Amended  IN  Assembly  May 02, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 06, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 24, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2755

Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi

February 18, 2022

An act to add Section 65582.5 to the Government Code, relating to housing. Sections 8257.4 and 8257.5 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to homelessness.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2755, as amended, Muratsuchi. Cities and counties: unhoused persons: reports and plans. Homelessness data reporting.
Existing law establishes various programs to provide assistance to homeless persons, including, among others, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program and homeless youth emergency service pilot projects. Existing law also establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to oversee the implementation of Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California.
Existing law requires the council to create a data system, known as the Homeless Data Integration System, to collect local data through Homeless Management Information Systems with the ultimate goal of matching data on homelessness to programs impacting homeless recipients of state programs. Under existing law, a public agency shall not disclose any personal information in a manner that would link the information disclosed to the individual to whom it pertains except under specific circumstances. Existing law also exempts health information and personally identifying information in the Homeless Data Integration System from public inspection or disclosure under the California Public Records Act.
This bill would require the council, on or before July 1, 2023, to make data in the Homeless Data Integration System that is not exempt from public inspection or disclosure under state or federal law publicly available through specified means.
This bill would require a city, county, or city and county to post a hyperlink on its internet website to each of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Reports. By imposing an additional duty on local entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors, by ordinance, to cause a validated census of the county or any district therein to be taken in years other than those in which a census is taken by the United States, that enumerates all the inhabitants of the county or district, as specified. Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to identify the existing and projected housing needs of all economic segments of the community.

This bill would require a city, county, or city and county to develop and adopt an annual report that accounts for the number of unhoused persons within its jurisdiction and an annual plan containing the steps, if any, it is taking to provide housing or shelter for those individuals. The bill would require the plan to include the estimated cost to house or shelter those individuals. Because this bill would require local officials to perform additional duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the reports and the plan to be filed with the Department of Housing and Community Development and used by the department to prepare a statewide report and plan.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 8257.4 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

8257.4.
 On or before July 1, 2023, the council shall make data in the Homeless Data Integration System that is not protected from public inspection or disclosure under state or federal law publicly available through at least one of the following means:
(a) An application programming interface.
(b) Posting the underlying data files on the Homeless Data Integration System internet website in a machine-readable format.

SEC. 2.

 Section 8257.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

8257.5.
 A city, county, or city and county shall post on its internet website a hyperlink to each of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Reports.

SECTION 1.Section 65582.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:
65582.5.

(a)A city, county, or city and county shall develop and adopt both of the following:

(1)An annual report that accounts for the number of unhoused persons within its jurisdiction.

(2)An annual plan containing the steps, if any, it is taking to provide housing or shelter for the unhoused individuals within its jurisdiction. The plan shall include the estimated cost to house or shelter those individuals.

(b)Each city, county, or city and county shall file the report and the plan described in subdivision (a) with the Department of Housing and Community Development which shall use the information it receives to prepare a statewide report and plan.

SEC. 2.SEC. 3.

SEC. 2.SEC. 3.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.