affordable housing shortage.

The city councils of both Los Angeles and San Francisco opposed past versions of this bill for many reasons.

There is ample evidence it would incentivize the construction of market-rate housing and create millions of luxury units while requiring few affordable units.

Furthermore, the kind of changes that SB 50 encourages would attract high-income people who don’t necessarily use public transportation into newer luxury buildings adjacent to transit, bringing in more cars while providing insufficient parking.

It’s marketed as a solution to climate change, while in many ways it makes things worse.

Also, SB 50 doesn’t address the issue that is at the heart of our housing crisis, which is the negative effect of the state’s 1995 Costa Hawkins law which makes rent-controlled units unaffordable.

It does nothing about owners sitting on vacant units.

Wall Street-backed landlords have thousands of newly built units they are leaving vacant to bring up land value, intentionally contributing to the housing shortage.

Local officials all over California stand ready to work with Sacramento to fashion common-sense mechanisms for increasing the inventory of truly affordable housing.

But enacting SB 50, which would decimate single-family neighborhoods and allow luxury housing to proliferate, is something we’d all regret for decades to come.

Paul Koretz, Los AngelesThe writer is a member of the L.A. City Council...