The AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the City of Redondo Beach have filed a lawsuit against the State of California and its Attorney General, Rob Bonta, in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District. The case, with ID B321875 and filed on March 28, 2024, is an appeal against a judgment from the Superior Court of Los Angeles County that affirmed Senate Bill No. 10 (Senate Bill 10), a legislation enacted to address housing shortage in California.
Represented by Michael W. Webb, City Attorney; Strumwasser & Woocher, Beverly Grossman Palmer and Julia Michel, the plaintiffs challenge Senate Bill 10 which allows counties and cities to supersede local housing density caps on a parcel-by-parcel basis. This legislation was enacted in response to severe housing shortages across all income levels in California. On behalf of the defendants, Rob Bonta, Attorney General; Thomas S. Patterson, Assistant Attorney General; Benjamin M. Glickman and Seth E. Goldstein, Deputy Attorneys General are defending this case.
The plaintiffs argue that Senate Bill 10 violates article II, section 11 of the California Constitution as it empowers local legislative bodies to override local restrictions on housing density limits adopted by voter initiative or ordinance. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been involved in the initiative process for decades and had expended financial resources lobbying to remove these provisions from Senate Bill 10.