Existing law:
- Requires specified designated transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt a regional transportation plan directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system, as described;
- Requires the plan to include specified information, including a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization, and requires each transportation planning agency to adopt and submit, every 4 years, an updated plan to the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation;
- Requires, per the existing Planning and Zoning Law, a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element;
- Requires the housing element to consist of an identification and analysis of existing and projected housing needs, among other things;
- Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to determine, for the 4th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, the existing and projected need for housing for each region
- As part of that process, existing law requires HCD, in consultation with each council of governments, to determine that need based upon population projections produced by the Department of Finance and regional population forecasts used in preparing regional transportation plans, as described;
- Describes how to reconcile differences in regional population forecasts from the council of governments and the Department of Finance.
This bill, commencing January 1, 2024, would:
- Require each transportation planning agency to follow certain population projection procedures when updating the regional transportation plan;
- Require the sustainable communities strategy to be based on population projections produced by the Department of Finance and regional population forecasts used in determining applicable city and county regional housing needs, in consultation with each council of governments;
- Impose similar reconciliation procedures, as described above, when there are differences in the population forecast provided by the council of governments and the Department of Finance.
Existing law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide an annual report to HCD by April 1 of each year that includes, among other information, the city’s or county’s progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs, as described;
This bill would require the annual report to also include the progress of the city or county toward the recommended alignment of land use regulations with applicable sustainable communities strategies or alternative planning strategies.
Committee Location: Approved in Assembly and Senate policy committees; in Senate Appropriations.
