By Jorge Casuso

August 22, 2025 -- A controversial housing bill that allows major developments in residential zones near public transit was opposed by the LA City Council Thursday, two days before protests are scheduled across the State.

The last-ditch effort comes as the Appropriations Committee prepares to vote next week on whether to send the bill to the Assembly floor, after it barely passed the Senate in June.

LA became the latest and largest city to oppose SB 79, joining more than 90 California cities that oppose a measure they contend will further usurp local control over planning issues.

Only the Santa Monica and West Hollywood city councils have voted to back the measure, which allows new residential buildings of up to seven stories near major transit stops ("Bill to Boost Housing Near Transit Gets Council Backing," May 13, 2025).

The bill would apply to most of Santa Monica, making it easier and faster to build major developments in residential zoning districts in the 8.3-square-mile city crisscrossed by transit lines.

The LA Council's 8 to 5 vote was a major blow to the bill, which prevailing Councilmembers said was an attempt to “hijack” local planning from the city, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

“A one-size-fits-all mandate from Sacramento is not safe, and it’s not responsible,” Councilmember Traci Park said at a news conference after the vote.

Councilmember John Lee, who authored the resolution opposing SB79, called the bill “not planning” but “chaos,” according to the Times.

The bill's sponsor, State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), issued a statement after the vote.

“Opponents of SB 79 are offering no real solutions to address our housing shortage at the scale needed to make housing more affordable,” Wiener said.

“California’s affordability crisis threatens our economy, our diversity, and our fundamental strength as a state.”

On Saturday opponents of the bill will hold protests across California in an effort to pressure the Appropriations Committee into killing the bill.

"It’s plain to see that SB 79 is all about profit for unscrupulous developers and their financial backers," read an email sent Thursday by Our Neighborhood Voices, one of the groups organizing the protests.

"It has nothing to do with affordability, much less livable, sustainable communities. The bill’s YIMBY backers are servants to billionaires and mega corporations."