A pair of top California Democrats and powerful unions are lining up against a ballot initiative on a topic that their party and labor has long championed: removing rent control limits.
They say it would undermine pro-housing laws by allowing wealthy coastal cities that oppose new development to impose steep affordability requirements that would effectively freeze growth.
State Sen. Toni Atkins, the former Democratic leader in the Senate, as well as Assembly Appropriations Chair Buffy Wicks confirmed to POLITICO that they are firmly against the November ballot measure. The initiative, bankrolled by AIDS Healthcare Foundation president and political provocateur Michael Weinstein, seeks to repeal a state law barring cities across the Golden State from rent-controlling newer apartments. Two of the state’s largest construction unions, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Norcal Carpenters Union, are also against the initiative.
Atkins, considered to be a leading contender for governor in 2026, said the measure is “as deceptive as it is dangerous,” arguing it should be removed from the ballot.
“Conspiring with wealthy cities to undermine vital state housing laws is bad enough,” said Atkins, who’s carried several landmark bills to streamline housing construction. “Lying to voters about it is even worse.”
The measure has created strange bedfellows across the aisle. It has drawn support from Republican city officials who’ve fought state housing mandates — and opposition from Democrats who say local governments must be forced to allow new construction to alleviate a housing shortage.
