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//1- /3 .1: ~,.i.5! ! !'. ~! !.f! . ~ !! ! . ~':!~~!'. lEG ACTION DA VS from page 2 ....... Legislative Action Days continued on May 12 with presentations by Lucy Dunn, director of the state's Department of Housing and Community Development, and Cindy McKim, speaking on behalf of Will Kempton from the California Depart- ment of Transportation (Caltrans). The following are summaries of just a few of the legislative bills that are currently being acted upon by the League of California Cities. For more information about these and other bills, please visit the League website "Issues and Advocacy" page (www.cacities.ora/issuesandadvocacv) - ' a one-stop location to access information about legislation, policy issues and related developments. You can track information on bills (www.cacities.org/billsearch), locate legislators and legislative committees, send letters to legislators or the media through the online Advocacy Center, research League policy positions, access useful related links, and much more. HOUSING AND LAND USE S8 968 (Torlakson) Planning. The previ- ous version of this legislation contained intent language relative to housing issues, and served as the legislative vehicle for the League/Housing General Plan Task Force - an outgrowth of discussions initiated in the fall of 2003, between the League's leadership and the state's major homebuilders. However, the most recent amendments to this legislation delete the previous language from , the bill, and replace it with a change in reference in statute affecting local general plans from the "circulation' element to the "transportation' element. As such, the bill remains an available "spot" vehicle for potential changes to laws affecting housing planning which may emerge from the work of the task force and be approved by the appropriate League policy committees and board of directors. Staff: Daniel Carrigg; Status: SenFlr; Position: Support. Dunn delivered a rousing speech about three key issues affecting housing in California - increas- ing the state's housing supply, Proposition 46 (a $2.1 billion dollar housing bond measure passed by the voters in November, 2002), and public aware- ness of the housing shortage. Dunn said that the state's population has grown by 500,000 people each year since 1950, and that housing is woefully inadequate to keep up with demand. "We need 225,000 housing units per year to meet current growth levels,8 the housing and community development director explained. "We have not met that growth since 1989, and that is a significant reason why housing prices have risen: Dunn said that her department has awarded $1 billion of the $2.1 billion approved by Prop 46 for housing over the past two years, emphasizing how important the bond award has been in providing housing in California. But given the state's ongoing budget crisis, Dunn doubted that the Schwarzenegger administration would approve a second housing bond once the Prop 46 funds are fully dispersed. She also expressed concern over how to finance housing construction in the future. "The bad news is that in two years, we are out of money,' Dunn explained. "VVhat we need to do is come up with ways to have consistent financing, and we're looking at such alternatives as sales of surplus state property and casino revenues." McKim spoke next, praising Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposal to fully fund Prop 42 transportation projects. However, she believed that those funds were only one small piece of a much larger puzzle. "This is only the first step, as we need a reliable source of transportation funding in California,' Continued on Page 6 PAGE 4/PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the league's Official Website..www.cacities.org