Bill Text: CA AB312 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB312 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB312-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 30, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 312
| Introduced by Assembly Members Reyes and Ward |
January 26, 2023 |
An act to add Chapter 2.6 (commencing with Section 50480) to Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 312, as amended, Reyes.
State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program.
Existing law creates the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires the department to administer various programs relating to housing.
This bill would establish, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, the State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program to provide technical assistance to eligible entities, as defined, for the purpose of creating a state-managed online platform of affordable housing listings, information, and applications. The bill would require the department to administer the program and to adopt guidelines for this purpose. The bill would require the department to develop a housing preapplication to standardize applications for affordable housing and to solicit participation of eligible entities no later than January 1, 2026, and to launch the platform no later than July
1, 2027. The bill would require the department to provide technical assistance to participating entities and to ensure equitable access to database users, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to coordinate with the Office of Data and Innovation to carry out the requirements of the program and to contract with vendors pursuant to existing provisions of state contract law, as specified. The bill would establish minimum requirements for the platform and would require a vendor selected to create and maintain the platform to demonstrate specified capabilities and implement those requirements. The bill would exempt from disclosure as a public record any personally identifiable information collected by the platform or shared between eligible entities and the department in administering the program.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of
public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 2.6 (commencing with Section 50480) is added to Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, immediately following Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 50470), to read:CHAPTER 2.6. State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program
50480.
(a) There is hereby established the State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program to be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development upon appropriation by the Legislature.(b) The program shall provide technical assistance to eligible entities for the purpose of creating a state-managed online platform of affordable housing listings, information, and applications.
(c) The department shall adopt guidelines to administer this chapter. The guidelines shall be adopted pursuant to the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of
Title 2 of the Government Code.
50481.
For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:(a) “Affordable housing” means any units developed pursuant to a either of the following:
(1) A locally adopted inclusionary housing program, or
program.
(2) A multifamily deed-restricted rental housing accommodation, that was constructed with financing from one or more of the following sources:
(1)
(A) State or federal low-income housing tax credits awarded pursuant to Sections
12206, 17058, 23610.5, or 50199.14 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, or Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code.
(2)
(B) Project-based housing choice vouchers.
(3)
(C) Funding awarded by the department.
(4)
(D) Financing for a multifamily development from the California Housing Finance Agency.
(5)
(E) Local government funding.
(b) “Department” means the Department of Housing and Community Development.
(c) “Eligible entity” means a city, county, city and county, regional housing finance agency, or council of government that has a population of not less than 60,000, according to data from the 2020 census.
(d) “Platform” means the state-managed online database of affordable housing listings, information, and applications created pursuant to this chapter.
(e) “Program” means the State Partnership for Affordable Housing Registries in California Grant Program established pursuant to this chapter.
50482.
The department shall do all of the following:(a) No later than January 1, 2026, establish a housing preapplication. The housing preapplication shall be developed pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code and shall eliminate redundancies among affordable housing applications by standardizing the necessary information typically required of all affordable housing applicants to match households to an appropriate housing unit, including income, family size, and accessibility needs. An affordable housing applicant shall not be assessed any fee to complete and submit a housing preapplication.
(b) No later than January 1, 2026, solicit participation among eligible entities through a notice of funding availability. Eligible entities shall agree through a memorandum of understanding to share with the department and its strategic partners and agents all data required to develop the platform.
(c) No later than July 1, 2027, launch the platform. The platform shall utilize open-source code and plain language and shall be accessible in multiple languages, including, but not limited to, English and the languages specified in Section 1632 of the Civil Code.
(d) Provide technical assistance to eligible entities that participate in the program. The department shall provide program support to participating eligible entities via telephone, electronically, mobile text
message, or in person.
(e) To ensure equitable access for all database users, develop materials that can be used by local governments, community partners including housing navigators, and other stakeholders to reach non-English-speaking and hard-to-reach households, with considerations for racial equity and traditionally underserved populations. These materials shall be developed for the initial launch of the publicly accessible version of the platform.
50483.
(a) The department may contract, pursuant to the requirements of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12100) of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, with one or more vendors provided the vendor commits to the creation of an open-source code platform. A vendor selected to create and maintain the platform shall meet the requirements described in Section 50484.(b) The department may, and is encouraged to, coordinate with the Office of Data and Innovation where appropriate to carry out the requirements of this chapter.
50484.
(a) To be eligible for selection to create and maintain the platform, a vendor shall demonstrate sufficient capacity and experience to administer a program of this scope and scale, including all of the following capabilities:(1) The technological capacity to develop and implement a central technology-driven application portal and system that serves managers of affordable housing units and prospective tenants, has mobile and multilanguage capabilities, and allows an applicant to track the status of their application. The application system shall have the capacity to handle the volume of expected use without disruption.
(2) User testing with a diverse range of potential tenant
applicants and managers of affordable housing to ensure that the database is designed for ease of use and that all user-facing content is easy to comprehend.
(3) The capacity to develop and implement an application portal and system that is fully accessible to people with disabilities, including:
(A) The capacity to develop a system that conforms to Level A and AA of version 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), or any standard that provides for greater accessibility.
(B) The capacity to ensure that any Portable Document Format (PDF) files in the system meet International Organization for Standardization (ISO) PDF/Universal Accessibility
standards.
(C) Iterative user testing with a diverse range of people with disabilities, a diverse range of assistive technologies, and a diverse range of operating systems and browser combinations.
(D) The capacity to ensure that all online and hard-copy hard copy training materials, user guides, and audio-visual audiovisual instructional resources are accessible to people with disabilities, including
including, but not limited to to, people who need auxiliary aids and services in order to receive effective communication.
(b) A vendor selected to create and maintain the platform shall develop and implement the application portal and system and conduct user testing as described in subdivision (a).
50485.
The platform shall be capable of operating and contain all data necessary to perform all of the following functions:(a) The ability to search, identify, and explore property listings on a virtual map.
(b) The ability for prospective affordable housing applicants to do all of the following:
(1) Identify affordable housing listings for which they qualify, as indicated by their responses to a completed housing preapplication.
(2) Readily view affordable housing listing characteristics, including income
and special needs restrictions.
(3) Submit electronic applications online.
(4) Store information online for reuse in applying for other available listings.
(5) Request automatic notification by email of new affordable housing vacancy listings.
(6) Receive notification and a confirmation number for their application.
(7) Obtain an updated status of their place on eligibility lists.
(c) The ability for affordable housing property managers and administrators to do all of the following:
(1) Access the database through a user account.
(2) Create and update current listings of affordable units.
(3) Allow for tracking of automatic updates to listings data.
(4) Allow for manual updates to listings data.
(5) View, prioritize, match, and respond to individual applications submitted by a household.
(6) Manage non-English text translations.
(7) Post information to promote the user’s experience, such as training guides or videos.
50486.
The platform shall meet all of the following minimum requirements:(a) Compliance with all state and federal fair housing laws and regulations.
(b) Compliance with all state protections related to the use of personally identifiable information, including providing any necessary disclosures and assuring the secure storage of any personally identifiable information generated, as part of the application process.
(c) Once the platform begins accepting applications it shall be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with 99 percent planned uptime rating
and all of the following capacities:
(1) Support for at least 2,000,000 application records.
(2) Support for at least 50,000 concurrent full-access users, allowing users to create, read, update, and delete transactions based upon their user role.
(3) Support for, at a minimum, applications and affordable housing units to be viewed in multiple languages.
(4) Support for hosting on the platform website user guides, audio-visual audiovisual instructional resources, and step-by-step overviews of
the application process that are fully accessible to people with disabilities.
50487.
Any personally identifiable information collected by the platform or shared between eligible entities and the department in administering this chapter is confidential and exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code), and may be used or disclosed only for purposes of administering the program.50488.
This chapter shall become operative upon appropriation by the Legislature of sufficient funds, including funds from private donations if available, to the department for the purposes of this chapter.SEC. 2.
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Chapter 2.6 (commencing with Section 50480) of Part 2 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:In order to protect the privacy of households seeking access to affordable housing, it is in
the state’s interest to limit public access to information.
