San Mateo Daily Journal
By Julia Lee
Three bills that aim to ease the construction of new housing in California and to keep better data are moving through the Assembly after passing the state Senate but opponents say they will ease gentrification and create an unfair burden on cities.
Senate Bills 10, 477 and 478, all authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would essentially upzone up to 10 units in certain areas near transit, eliminate certain restrictions on small apartment buildings and ease lot size rules. The bills passed the Assembly Housing Committee June 22 and now head to the Assembly Local Government Committee.
“Housing has always been my number one priority in the Senate. Housing is a top issue facing the Bay Area and all of California,” Wiener said....\
State Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, said he didn’t support Senate Bill 10 because he thought it was too many units and also because it had a provision to override voter initiatives with a simple majority of the council vote. He said he will take a look at the changes that Wiener is going to make. However, Becker said he supports Senate Bill 477 and said it’s an important bill to have the data to evaluate housing measures and progress.
“I find myself, my own team, we feel like we’re doing a lot of the work,” Becker said. “We really do need better data.”