BILL NUMBER: AB 904	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 12, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 11, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 10, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 14, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

    An act to add Section 381.3 to the Public Utilities Code,
relating to energy.   An act to add Article 2
(commencing with Section 65200) to Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7
of the Government Code, relating to local government. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 904, as amended, Skinner.  Energy efficiency. 
 Local government: parking spaces: minimum requirements. 

   The Planning and Zoning Law requires specified regional
transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt a regional
transportation plan directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced
regional transportation system, and requires the regional
transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable
communities strategy, for the purpose of using local planning to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  
   This bill, commencing on January 1, 2014, would prohibit a city or
county from requiring a minimum parking standard in
transit-intensive areas, as defined, greater than one parking space
per 1,000 square feet in nonresidential projects, one parking space
per unit in residential projects, and specified portions, as
applicable, of a parking space per unit for certain affordable
housing projects, except as specified. The bill would also make a
statement of legislative findings regarding the application of its
provisions to charter cities.  
   Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (Energy Commission) to establish, by March 1,
2010, a regulatory proceeding to develop a comprehensive program to
achieve greater energy savings in the state's existing residential
and nonresidential building stock.  
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to
establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the
Legislature. Pursuant to existing law, the PUC has opened Rulemaking
09-11-014 (Order Instituting Rulemaking to Examine the Commission's
Post-2008 Energy Efficiency Policies, Programs, Evaluation,
Measurement and Verification, and Related Issues, filed November 20,
2009). Existing law requires the PUC, by March 1, 2010, to open a new
proceeding or amend an existing proceeding to investigate the
ability of electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide
various energy efficiency financing options to their customers for
the purposes of implementing the above-described Energy Commission
program.  
   This bill would require the PUC, as part of Rulemaking 09-11-014,
to evaluate reasonable alternatives for financing residential energy
efficiency retrofits, including efficiency improvements of heating,
ventilation, and air-conditioning. The bill would require the PUC to
consult and coordinate with the Energy Commission in complying with
those requirements. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes
  no  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    This act shall be known and may be
cited as the Sustainable Parking Standards Act of 2012. 
   SEC. 2.    (a) The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:  
   (1) The state, cities, and counties have invested billions of
dollars in transit infrastructure. Land use policies that reduce the
cost and complexity of transit-oriented development help ensure a
return on that investment.  
   (2) Consistent with Senate Bill 375 and Assembly Bill 32, it is
state policy to promote transit-oriented infill development. 

   (3) Existing parking requirements throughout the state are based
on low-density and segregated single land uses.  
   (4) Parking is costly to build and maintain and can substantially
increase the cost of constructing and operating infill projects.
 
   (5) The high cost of the land and improvements required to provide
parking significantly increases the cost of transit-oriented
development, making lower cost and affordable housing development
financially infeasible and hindering economic development strategies.
 
   (6) Increasing public transportation options and developing more
walkable and bikeable neighborhoods reduce the demand for parking.
 
   (7) Excessive governmental parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development reduce the viability of transit
development by limiting the number of households and workers near
transit, increasing walking distances, and degrading the pedestrian
environment.  
   (8) Reducing excessive minimum parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development and allowing builders and the market to
decide how much parking is needed can do all of the following: 

   (A) Ensure sufficient but not excessive amounts of parking are
provided.  
   (B) Significantly reduce the cost of development and increase the
number of transit-accessible and affordable housing units.  

   (C) Increase density in areas with the most housing demand, and
improve the viability of developing alternate modes of
transportation, such as public transit, ridesharing, biking, and
walking.  
   (D) Reduce green house gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled by
removing an incentive to drive.  
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to reduce unnecessary
government regulation and to reduce the cost of development by
eliminating excessive minimum parking requirements for infill and
transit-oriented development.  
   (c) The Legislature further finds and declares that the need to
address infill development and excessive parking requirements is a
matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair, as that
term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California
Constitution. Therefore, this act shall apply to all cities,
including charter cities. 
   SEC. 3.    Article 2 (commencing with Section 65200)
is added to Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the  
Government Code   , to read:  

      Article 2.  Sustainable Parking Standards Act of 2012


   65200.  (a) Commencing on January 1, 2014, in transit-intensive
areas, a city, county, or city and county, including a charter city,
shall not require projects to provide a minimum number of parking
spaces greater than:
   (1) One parking space per thousand square feet of commercial,
industrial, institutional, or other nonresidential projects.
   (2) One parking space per unit for non-income-restricted
residential projects.
   (3) Seventy-five one hundredths parking spaces per unit for
projects that include both income-restricted and
non-income-restricted units, and which meet the standards in
subdivision (b) of Section 65915.
   (4) Five-tenths parking spaces per unit for units that are
restricted by a recorded covenant or a deed that lasts at least 55
years to rents or prices affordable to persons and families making
less than 60 percent of area median income.
   (b) This section shall not be construed as setting a maximum
number of spaces a project may provide.
   (c) This section shall not apply to any property that meets any of
the following criteria:
   (1) The property and immediately adjoining properties are
restricted to development or redevelopment at a floor area ratio of
below 0.75.
   (2) The property includes a parcel or parcels whose dwelling units
are subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts
rents to levels affordable to persons and families of low- or
moderate-income, or are subject to other forms of rent or price
control imposed through a public entity's valid exercise of its
police power, that will be destroyed or removed, unless any proposed
development on the property is to include an equal number of bedrooms
that shall be made available at affordable housing costs to, and
will be occupied by, persons and families in the same or lower income
category (extremely low, very low, or low) in the same proportion as
the units occupied or last occupied by extremely low, very low, or
low-income households in the property. Rental replacement units
provided pursuant to this paragraph shall be made available at
affordable housing costs for at least 55 years, or at the remaining
term of the existing recorded covenants or deed restrictions that
require maintenance of affordable housing costs, which are consistent
with the parties meeting their contractual obligations. Ownership
replacement units provided pursuant to this paragraph shall be made
available at affordable housing costs for at least 45 years.
   (3) The property includes a parcel where the owner withdrew
residential rental units pursuant to Chapter 12.75 (commencing with
Section 7060) of Division 7 of Title 1, from rental or lease, or
offering for rental or lease pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision
(a) of Section 7060.2.
   (d) For purposes of this section, "transit-intensive area" means
an area that is within one-half mile of a major transit stop or
within one-quarter mile of the center line of a high-quality transit
corridor included in a regional transportation plan. A major transit
stop is as defined in Section 21064.3 of the Public Resources Code,
except that, for purposes of this section, it also includes major
transit stops that are included in the applicable regional
transportation plan. For purposes of this section, a high-quality
transit corridor means a corridor with a fixed route bus service with
service intervals no longer than 15 minutes during peak commute
hours. A property shall be considered to be within one-half mile of a
major transit stop or within one-quarter mile of the center line of
a high-quality transit corridor if all parcels within the property
together have no more than 25 percent of their area farther than
one-half mile from the stop or within one-quarter mile of the center
line of a corridor, and if not more than 10 percent of the
residential units or 100 units, whichever is less, in any proposed
project are farther than one-half mile from the stop or within
one-quarter mile of the center line of a corridor.
   (e) Consistent with subdivision (f), a city, county, or city and
county, including a charter city, may require higher minimum parking
standards for new development in a transit-intensive area other than
those established pursuant to subdivision (a) if it makes written
findings, specific to that transit-intensive area, based upon
objective criteria and substantial evidence in the record that:
   (1) The transit-intensive area in question does not currently have
or cannot reasonably expect to have sufficient walkability, as
defined by proximity to services such as grocery stores or other
neighborhood amenities within one-half mile of the transit-intensive
area.
   (2) The transit-intensive area in question does not currently have
or cannot reasonably expect to have a sufficient level of transit
service or bike access to provide for viable alternatives to the car.

   (3) The parking standards set forth in this act would undermine
existing parking standards that create effective incentives for
transit-oriented development or affordable housing production, or
both.
   (4) The parking standards set forth in this section conflict with
a plan that is specific to a station area and is in effect as of
January 1, 2013, that includes a major transit stop and provides for
reduced off-street automobile parking requirements in comparison to
the standard zoning requirements in the same jurisdiction outside the
transit-intensive area.
   (f) Any action by a city, county, or city and county, including a
charter city, to increase parking requirements in a transit-intensive
area pursuant to subdivision (e) shall be in the form of an
ordinance that complies with a local zone, plan, or other generally
applicable development standard within that transit area. Development
projects whose applications the city or county has deemed complete
after January 1, 2014, but before the adoption of any increased
minimum parking requirements made pursuant to this subdivision, shall
not be subject to those increased minimum parking requirements.
   (g) A city, county, or city and county that has adopted an
ordinance pursuant to subdivisions (e) and (f) may repeal that
ordinance at any time without any requirement for new findings or
analysis.
   (h) Before January 1, 2014, a city, county, or city and county may
evaluate and approve projects pursuant to the parking standards
under this section.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 381.3 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read:
   381.3.  (a) As part of Rulemaking 09-11-014 (Order Instituting
Rulemaking to Examine the Commission's Post-2008 Energy Efficiency
Policies, Programs, Evaluation, Measurement and Verification, and
Related Issues, filed November 20, 2009), the commission shall
evaluate reasonable alternatives for financing residential energy
efficiency retrofits, including efficiency improvements of heating,
ventilation, and air-conditioning.
   (b) The commission shall consult and coordinate with the State
Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission in complying
with subdivision (a).