A California bill to expand eviction protections sputters on the Assembly floor

SACRAMENTO — A proposal to protect rent-paying, lease-abiding tenants from eviction stalled on Thursday after its authors conceded that they could not drum up the 41 necessary votes it needed to pass out of the state Assembly before a key legislative deadline this week.

“We’re not giving up. This is not laying down and surrendering,” said the bill’s lead author, Concord Democrat and former mayor, Tim Grayson, who vowed to try again next year at the latest.

No vote was called on Assembly Bill 1481 before the Assembly adjourned for the week, so while it didn’t technically fail, it is likely dead for the year. This setback for pro-tenant advocates came on the heels of a victory: the passage of a statewide rent cap — the second in the nation after Oregon — the night before.

Pro-tenant bills are notoriously difficult to pass in the Legislature, where trade groups representing property owners and other real estate interests have great sway. The rent cap narrowly passed even after the powerful realtors’ association dropped its opposition, and even though Democrats hold 61 of the 80 seats in the Assembly. That bill now moves to the state Senate. The California Apartment Association is opposed, citing concerns that the cap — once in place — could tighten in the future.

The rent cap, modeled after anti-rent-gouging bans in the wake of fires and other disasters, would allow landlords to raise the rent by nearly 10 percent annually — 7 percent plus the regional rate of inflation — and would sunset after just three years. Some worry that it won’t work as intended if tenants can be evicted for any reason, a concern that AB 1481 aimed to address. The bill would have required most landlords statewide to provide a reason for evicting a tenant, such as failing to pay rent, breaking the lease agreement — or the law — or creating a nuisance, a policy known as “just cause” for evictions.

Sasha Harnden of the Western Center on Law & Poverty said he sees tenant protections as essential to curbing homelessness in the state, and that he was reassured that the Assembly passed one such proposal, if not both. Too many people are being evicted from their rental homes, he said, and — “having nowhere to go from there” — are driven onto the street.

“Regardless of what else happens, the rent cap bill is significant,” Harnden said. “It puts the brakes on the biggest rent increases we’re seeing that are outside the normal course of business. We view getting the notice for a 100 percent rent increase basically the same as an eviction notice: It’s time to go.”