Introduced by Assembly Member Boerner Horvath
February 22, 2019
An act to add Section 22597 to, and to add and repeal Section 22596 of, the Business and Professions Code, relating to business.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1731, as amended, Boerner Horvath. Short-term rentals: coastal zone: County of San Diego.Existing law requires a hosting platform, as defined, to provide a specific notice to an occupant listing a residence for short-term rental on a hosting platform that states, among other things, that, if the occupant is a tenant, listing the room, home, condominium, or apartment may violate the lease or contract and could result in legal action by the landlord, including possible eviction.This bill would authorize a hosting platform to make available book a transaction for a unit within an eligible area, which this bill would define to mean area as a short-term rental 365 days per year if the primary resident lives onsite of the residential property full time. The bill would define “full time” for these purposes as 270 days per year. The bill would prohibit a hosting platform from, and prohibit a city, county, or other local public agency from permitting, making available from booking a transaction for residential property that is located within an eligible area in which the primary resident does not live onsite full time as a short-term rental for more than 30 days per year. The bill would prohibit a city, county, or other local public agency from permitting a housing platform to book a transaction for residential property in an eligible area as a short term rental for more than 30 days per calendar year. The bill would define “eligible area” to mean an area that is located within the coastal zone of the County of San Diego, in an urbanized area, and zoned for residential use, as provided. The bill would prohibit a hosting platform from making booking a transaction for residential property located within the coastal zone in the County of San Diego as a short-term rental unless authorized by the rental property owner. The bill would also require the hosting platform facilitator of the short-term rental to be responsible for collecting and remitting applicable transient occupancy taxes, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2025. 2023.This bill, on or before January 1, 2026, 2024, would require the Office of Planning and Research to prepare a report that reviews and evaluates specified impacts of these provisions in those portions of the County of San Diego located within the coastal zone and that includes recommendations on effective ways to reduce the impacts of hosting platforms and short-term rentals on communities within the coastal zone. The bill would require the office to submit this report to the Legislature and the relevant legislative policy and budget committees, as provided.This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of San Diego.
DIGEST KEY
Vote: majority Appropriation: no Fiscal Committee: yes Local Program: no
BILL TEXT
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California is in the midst of a statewide affordable housing crisis, while concurrently experiencing a proliferation of unregulated short-term rentals (STRs) of residential units.(b) The housing shortage is particularly acute in the coastal zone, where housing can be much more difficult to approve than elsewhere in the state, and any unit removed permanently from the zone’s housing stock is difficult, if not impossible, to replace.(c) The recent spike of short-term rentals of residential units reduces the availability of already scarce affordable housing in many communities, and additionally increases undisclosed tourist traffic and compounds demands on local public service providers.(d) Promulgated by affluent investor activity, affordable housing stock diminishes as long-term rentals are snatched up to turn a quick profit in the short-term rental market while transforming quiet coastal neighborhoods into year-round hotel zones as visitors use short-term rentals as crash pads.(e) Moreover, it It is insurmountably cost-prohibitive for most communities, communities to collect transitory occupancy taxes on short-term rentals, and neither the host who makes residences available for occupancy for fewer than 30 days, nor the hosting platforms collect and remit applicable transient occupancy taxes, do so, so local jurisdictions are deprived of revenue sources which were put in place for the funding of critical community services.(f) Currently, cities and counties are wrestling with best practices for online short-term rental companies, not only to retain a sufficient housing market, but to obtain the information they need to enforce local laws and collect taxes on overnight stays.(g) Municipalities in the coastal zone face an additional barrier to regulating short-term rentals, as the California Coastal Commission has found that “coastal access” includes short-term rentals and has rejected local ordinances intended to minimize or ban the number of these types of rentals in residential areas.(h) In the decade since the popularization of the online home sharing industry, San Diego’s estimated inventory of short-term rentals has grown to more than 11,000, the majority of which are entire homes that are being rented out for short-term stays, according to the data analytics firm Host Compliance.(i) Housing units that rent on a short-term basis, less than 30 days at a time, for the entire year by definition remove housing stock from the coastal zone, and fly in the face of our state’s housing goal of providing for 3,500,000 additional housing units on the market by 2025.
SEC. 2.
Section 22596 is added to the Business and Professions Code, immediately following Section 22594, to read:
22596.
(a) A hosting platform shall not make available book a transaction for residential property in an eligible area as a short-term rental unless one of the following is met:(1) If the primary resident lives onsite of the residential property full time, the hosting platform may make book a transaction for a unit within the residential propertyavailable as a short-term rental 365 days per calendar year.(2) If the primary resident does not live onsite of at the residential property full time, both of the following shall apply: time, then the hosting platform shall not book a transaction for the residential property as a short-term rental for more than 30 days per calendar year.
(A)The hosting platform shall not make available the residential property as a short-term rental for more than 30 days per calendar year.
(B)
(b) A city, county, or other local public agency shall not adopt, enforce, or otherwise implement any ordinance, resolution, regulation, or rule, or any amendment thereto, which would have the effect of permitting a hosting platform to make available book a transaction for the residential property in an eligible area as a short-term rental for more than 30 days per calendar year.
(b)
(c) This section does not supersede any local requirement to obtain a permit in order to make a book a transaction for residential property available as a short-term rental or to supersede the authority of a local government to impose that requirement.
(c)
(d) Other than as set forth in subdivision (a), (b), this section does not prevent the adoption, enforcement, or implementation of any ordinance, resolution, regulation, or rule, or any amendment thereto, by a city, county, or local public agency.
(d)
(e) (1) This section does not apply to limit or supersede any restrictive covenant, rental contract, or other private contract that imposes additional restrictions upon the use of the residential property as a short-term rental or prohibit the residential property from being made available booked as a short-term rental.(2) A hosting platform shall not make available book a transaction for residential property located within the coastal zone in the County of San Diego an eligible area as a short-term rental unless authorized by the rental property owner.
(e)
(f) The hosting platform facilitator of the short-term rental, for purposes of this section, shall be responsible for collecting applicable transient occupancy taxes, and shall be responsible for remitting those taxes at no additional cost to the local municipality in the County of San Diego in which the short-term rental is located, or to the County of San Diego if the short-term rental is located in the unincorporated area of the county.
(f)
(g) For purposes of this section:(1) “Coastal zone” has the same meaning as defined by subdivision (a) of Section 30103 of the Public Resources Code.(2) “Eligible area” means an area for which all of the following apply:(A) The area is within the County of San Diego.(B) The area is within the coastal zone.(C) The area is identified as an urbanized area or urban cluster in the most recent United States Census.(D) The area is zoned for residential use, not including a residential tourist zone.(3) “Full time” means at least 270 days per year.(4) “Primary resident” means a person who physically occupies and lives in the residential property on a day-to-day basis. A person may only be the primary resident of one residential property at a time. If a person physically occupies and lives in more than one residential property in a calendar year, that person shall be the primary resident of the residential property in which the person lives for the greatest number of days in a year.(5) “Residential property” means improved real property used or occupied, or intended to be used or occupied, for residential purposes, including a single family home, multifamily home, apartment, or condominium. “Residential property” does not include a campground, cabin, limited stay recreational vehicle park, motel, or hotel.
(g)
(h) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2025, 2023, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 3.
Section 22597 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:
22597.
(a) On or before January 1, 2026, 2024, the Office of Planning and Research shall prepare a report that reviews and evaluates the impact of Section 22596 in those portions of the County of San Diego located within an eligible area as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 22596 with regard to housing availability, long-term rental rates, and other effects on these coastal communities described in that section. The office shall also include in the report recommendations on effective ways to reduce the impacts of hosting platforms and short-term rentals on all communities within the coastal zone.(b) (1) The Office of Planning and Research shall submit the report required by subdivision (a) upon its completion to the Legislature and the relevant legislative policy and budget committees.(2) The report required to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 4.
The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances in the County of San Diego regarding short-term rentals.