"After taking blows from landlord groups and the building trades, a statewide bill that aimed to expand renter protections and make them permanent is likely dead this legislative season.
AB 1157, dubbed the “Affordable Rent Act,” would have expanded the 2019 Tenant Protection Act to more renters and lowered the amount rent can increase each year. It would have also made those changes permanent, removing a 2030 sunset date.
Tuesday marked the bill’s first hearing of the year in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, where tenants and advocates pleaded with committee members to advance the bill.
But, it faced stiff opposition from rental property and building trade groups, who said it would make housing construction more expensive and could push smaller landlords out of the market.
The bill failed to get enough votes, and without any additional hearings scheduled, AB 1157 will likely die there.
“I’m just really, really crushed because they talk about how they don’t want to hurt the property owners, they don’t want to have them take their properties off the market,” said Chula Vista renter Tammy Alvarado, who took a 13-hour bus ride to testify in support of the bill."