Governor Gavin Newsom signed two budget trailer bills on June 30, 2025, enacting the most substantial reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in over five decades....more
7/24/2025
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This is our third update on the important changes in the two budget trailer bills, AB 130 and SB 131, after previous posts addressing the new CEQA exemption for infill housing and the “near miss” CEQA streamlining process....more
During the 2024 California Legislative Session, which closed on August 31, the State Legislature again passed many bills seeking to ease the state’s housing crisis. This post focuses on key housing-related bills that are, at...more
Voters in San Francisco and California will again confront a formidable ballot during the election on March 5, 2024, with an array of qualified City measures and one state proposition to consider....more
2/28/2024
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Ballot Measures ,
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Urban Planning & Development
Recognizing that Downtown San Francisco is “struggling” post-pandemic, State Senator Scott Wiener has announced new legislation to exempt certain projects in the area from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review...more
2/26/2024
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State and Local Government ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Urban Planning & Development ,
Zoning Maps
At the June 13, 2023 Board of Supervisors hearing, the “Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse and Downtown Economic Revitalization” legislation was introduced. The legislation would amend various Planning Code sections to...more
In an Executive Directive dated February 7, 2023, Mayor London Breed declared that “San Francisco needs to fundamentally change how we approve and build housing.” The Directive, titled “Housing For All,” comes on the heels of...more
2/21/2023
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California ,
Construction Project ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Economic Impact Analysis ,
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Inclusionary Housing Ordinance ,
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Urban Planning & Development
San Francisco voters will again confront a formidable ballot on November 3, 2020, with 13 San Francisco propositions to consider in addition to state and federal offices and measures. The local propositions address an array...more
10/14/2020
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Ballot Measures ,
General Elections ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Local Ordinance ,
San Francisco ,
State and Local Government ,
State Elections ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Rates
Owners of multifamily residential properties in San Francisco will soon have to extend purchase offers to certain nonprofit organizations, before making or soliciting offers to sell those properties to anyone else—and will...more
5/9/2019
/ Affordable Housing ,
Housing Market ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Multi-Family Development ,
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Pending Legislation ,
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Right of First Refusal ,
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Urban Planning & Development