California
CAPITOL NEWS By Pat Moran, Aaron Read & Associates As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, last year’s legislative day had to be cancelled. As we all adjusted to the realities of the closures and new work from home requirements, the Southern California Rental Housing Association (SCRHA) would not be deterred and cancel another legislative day; and they didn’t. If we couldn’t go to the Capitol, we would bring the Capitol to us by holding our first ever virtual Legislative Day. SCRHA met with all legislative representatives and/or their staff within our sphere of influence.
As the legislative year makes marches on, the SCRHA continues to lobby the Legislature on issues pertaining to SB 91 clean-up. The debate now revolves around what to do next, if anything. Some legislators feel a continuation is unnecessary as the state is due to open-up June 15 (per Governor Newsom). Others feel a continuation may be necessary as we come out of COVID restrictions. Should the latter thinking prevail, the SCRHA will need to see some changes to SB 91 if they chose to continue to kick the can down the road.
We primarily discussed clean-up issues pertaining to SB 91, the “Rent Relief” legislation and had the opportunity to touch on a few other issues as well. All-in-all the two days of virtual meetings were very productive with participation from many SCRHA members who were able to discuss the impact of COVID and SB 91 on the rental housing industry. It is something we will consider doing again should in-person meetings remain limited as we slowly ease out of COVID restrictions. Who knows, maybe we will do both in person and virtual events in the future. Thanks to all that participated.
The year is not without its success. We managed to have several bills held in committee thus making them two-year bills. They include: AB 15 and AB 16 both by Assembly Member Chiu These bills were to be used for issues related to the eviction moratorium and additional protections. Considering the author is no friend of the rental housing industry and once authored rent cancellation bill, we were concerned these vehicles would be used for a similar purpose. They are now two-year bills.
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