By Jorge Casuso

June 5, 2025 -- A controversial bill that encourages denser housing development near transit stops barely passed the California State Senate Tuesday night and is headed to the Assembly for approval.

AB 79 -- the Abundant & Affordable Homes Near Transit Act -- needed 21 votes and passed by a 21-13 margin after a stiff lobbying effort to kill the bill opposed by more than 90 California cities.

The bill, which was supported by Santa Monica and West Hollywood as well as by pro-housing advocates across the state, will make it easier and faster to build housing by overriding local zoning standards.

“Tonight’s vote is a big step toward making California an affordable place for people to live and thrive,” the bill's sponsor Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said in a statement Wednesday.

“California urgently needs to build more homes to bring down costs, and building them near transit provides our public transportation systems with an urgently needed infusion of new riders," Wiener said. "This is an idea whose time has come."

SB 79 allows new residential buildings of up to seven stories near rail line stations and stops on major bus lines and as tall as four stories up to half a mile away.

The bill also allows the projects to be built under a streamlined permitting process and gives local transit agencies the go-ahead "to develop at the same or greater density on land they own."

Both Santa Monica and West Hollywood urged Wiener to amend the bill to protect tenants who could lose their homes to development and to require more affordable housing.

Amendments made by the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 23 maintained local inclusionary housing mandates, Wiener said Tuesday, according to KQED, a Bay Area public broadcasting station.

The changes also allow developers to take advantage of local density bonus laws that trigger affordability requirements, Wiener said.

SB 79 is the third bill Wiener introduces to make it easier to build denser housing near public transit. In 2018, a bill that provided a bonus for "transit-rich" housing near major stops failed to get out of committee.

Two years later, legislation to streamline the process to build similar housing projects was killed after it was delayed due to lack of support.

Santa Monica's planning staff noted that SB 79 limits the ability of local governments to "deny or downsize" the projects ("Bill to Build Taller Housing Projects Near Transit Headed to Senate Floor," May 28, 2025).

The bill's effect would be mainly felt in the city's residential zoning districts, which currently have density limitations that are significantly lower than those proposed by SB 79, staff said.