Lawmakers Kill Bill To Incentivize Affordable Housing Development On Golf Courses

By Madison Hirneisen | The Center Square, The Center Square California

May 22, 2022

(The Center Square) – A bill that would have created an incentive program providing grants to cities to transform public golf courses into housing met its demise in the Assembly Appropriations Committee Thursday when lawmakers declined to advance the bill.

Assembly Bill 1910, authored by Assemblymember Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, proposed establishing an incentive program to offer grants to local agencies that entered development agreements to convert a municipally owned golf course into a combination of affordable housing and open space.

The measure was held during the Appropriation Committee's suspense hearing on Thursday. During the hearing, lawmakers on the committee advanced hundreds of bills while holding others without voting – effectively killing the bill without giving a reason for failing to pass the measure.

The committee gave no official reason for its decision to kill AB 1910, but the measure had heavy opposition. More than 80 groups registered in opposition to the bill; many were golf leagues and associations from across the state.

Garcia told The Center Square on Friday that she was "very disappointed" that the bill was not advanced, especially as California faces an ongoing housing crisis. Under AB 1910, cities and counties would not be required to convert publicly owned courses into housing, but they could be eligible for grants if they chose to do so.

During a committee hearing back in March, Garcia told lawmakers that she saw AB 1910 as an opportunity to expand options for housing and open space in dense areas of the state, like her own community.

California has about 1,100 golf courses, about 250 of which are locally owned, according to a legislative analysis of the bill. With the average size of a golf course being 150 acres, a housing committee analysis estimated "the space held by California's municipally-owned golf courses could contain approximately 375,000 units of housing" at moderate density of 10 units per acre.

"It's disappointing that we don't have this tool in the toolkit," Garcia said. "It's not going to solve all of our solutions, but if we're going to solve the housing crisis that we have and everything that comes with it, we need to allow ideas like this to flourish."

Opponents of the bill had previously testified that the bill "singled out" golf courses, adding that building housing on public courses could threaten recreation opportunities for the public.

"AB 1910 unfairly singles out golf courses, ignoring the many benefits that golf brings to communities, and threatens to reduce further the limited open space and outdoor recreational opportunities currently accessible to California families," the Golf Course Owners Association wrote in opposition.

Matthew Lewis, communications director for California YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard), said the bill's demise reveals the political influence of the golf community.

"The power of the golf community is really astonishing," Lewis told The Center Square. "I think what we're seeing here is a demonstration of that power."

Lewis later added that expanding options for housing to be built on public land remains an important consideration for lawmakers, noting that even if a city were to opt to build housing on part of a public golf course, the course could still exist for golfers to use.

Because this is her last year in the legislature, Garcia said she will not be able to reintroduce this legislation but hopes that someone else "picks up the mantle" to continue the discussion. This is the second time this proposal has failed to pass out of the Appropriations Committee, as Garcia introduced a similar measure in 2021 that was killed in committee.

The focus of the work of The Center Square California is state and local-level government and economic reporting that approaches stories with a taxpayer sensibility.