Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Why Did the California Senate Shunt a Cost-Cutting Housing Bill?
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 4 weeks ago on
May 28, 2025

California Senate's decision to gut a housing bill raises questions about the state's commitment to addressing its housing crisis. (CalMatters/Fred Greaves)

Share

This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Last month, RAND, a prominent think tank based in Santa Monica, published an exhaustive study on housing costs that devastatingly proves how California has been undermining its official goal of increasing production.

Author's Profile Picture

By Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

After examining more than 100 multifamily projects in three states, RAND concluded that building them in California is 2.8 times as expensive as in Texas and 1.5 times higher than in Colorado, “with much of the difference driven by state and local policies that contribute to long permitting and construction timelines, and higher local development fees.”

Even more shockingly, RAND found that projects for low-income families cost 1.5 times as much to build as market-rate housing in California and four times the average cost in Texas.

Senate Blocks Cost-Cutting Bill

Last week, the California Senate appeared to double down on making housing development more difficult and costly, shunting a bill aimed at making it easier to build housing for lower-income families by exempting some projects from the California Environmental Quality Act.

Senate Bill 607, carried by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, was gutted in the Senate Appropriations Committee, apparently because Senate leaders such as President Pro Tem Mike McGuire caved into fierce opposition from environmental groups and labor unions, which celebrated the move. The committee announced that SB 607’s contents were being stripped out and replaced by vague language declaring intentions to negotiate further, leaving the fate of the proposal unclear.

CEQA Reform Faces Opposition

Those who either oppose housing projects on environmental grounds or demand concessions, such as requiring them to use union construction labor, have often used — or misused — CEQA as a tool. Over the last half-decade, the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have nibbled at CEQA’s provisions, but when SB 607 was introduced, environmental and labor groups drew an opposition line in the sand.

After the bill was bowdlerized last week, the coalition praised McGuire and other Senate leaders “for recognizing that the language of SB 607 would have created significant unintended consequences on communities and new legal uncertainties.”

Newsom’s Push for Housing Reform

Just days earlier, Newsom had urged the Legislature to pass SB 607 and a similar measure, Assembly Bill 609, as much-needed reforms to increase housing development.

“It’s time to get serious about this issue, period, full stop,” Newsom said. “If you care about your kids you care about getting this done. This is the biggest opportunity to do something big and bold and the only impediment is us.”

The SB 607 blockage may indicate that Newsom is losing clout with the Legislature as he nears lame duck status. However, he could revive the bill as part of the forthcoming negotiations over the state budget, as a statement by Wiener and McGuire suggested.

The RAND study reveals why the state is falling behind.

“California is significantly more expensive than both Colorado and Texas in every cost category that we examined,” Jason Ward, lead author of the report, said in a statement. “One way to address California’s high housing costs is to look for lessons from states where it is easier and less expensive to build new housing.”

The report urges California to emulate a Texas law giving local governments just 30 days to approve or reject projects to reduce California’s 22-month average processing time, to reduce mandatory fees, and to consider modifying California’s strict energy efficiency requirements.

The most poignant finding in the report, however, is that “if California had Colorado’s production costs for publicly subsidized affordable apartments the roughly $1.25 billion in recent spending by the state’s four largest funding programs would have produced more than four times as many units.”

That’s what California is giving up as it continues to make housing development more costly than it needs to be.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to bmcewen@gvwire.com for consideration.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Cuomo Concedes to Mamdani in New York City Democratic Mayoral Contest

DON'T MISS

Mamdani Holds Lead Over Cuomo in Democratic Primary for NYC Mayor

DON'T MISS

Fresno County’s New Breeding Ordinance Could Shut Down 50 Operations

DON'T MISS

NATO Leaders Set to Back Trump Defense Spending Goal at Hague Summit

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Wildfire Quickly Contained. How Did They Do It?

DON'T MISS

Lender’s Intervention Halts City of Fresno’s Eviction Attempt at Granite Park

DON'T MISS

Clovis Unified Faces Lawsuit Alleging Years of Neglect and Sexual Abuse at Fancher Creek

DON'T MISS

Suspect in Bombing at California Fertility Clinic Dies in Federal Custody

DON'T MISS

US Airstrikes Failed to Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Stephen Miller Expands Power in Second Trump Term, Defies Legal Limits

UP NEXT

Mamdani Holds Lead Over Cuomo in Democratic Primary for NYC Mayor

UP NEXT

Fresno County’s New Breeding Ordinance Could Shut Down 50 Operations

UP NEXT

NATO Leaders Set to Back Trump Defense Spending Goal at Hague Summit

UP NEXT

Fresno County Wildfire Quickly Contained. How Did They Do It?

UP NEXT

Lender’s Intervention Halts City of Fresno’s Eviction Attempt at Granite Park

UP NEXT

Suspect in Bombing at California Fertility Clinic Dies in Federal Custody

UP NEXT

US Airstrikes Failed to Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Sources Say

UP NEXT

Stephen Miller Expands Power in Second Trump Term, Defies Legal Limits

UP NEXT

Fresno Man Dies After Alleyway Attack. Police Investigating

UP NEXT

Poll: Most Californians Prefer Lower Taxes and Fewer Services, Skeptical of Gov’t Spending

US New Home Sales Fall More Than Expected in May, Inventory Rises

30 minutes ago

Seven Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza, Pressure on Netanyahu for Ceasefire

34 minutes ago

Zelenskiy Hails ‘Substantive’ Meeting With Trump

1 hour ago

S&P 500, Nasdaq Approach Record High as Middle East Tensions Ease

1 hour ago

Trump Declares Iran ‘Victory for Everybody’ Despite Doubts Over Damage

1 hour ago

Cuomo Concedes to Mamdani in New York City Democratic Mayoral Contest

12 hours ago

Mamdani Holds Lead Over Cuomo in Democratic Primary for NYC Mayor

13 hours ago

Fresno County’s New Breeding Ordinance Could Shut Down 50 Operations

16 hours ago

NATO Leaders Set to Back Trump Defense Spending Goal at Hague Summit

16 hours ago

Fresno County Wildfire Quickly Contained. How Did They Do It?

16 hours ago

Oil Prices Gain on Signs of Strong US Demand

NEW YORK – Oil prices rose over 1% on Wednesday, recovering from a sharp slide early this week, as data showed relatively strong U.S. ...

5 minutes ago

The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. (REUTERS/Angus Mordant/File Photo)
5 minutes ago

Oil Prices Gain on Signs of Strong US Demand

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands June 25, 2025. (Reuters/Piroschka Van De Wouw)
14 minutes ago

Trump Says He Will Speak to Putin Soon About Ending Ukraine War

Ten people, including children, were killed in a shooting during a religious celebration in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Tuesday night. (Shutterstock)
26 minutes ago

Mexico Home Shooting Kills at Least 10 Including Children

A "For Rent, For Sale" sign is seen outside of a home in Washington, U.S., July 7, 2022. (Reuters File)
30 minutes ago

US New Home Sales Fall More Than Expected in May, Inventory Rises

A mourner holds an Israeli flag, ahead of the funeral of Israeli soldier Sergeant Maayan Baruch Pearlstein, who was killed amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Misgav, Israel, June 25, 2025. (Reuters/Florion Goga)
34 minutes ago

Seven Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza, Pressure on Netanyahu for Ceasefire

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives at a dinner for NATO heads of states and government hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Dutch Queen Maxima, on the sidelines of a NATO Summit, at Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
1 hour ago

Zelenskiy Hails ‘Substantive’ Meeting With Trump

A man walks past a Wall Street marking outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building in New York City, U.S., March 11, 2025. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

S&P 500, Nasdaq Approach Record High as Middle East Tensions Ease

A view of the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a building last week, after the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 25, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
1 hour ago

Trump Declares Iran ‘Victory for Everybody’ Despite Doubts Over Damage

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend