About John Nerds Out on California Housing Legislation
We need a ton more housing at all income levels. How do we do that? State legislation gets the goods. Follow the California Legislature in real time as bills are born, mutate, and pass into law—or die—and learn about how we can all help end the housing crisis.
Episode 15: Turnabout is constant play—or, the Transfer Tax War
How does a mansion tax put apartment development in peril? Why would a state legislator tell you to vote against her own ballot measure? Why do we have such complex rules about local taxes anyway? This is the story of how the Upland decision transformed Prop 13, how LA's Measure ULA sparked a backlash, and how others tried to meet that backlash, with the consequence of another goldanged ballot measure we have to vote on in November.
Links to items referenced in the episode:
* The Unintended Consequences of Measure ULA, Michael Manville and Mott Smith, UCLA, Apr 2025: https://lewis.ucla.edu/research/the-unintended-consequences-of-measure-ula/
* The Local Taxpayer Protection Act: https://ballotpedia.org/California_Two-Thirds_Vote_Requirement_for_Special_Taxes_and_Charter_City_Real_Estate_Transfer_Tax_Prohibition_Initiative_%282026%29
* AB 736: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB736
* The last-minute deal: https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/06/tax-cut-measure-pulled/
* Buffy Wicks's explanatory thread: https://bsky.app/profile/buffywicks.bsky.social/post/3mpi3t4tlm32h
* Prop 43: https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_43,_Two-Thirds_Vote_Requirement_for_Local_Special_Tax_Initiatives_and_Property_Tax_Initiative_Prohibition_Amendment_(2026)
19 May 2026
Episode 15: Interview on construction defect reform with CA YIMBY's Muhammad Alameldin
How did people figure out how problematic construction defect law was for California housing? How do you balance fixing it while avoiding rewarding sloppy construction? I am joined by Muhammad Alameldin, Senior Policy Advisor of California YIMBY, to talk about the even-nittier-grittier of AB 1903 and its components and evolution.
8 Apr 2026
Episode 13: Housing Bills, 2026 Session Edition
New year, new bills. Union-built high-rises! Reform to owner-occupancy for duplexes! Condo deposit & defect reform! Homes... built in factories? All this and more.
ERRATUM: During the episode I said the Trump family "builds" new condos in other states. In fact back in the 90's Trump stopped taking construction risks on development: when you see his name slapped on something new, it's because the actual developer is paying him for the privilege. But he used to be in the business.
3 Mar 2026
Episode 12: The Parking Rebundling Saga, and a potpourri of other 2025 legislation
Closing out what happened in 2025 with a range of other legislation passed, failed, or delayed, with particular focus on a failed (but not doomed!) attempt to undo an obscure parking reform.
Next episode: 2026!
15 Nov 2025
SB 79 WINS!
On September 12th, 2025, Senate Bill 79 was passed out of the California Legislature. On October 10th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law. A huge victory for the cause of housing. This is the rest of its story.
This episode picks up after passage in the Senate, as it moved through the Assembly, back for one final Senate concurrence lap, and finally through the wine-dark sea of contradictions that is Gavin Newsom.
8 Jul 2025
Episode 10: SB 79 and CEQA, Part 2 (or, Of Trailer Bills and Building Trades)
In which we are brought up to date through the final tumultuous week of the budget cycle. SB 79 receives further amendments & is passed out of the Senate; and on CEQA reform, Newsom steps in decisively.
26 Jun 2025
SB 79; and, whither CEQA? (Part 1)
John discusses California Senate Bills 79 and 677, plus Assembly Bill 609 and Senate Bill 607, analyzing their approaches to reforming the California Environmental Quality Act to promote housing.
29 Mar 2025
Episode 8: The Big Guns of 2025
SB 79, transit-oriented development (the spiritual successor to SB 50), and SB 677, fixing the duplex law while cleaning up one other law.
7 Mar 2025
Episode 7: What Happened in 2024? Ballot Measures Edition
I dive into what the California voters saw on their ballots in November: Prop 33 (rent control), Prop 34 (supposedly health care, actually rent control), and Prop 5 (borrowing for housing etc.), what these measures would have done, the personalities and interests responsible for this array of proposals, and what their outcomes (fail, win, fail) mean for housing policy this year
15 Jan 2025
Episode 6: What Happened in 2024?
John Oliver discusses the key takeaways from 2024's California housing legislation with industry experts, revealing the wins, losses, and implications for 2025.
6 Jun 2024
Episode 5: Bungalow Courts and the Sinister Stealth Edit
This time on John Nerds Out, I take a deep dive on the travails of the attempts of Senator Anna Caballero to make it possible to build more for-sale housing with up to 10 homes on a lot—and what the amendments made to them say about how we make policy. (SB 684 in 2023, followed by SB 1123 in 2024.)
I cover these bills as quick hits for the first time:
- SB 1123, cleanup/expansion on housing on commercial strips
- AB 2881 and SB 584, social housing
- AB 1893, builder's remedy reform
- AB 1932, remove mortgage interest deduction on second homes
I check in on how these bills from episode 4 are doing: SB 1470 (condo defect lawsuits), SB 1462 (condo deposits), SB 937 (impact fee delay), SB 1210 (utility fee reform), SB 1077 (ADUs in coastal zone), and AB 2560 (density bonus in coastal zone).
Bonuses: why the phrase "suspense file" strikes fear into the hearts of activists all over the state; and why tax deductions are always regressive.
19 Apr 2024
Episode 4: The mystery of the missing condos
I take a deep dive into Senate Bill 1470, that tries to get more new condos built by tinkering with details of how lawsuits against them work.
Quick hits introducing other legislation in the annual cavalcade: SB 1462 (condo deposits), SB 937 (impact fee delay), SB 1210 (utility fees), SB 1077 (ADUs in coastal zone), and AB 2560 (density bonus in coastal zone).
15 Feb 2024
Episode 3: The story so far, part 2
Why does the state protect renters with one hand and prevent cities from protecting them more with the other? Why did a labor leader argue against an (ostensible) labor protection standard? Join us as we bring you up to the present (the end of 2023) with the housing-on-commercial-strips law (AB 2011), the more-affordable-housing-in-scofflaw-cities law (SB 423), and jumping back a bit, the first statewide tenant protection law (AB 1482), and the many, many issues these raise.
My guest once again is Scott Simmons, whose dating podcast Wish You All The Best you should still check out.
6 Feb 2024
Episode 2: The Story So Far, with Scott Simmons
Special guest Scott Simmons* joins me for the deep lore of housing legislation to date. Includes the rise of Scott Wiener, the ADU bills culminating in AB 68, the unsuccessful ambitious upzoning bills SB 827 and SB 50, the successful affordable housing bill SB 35, duplex bill SB 9, people over parking bill AB 2097, the power of Anthony Portantino, and many other Deep Thoughts along the way.
* Hear more from Scott's soothing voice and brain at his dating podcast, Wish You All the Best!
26 Jan 2024
Episode 1: What we need to accomplish, and why it's at the state level
Introduction - who I am, why I care so nerdily about housing and why California legislation in particular, and what I'm hoping to do with this podcast. Brief primers on zoning, parking, discretionary approvals, and more of the many topics that will surely come up in 2024 legislation.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 10 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
9
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
27
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