Legislative Updates

Here are a few of the headline stories this week from the federal and state legislatures:

California Eviction Protection is On Course to Expire September 30th

• The California Legislature is signaling it will let the current eviction protections expire at the end of this month. Barring the Governor calling for a special legislative session to address this (or the issuance of an executive order), these protective measures will effectively sunset later this month.

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Unemployment Benefits are Expiring

• The Federal Government is ending unemployment benefits under the CARES Act as of September 4th. This affects the four programs enacted in response to COVID-19: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Pandemic Additional Compensation (PAC), and Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC). This is set to affect approximately 2.2 million to 3 million Californians. Despite “leading the nation in job creation,” California is also leading the nation with the “second-highest unemployment rate.”

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Governor Newsom Seeks to Refurbish Old Buildings to House Homeless

• The Governor is declaring his intention to rehabilitate older and vacant building with the purpose of housing homeless Californians with a price tag of $2.75 billion dollars. Previous efforts sought to purchase or rent hotels and motels rather than working with existing building owners to refurbish them. Funding for this initiative stems from the state’s $12 billion dollar effort directed towards addressing homelessness. This latest effort would also provide support services to tenants, like access to mental health professionals, access to counseling, and access to workforce development.

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