California Bills Would Clarify, Restrict ‘Builder’s Remedy’

California lawmakers want to curb the state’s ‘builder’s remedy’ law, an often overlooked state regulation that lets developers build projects that don’t conform to local zoning codes in cities without a state-approved housing element.

As Ben Christopher explains in CALmatters, “Despite its use as a hardball negotiating tactic by aggressive developers, no project has broken ground, much less finished, as a result of the builder’s remedy. That’s partially because relatively few developers are willing to make use of the confusingly-worded law for lack of legal certainty.”

State Assembly Bill 1893, authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, would clarify and “modernize” the law, capping the size of projects and banning them in industrial zones. “The proposed overhaul, outlined in a newly amended draft of the bill published this morning, includes new perks for developers, textual edits to clear up how the law would apply and a provision to let developers who make use of other state laws allowing them to bypass environmental review and public hearing requirements to make use of builder’s remedy guarantees too.”

A second bill, AB 1886, would require an official sign-off from the California Housing and Community Development department.

The bills come in response to recent concerns over the vague — or in some cases nonexistent — limits of the law. Projects submitted under the builder’s remedy often get caught up in lawsuits, driving up costs and extending timelines. But “For ‘Yes In My Backyard’ activists who blame development-averse local governments for the state’s housing shortage, the builder’s remedy has been celebrated as the policy equivalent of the “F—- Around and Find Out” meme.”