SCRHA Secures End-of-Session Win; Mitigates Worst Bills

SB 493 (Becker) was stopped late Sunday night thanks to the advocacy of SCRHA and its members. Hundreds of members sent messages to their legislators opposing the bill, which would have paved the way for open-ended emergency declarations and associated rent controls.

SB 493 would have added "war" to the list of "disasters" that could trigger anti-price-gouging rules, including rent caps and eviction protections. The bill defined war broadly to include not only periods when Congress has declared war and peace has not been formally restored, but also periods when the U.S. is engaged in active military operations against a foreign state or assisting the United Nations in actions involving the use of armed force. That definition could have created a perpetual state of emergency.

Unfortunately, another anti-price-gouging bill, SB 1365 (Allen), passed on the last day of session (August 31). The bill proposes changes to the application of emergency price-gouging restrictions to rental housing, including allowing landlords to justify increases exceeding the 10 percent emergency cap based on legitimate costs. Opposition from SCRHA and the broader rental housing community resulted in late amendments that preserved existing landlord protections as affirmative defenses to a price-gouging allegation rather than eliminating them entirely. While those amendments are an important improvement secured through industry advocacy, the bill still places the burden on housing providers to establish those defenses and continues to narrow existing protections under California’s emergency price-gouging law. SCRHA will ask the Governor to veto the bill.

Early in the session, SCRHA worked with Senator Durazo and the proponents of SB 1296, which establishes transparency rules for pet policies. SCRHA secured several key amendments that vastly improved the bill. However, the bill was amended at the last minute on the Assembly floor. While some changes were not a concern, the bill now requires rental housing providers to establish a pet policy, provide it to applicants, and meet additional requirements.

SB 868 (Wiener), which allows for the use of portable solar devices, was sent to the Governor. SCRHA was the lone housing organization in opposition to the bill, which is largely directed at electricity providers. However, the bill paves the way for balcony solar and is silent on whether tenants must notify their housing providers. While the author did not accept SCRHA’s common-sense amendment, SCRHA will look to provide protections for property owners through rental forms.

As previously reported, SCRHA stopped many other problematic bills earlier in session, including two eviction moratoriums based on federal government actions, an attempt to mandate air conditioning, restrictions on “rent now, pay later” options for tenants, mandating acceptance of reusable screening reports, and more.  

The Governor has until September 30 to sign or veto legislation. Join SCRHA on October 9 for the Year-End Legislative Update Webinar to learn which new laws will take effect in 2027 and how you can prepare.