State Preemption
The Oregon Legislature is already considering one of the most sweeping and ambitious statewide land use reform bills in the country. A new bill would allow even more density around transit stations.
Willamette Week
Democratic legislators in Oregon are pushing hard to approve a statewide rent control bill that would be the first of its kind in the United States.
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Local planners and elected officials are expressing their opinions about Oregon's House Bill 2001, which would allow fourplexes on single-family residential units around the state.
The Oregonian
If it approves HB 1797, Washington will pace the rest of the nation (even California and Oregon) on reforming zoning to allow more accessory dwelling units.
Sightline Institute
When it comes to housing lawsuits involving the state and new housing laws, Huntington Beach might be ground zero. Over a week before Attorney General Becerra sued the Orange County city at the behest of Gov. Newsom, the city sued the state.
SF Gate
California's new governor has sent a strong signal to local governments: build housing to comply with state law or else.
Los Angeles Times
The Democratic governor proposed a ban on single-use plastic bags in his state-of-the-state address on Jan. 15. Nearly two years earlier, he signed a bill that prevented New York City from charging for bags as the District of Columbia and Boston do.
The New York Times
Converting all the public transit buses in California would save reduce carbon emissions in the state by 1 million metric tons by 2040.
San Francisco Chronicle
Legislation in Oregon would follow the lead of Minneapolis in overturning single-family zoning—for all cities in the state with more than 10,000 residents.
Willamette Week
California State Senator Scott Wiener has released the highly anticipated follow up to last year's failed bombshell of a housing bill, SB 827.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
The new ordinance brings long-awaited legal legitimacy to sidewalk vending in Los Angeles.
Streetsblog LA
Past examples of state and provincial governments preempting the land use authority of local governments present several lessons on how to do state-mandated upzoning effectively.
Sightline Institute
The public and the "urbanism cognoscenti" do not see eye to eye when it comes to housing policy. A new survey makes the disconnect in opinions on matters of supply, regulations, and affordable housing very clear.
Los Angeles Times
California gets most of the attention, but states all over the country are removing some of the vestiges of local control to help spur housing development, require affordable housing, and control the skyrocketing cost of housing.
Pew Stateline
It's too early to gauge the long-term effects of California's housing package signed a year ago. But with a $4 billion bond on the ballot this November, some facts (and some dramas) have already made themselves known.
CALmatters
Under a law signed today by Governor Jerry Brown, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) gains the power to rezone its properties. It's a decisive victory for state preemption over local control in the face of California's housing crisis.
San Francisco Chronicle
A new state law meant to overcome local barriers to development is having its first big test run in Cupertino, California.
The Mercury News
On Thursday, the U.S. DOT and U.S. EPA announced one of the Trump administration's most consequential rollbacks of environmental and efficiency regulations that will have a detrimental effect on climate change, air pollution, and oil consumption.
The Washington Post
Blog post
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development devoted an entire issue of a quarterly newsletter to land use regulations and the idea that local laws are strangling the nation's supply of affordable housing.
Blog post
Why local governments can not always be trusted to run housing policy.
