• Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) recently introduced Senate Bill 584: The Laborforce Housing Fund, alongside the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California. This bill will establish an ongoing funding source for local governments to create needed low-income and middle-income housing units across California, according to Limón’s office. Specifically, the Laborforce Housing Fund would assess a fee to be paid by short-term rentals to fund the construction and acquisition or rehabilitation of affordable and middle-income housing units that will be owned and managed by a public entity or a nonprofit. “It has been made clear that in order for all of our local governments to meet housing targets, we need a consistent, budget-proof funding source that will ensure our cities can meet our housing goals,” the senator said in a statement. While California has doubled its housing production in the last three years, local governments have expressed the need for ongoing funding to meet California’s housing goals, according to Limón’s office. Currently, the state is only funding 16 percent of what it needs to meet its housing production targets. In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a collaboration across sectors to build more housing. The Laborforce Housing Fund would capitalize on the tourism economy in the state to fund needed housing for all Californians.
• Ahead of Earth Day, Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania) introduced two bipartisan bills on April 20 aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change on U.S. coastlines, coastal communities, and oceans, as well as the wide range of communities and industries that rely on them, according to Carbajal’s office. “The climate crisis threatens all industries and communities, but one of the most acute ways that our nation is already feeling the impacts of climate change is through the rapidly changing face of our oceans and coastlines. Whether it’s reduced capacity to fish, the erosion of our beaches, worsening storm surges and hurricanes, or devastation of our storied coastlines—coastal communities like mine will see widespread impacts and need support to navigate these challenges,” Congressman Carbajal said in a statement. The Ocean Acidification Research Partnership Act, which would authorize up to $5 million in research grants for studies on the effects of ocean acidification, as worsening conditions threaten billions of dollars in U.S. economic activity and tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In addition, the Coastal State Climate Preparedness Act would provide grants to coastal states for climate change adaptation and protection of infrastructure and coastal ecosystems.
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and more than 100 lawmakers from around the country sent a letter to the Biden administration calling on it to continue to protect displaced Salvadorans and Hondurans by redesignating El Salvador and Honduras for Temporary Protected Status. The protected status is a renewable program that provides relief from removal and access to work permits for eligible foreign nationals who are unable to return safely to their home countries due to natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary conditions. “We urge you to redesignate Honduras and El Salvador for Temporary Protected Status, as it is unsafe for the nationals of these countries to be returned at this time due to severe environmental damage caused by successive hurricanes and climate change-related catastrophes, combined with human rights violations and cascading political crises exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the letter stated. “Both El Salvador and Honduras face separate but equally devastating realities that prevent individuals who have fled these countries from safely returning.”
