CAA Warns of Impending Senate Vote on Bill Jeopardizing Costa-Hawkins

California’s cornerstone rental housing protection law, the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, is in jeopardy as a bill proposing to broaden local rent control measures moves towards a full Senate vote, the California Apartment Association (CAA) said Friday. Calling the bill “anti-housing,” CAA said State Sen. Aisha Wahab’s SB 466 could deter the development of new rental units by allowing local governments to enforce stricter rent controls on newer properties.

SB 466 would remove Costa-Hawkins’ ban on local rent controls for housing built after 1995 and would instead establish a rolling date, which Wahab originally set at 15 years. She subsequently agreed to a longer rolling date and would also exempt single-family rentals and condominiums from the expanded local rent controls.

Despite these modifications, CAA remains opposed to SB 466. “Apartment owners and builders have long counted on post-1995 properties being exempt from local rent control,” the association said Friday. “The proposed rolling date disrupts this decades-old certainty, potentially chilling new development.”