LAist
Developers, landlords, Facebook, construction unions, the state Chamber of Commerce, Realtors, environmental groups and even the AARP wanted to see the bill pass.
So did big city mayors including San Francisco’s London Breed and San Jose’s Sam Liccardo. Not to mention Sen. Toni Atkins, Democratic leader of the state Senate, who typically has a pretty big say in which bills make it out of her chamber.
Nonetheless Senate Bill 50, a measure that would have forced cities to allow more mid-rise apartment buildings around public transit and next to some single-family homes, failed to get enough votes in the California Legislature to survive in 2020 before time ran out.
The question now is how Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to meet one of his signature campaign goals: building millions of new homes. And if cities, anti-gentrification activists and suburban homeowners could stymie the assortment of powerful interests backing that bill, what pro-development policy options are left?
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