Latest news with #AshKalra
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rent Control Delayed but Not Dead in California
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Happy Tuesday, and welcome to another edition of Rent Free. This week's stories include: California lawmakers delay a bill to tighten the state's rent control law. Neighborhood activists in Roanoke, Virginia, sue to stop missing middle reforms. Arkansas passes accessory dwelling unit reform. California Rent Control Bill Pulled The California Legislature will not be tightening the state's rent control law this year. This past Tuesday, Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D–San Jose) pulled his bill, Assembly Bill 1157, which would have capped statewide rent increases at residential properties to the lesser of 2 percent plus inflation or 5 percent. Current state law allows rent increases of up to 10 percent. Kalra's bill would have also expanded California's statewide rent control policy to single-family homes and condominiums. Kalra's bill isn't fully dead. KQED reports it will be considered next year in the latter half of the California Legislature's biennial session. A.B. 1157 had passed the Assembly's housing committee. It was just a few years ago that California became the second state in the country (after Oregon) to adopt statewide rent controls. Kalra's bill naturally attracted the opposition of the state's landlords and real estate interests. Some of the YIMBY groups that had supported California's 2019 rent control law came out against Kalra's bill as excessively restrictive. Nevertheless, rent control's popularity as a solution to high rents is growing. Just last week, the Washington state Legislature approved a statewide rent control measure. Despite the rehabilitation of rent control's image, it remains as bad an idea as ever. Arkansas Legalizes ADUs Last week, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law House Bill 1503, which requires municipal governments to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on single-family properties. Under the new law, property owners can build an ADU that's 75 percent of the size of the primary dwelling or 1,000 square feet (whichever is less). Local governments will be required to approve these units without requiring public hearings or special permits. H.B. 1503 also prohibits local governments from imposing minimum parking standards, certain aesthetic design features, and owner-occupancy requirements. Impact fees are capped at $250. All told, it's a pretty clean, thorough ADU legalization that precludes any number of local regulations that could typically make ADU construction impractical. It's proof that this kind of YIMBY reform is becoming more science than art. Another Lawsuit Challenges Missing Middle Reform in Virginia On the local front, neighborhood activists in Roanoke, Virginia, are suing to overturn the city's "missing middle" reforms. Back in March 2024, Roanoke passed zoning reforms that allowed ADUs, duplexes, and triplexes in single-family neighborhoods. As has happened in other Virginia communities that have adopted similar reforms, the zoning changes immediately provoked a lawsuit from critics who argued the City Council didn't give the proper public notice before voting on the changes. As the Roanoke Rambler reports, the city attempted to cure that procedural violation by repassing its zoning reforms in September 2024. Plaintiffs, however, continue to argue that the new reforms irrationally increase density, which does nothing for affordable housing but does increase traffic, noise, and the like. The Rambler notes that only a few dozen units legalized by the 2024 zoning reforms have been approved by the city. That's to be expected. In localities that legalize missing middle housing, the typical result is a slight increase in new duplexes, triplexes, and ADUs being built. Critics are factually correct when they say that this small increase in construction will have a minimal impact on aggregate home prices and rents. Nevertheless, missing middle units are typically cheaper than the single-family home that would be built instead. In that way, they do provide some more affordable options in desirable neighborhoods. Homebuyers and renters benefit from the additional choice. Property owners benefit from the additional ability to develop their properties. Roanoke is currently attempting to get the lawsuit challenging the zoning reforms dismissed. In September 2024, a judge struck down Arlington, Virginia's missing middle reforms in response to a similar lawsuit. Quick Links The New York Times covers the Trump administration's plans for building housing on federal lands. Pittsburgh's planning commission recommends that the City Council require that new apartment buildings include money-losing below-market-rate units. The White House budget proposal includes major cuts to federal housing programs. An ambitious zoning reform package is reportedly dead in the Minnesota Legislature. Could the California Environmental Quality Act stop Trump's plans to reopen Alcatraz? The post Rent Control Delayed but Not Dead in California appeared first on
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California lawmaker seeks to expand protections for temporary migrant workers
California lawmakers will consider a bill intended to expand protections for migrant workers who come to California through temporary work visa programs for jobs in agriculture, nursing, domestic care and other industries. The legislation, Assembly Bill 1362, would require that all contracted foreign labor recruiters register with the state and follow rules aimed at preventing them from exploiting migrant workers. It would prohibit them, for example, from charging workers recruitment fees and create legal remedies for labor violations. The bill, also called the 'Human Trafficking Prevention and Protection Act for Temporary Immigrant Workers,' was recently introduced by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San José). "For too long, the vast majority of temporary foreign workers have remained unprotected and subject to the documented abuses of unscrupulous foreign labor recruiters. Businesses also risk falling prey to exploitative [recruiters] who use predatory recruitment processes,' Kalra said Monday in a statement about the bill. Anti-human trafficking advocates say that due to a lack of federal oversight, temporary visa programs are frequently exploited, with workers subject to human trafficking because of false promises and illegal schemes by third-party labor recruiters. To remedy these issues, California passed legislation in 2014, Senate Bill 477, requiring foreign labor recruiters to register with the state and abide by certain worker protections. It also mandates that workers receive fair and clear contractual terms, as well as that recruiters pay bonds to cover funds for any potential violations and prohibits retaliation against workers exercising their labor rights. However, only a sliver of foreign labor recruiters who bring in those migrant workers are subject to these rules, said Stephanie Richard, director at the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative, an organization at Loyola Law School that is backing the newly introduced legislation. Read more: Kern County immigration raid offers glimpse into new reality for California farmworkers During the regulatory process to hash out how SB 477 would be enforced, the law was narrowly interpreted to apply only to H-2B visas, she said. Out of the roughly 350,000 migrant workers who come to California employed through temporary work visa programs, only about 5,000 are brought through H-2B visas, according to Kalra's office. AB 1362 would extend existing protections to foreign labor contractors recruiting for all other temporary work visa programs, with two exceptions: recruiters for J-1 exchange visitor visas — typically used by researchers and students — and talent agency recruiters. Richard said she believes its crucial that lawmakers pass these protections, given the looming threat of immigration enforcement actions by the Trump administration. "We know that business will demand more temporary workers if some of our workforce is deported, and that there will be less oversight from the federal government that will lead to more exploitation," she said. Previous efforts to amend language to expand protections to other workers on temporary work visas have been opposed by the Western Growers Assn. The business group, which represents farmers growing produce in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, generally opposes changes that it has said could slow down the process or increase the cost of bringing migrant agricultural workers to California through the H-2A visa program. The president of the Western Growers Assn., Dave Puglia, has said in recent weeks that crucial aspects of America's food production are increasingly strained by a lack of workers. In a recent opinion piece for a trade publication, he wrote that the foreign visa program that helps bring workers here should be expanded to better fill the needs of farmers, and that any obstacles — whether they be threats of workplace immigration enforcement raids or bureaucratic bottlenecks — should be removed as much as possible. The Western Growers Assn. did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the new bill. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
California lawmaker seeks to expand protections for temporary migrant workers
California lawmakers will consider a bill intended to expand protections for migrant workers who come to California through temporary work visa programs for jobs in agriculture, nursing, domestic care and other industries. The legislation, Assembly Bill 1362, would require that all contracted foreign labor recruiters register with the state and follow rules aimed at preventing them from exploiting migrant workers. It would prohibit them, for example, from charging workers recruitment fees and create legal remedies for labor violations. The bill, also called the 'Human Trafficking Prevention and Protection Act for Temporary Immigrant Workers,' was recently introduced by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San José). 'For too long, the vast majority of temporary foreign workers have remained unprotected and subject to the documented abuses of unscrupulous foreign labor recruiters. Businesses also risk falling prey to exploitative [recruiters] who use predatory recruitment processes,' Kalra said Monday in a statement about the bill. Anti-human trafficking advocates say that due to a lack of federal oversight, temporary visa programs are frequently exploited, with workers subject to human trafficking because of false promises and illegal schemes by third-party labor recruiters. To remedy these issues, California passed legislation in 2014, Senate Bill 477, requiring foreign labor recruiters to register with the state and abide by certain worker protections. It also mandates that workers receive fair and clear contractual terms, as well as that recruiters pay bonds to cover funds for any potential violations and prohibits retaliation against workers exercising their labor rights. However, only a sliver of foreign labor recruiters who bring in those migrant workers are subject to these rules, said Stephanie Richard, director at the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative, an organization at Loyola Law School that is backing the newly introduced legislation. During the regulatory process to hash out how SB 477 would be enforced, the law was narrowly interpreted to apply only to H-2B visas, she said. Out of the roughly 350,000 migrant workers who come to California employed through temporary work visa programs, only about 5,000 are brought through H-2B visas, according to Kalra's office. AB 1362 would extend existing protections to foreign labor contractors recruiting for all other temporary work visa programs, with two exceptions: recruiters for J-1 exchange visitor visas — typically used by researchers and students — and talent agency recruiters. Richard said she believes its crucial that lawmakers pass these protections, given the looming threat of immigration enforcement actions by the Trump administration. 'We know that business will demand more temporary workers if some of our workforce is deported, and that there will be less oversight from the federal government that will lead to more exploitation,' she said. Previous efforts to amend language to expand protections to other workers on temporary work visas have been opposed by the Western Growers Assn. The business group, which represents farmers growing produce in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, generally opposes changes that it has said could slow down the process or increase the cost of bringing migrant agricultural workers to California through the H-2A visa program. The president of the Western Growers Assn., Dave Puglia, has said in recent weeks that crucial aspects of America's food production are increasingly strained by a lack of workers. In a recent opinion piece for a trade publication, he wrote that the foreign visa program that helps bring workers here should be expanded to better fill the needs of farmers, and that any obstacles — whether they be threats of workplace immigration enforcement raids or bureaucratic bottlenecks — should be removed as much as possible. The Western Growers Assn. did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the new bill.
