By Hannah Wiley : sacbee – excerpt
California Democrats unveiled on Monday a package of eight proposals that attempt to spur construction of new homes by slashing some of the fees that local governments charge for building permits.
Those fees can run into the tens of thousands of dollars per house, driving up the cost of construction and leading developers to favor luxury homes over affordable ones, advocates say.
One new proposal would direct cities to set charges on the square footage of a project, which could free developers to build smaller units for a lower cost. Another would use state funds to reimburse local governments that waive impact fees on affordable units
The author added this information:
The bill analyses aren’t out yet, so what you see is just basic legislative language. There will be more information in the coming months as the committees analyze the bills and release their reports. That’s why I didn’t put the bill numbers in yet. Some of them are very technical and wouldn’t do much; others are much more heavy lifting.
AB 1484 – reforming how cities and counties analyze the fees
AB 1924 – requires assessing fees on square-foot basis
AB 3144 – reimburses local govs for waiving impact fees
AB 3145 – Establishes fee ceiling based on median home price
AB 3146 – Requires data reporting
AB 3147 – Impact fees payable under protest
AB 3148 – lowers fees on units built through state density bonus law
AB 3149 – modernizes fee alert system
Public beware. What is left out of the conversation, is who will pay the bills for the infrastructure that is no longer being paid for by the developers? They will probably turn up as a property tax or sales tax increase, or they might just get tagged on your utility bills.
