How does a mansion tax put apartment development in peril? Why would a state legislator tell you to vote against her own ballot measure? Why do we have such complex rules about local taxes anyway? This is the story of how the Upland decision transformed Prop 13, how LA's Measure ULA sparked a backlash, and how others tried to meet that backlash, with the consequence of another goldanged ballot measure we have to vote on in November.

Links to items referenced in the episode:

 * The Unintended Consequences of Measure ULA, Michael Manville and Mott Smith, UCLA, Apr 2025: https://lewis.ucla.edu/research/the-unintended-consequences-of-measure-ula/
 * The Local Taxpayer Protection Act: https://ballotpedia.org/California_Two-Thirds_Vote_Requirement_for_Special_Taxes_and_Charter_City_Real_Estate_Transfer_Tax_Prohibition_Initiative_%282026%29 
 * AB 736: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB736
 * The last-minute deal: https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/06/tax-cut-measure-pulled/
 * Buffy Wicks's explanatory thread: https://bsky.app/profile/buffywicks.bsky.social/post/3mpi3t4tlm32h
 * Prop 43: https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_43,_Two-Thirds_Vote_Requirement_for_Local_Special_Tax_Initiatives_and_Property_Tax_Initiative_Prohibition_Amendment_(2026) 

Episode 15: Turnabout is constant play—or, the Transfer Tax War

How did people figure out how problematic construction defect law was for California housing? How do you balance fixing it while avoiding rewarding sloppy construction? I am joined by Muhammad Alameldin, Senior Policy Advisor of California YIMBY, to talk about the even-nittier-grittier of AB 1903 and its components and evolution.

Episode 14: Interview on construction defect reform with CA YIMBY's Muhammad Alameldin

New year, new bills. Union-built high-rises! Reform to owner-occupancy for duplexes! Condo deposit & defect reform! Homes... built in factories? All this and more.

ERRATUM: During the episode I said the Trump family "builds" new condos in other states. In fact back in the 90's Trump stopped taking construction risks on development: when you see his name slapped on something new, it's because the actual developer is paying him for the privilege. But he used to be in the business.

Episode 13: Housing Bills, 2026 Session Edition

Closing out what happened in 2025 with a range of other legislation passed, failed, or delayed, with particular focus on a failed (but not doomed!) attempt to undo an obscure parking reform.

Next episode: 2026!

Episode 12: The Parking Rebundling Saga, and a potpourri of other 2025 legislation

On September 12th, 2025, Senate Bill 79 was passed out of the California Legislature. On October 10th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law. A huge victory for the cause of housing. This is the rest of its story.

This episode picks up after passage in the Senate, as it moved through the Assembly, back for one final Senate concurrence lap, and finally through the wine-dark sea of contradictions that is Gavin Newsom.

SB 79 WINS!

In which we are brought up to date through the final tumultuous week of the budget cycle. SB 79 receives further amendments & is passed out of the Senate; and on CEQA reform, Newsom steps in decisively.

Episode 10: SB 79 and CEQA, Part 2 (or, Of Trailer Bills and Building Trades)

CURRENT UP TO ABOUT MAY 1ST.  PART 2 FORTHCOMING! 

SB 79, housing near transit, rolls two hostile Senate chairs; SB 677, hitting single-family areas statewide, does less well; I discuss two bills for the first time, AB 609 and SB 607, and how they take on the cause of reforming the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to be more pro-housing but in markedly different ways.

Episode 9: Rolling the chairs on SB 79; and, whither CEQA? (Part 1)

SB 79, transit-oriented development (the spiritual successor to SB 50), and SB 677, fixing the duplex law while cleaning up one other law.

Episode 8: The Big Guns of 2025

I dive into what the California voters saw on their ballots in November: Prop 33 (rent control), Prop 34 (supposedly health care, actually rent control), and Prop 5 (borrowing for housing etc.), what these measures would have done, the personalities and interests responsible for this array of proposals, and what their outcomes (fail, win, fail) mean for housing policy this year

Episode 7: What Happened in 2024? Ballot Measures Edition

Legislative recap of 2024's wins, losses, and draws, and what they mean for 2025. How did we do, how do we feel, why is the turtle on its back? 

Still to come: ballot initiative recap of 2024.

Episode 6: What Happened in 2024?

We need a ton more housing at all income levels. How do we do that? State legislation gets the goods. Follow the California Legislature in real time as bills are born, mutate, and pass into law—or die—and learn about how we can all help end the housing crisis.

John Nerds Out on California Housing Legislation