When more than 2,200 California REALTORS® arrived in Sacramento, the State Capitol took notice.

On April 27, C.A.R. held our annual 2022 Legislative Day in person for the first time since 2019, inviting California’s elected leaders to listen to what REALTORS® know needs to be done to help homeownership and the address the housing crisis.

Legislative Day was an opportunity to hear from and share concerns and priorities with the leaders of our state who are deciding on policies that will govern our daily lives. This year Governor Gavin Newsom, California State Senate Majority Leader Emeritus Bob Hertzberg and Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher addressed the assembled REALTORS®. Members met with their local elected officials and were effective in sharing the Association’s legislative priorities.

C.A.R.’ Legislative Day advocacy was successful in both of its designated “hot issues.” C.A.R. defeated a bill that would have severely exacerbated the housing crisis in California and was able to move forward a proposal to put more dollars in the proposed state budget for down payment assistance and construction of new affordable homes.

This year C.A.R. had two hot issues. The first for those REALTORS® was AB 2710 (Kalra), known as the Right to First Offer bill, from moving forward in the Assembly. The bill proposed preventing rental property owners of all residential multifamily, single-family, condo homes currently occupied by a renter from selling the property without first starting a tedious process to give specified non-profits and other buyers a first chance to purchase the property that could take months or up to a year to complete before being able to sell the property freely. The bill was pulled from consideration by the author before the end of the week.

The second was advocating for the Senate to allocate more money for homeownership housing in the budget. On Friday, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) and Senate Budget & Fiscal Committee Chair Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) announced the second phase of the Senate’s “Putting Wealth to Work” budget proposal that would allocate $1.5 billion for California first-time homeowners and the construction of affordable owner-occupied homes.

Topping off the successful week, C.A.R. defeated proposed statewide rental registry bill AB 2469 (Wicks). If passed, AB 2469 would have burdened housing providers with onerous regulations and costs by mandating the collection, management and submission of data about their renters and business to the California Department of Housing and Community Development every year or face the consequences of weakening their ability to evict even tenants who were committing crimes or damaging property.

Thanks to everyone who made Legislative Day such a success! If you missed it this year, check out this video of the highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wzW4h3lVqk