By Alexei Koseff | San Francisco Chronicle
A bill to protect Californians from spiking rents narrowly passed the Assembly on Wednesday, after a last-minute deal to scale back the proposal.
Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, agreed to make amendments in the Senate, where AB1482 heads next, to reflect changes requested by the California Association of Realtors.
Under the deal, the measure would limit annual rent increases to 7 percentage points above the regional change in the cost of living, rather than the 5 percentage points plus inflation that Chiu originally proposed. He said would have preferred a lower rate, but “this is the political process.”
Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, called it “a very moderate measure that will guard against some of the more egregious practices that we’re seeing.” The bill passed 43-28, two more votes than it needed to clear the 80-member house.
