Welcome to my legislative website. It is an honor to have this opportunity to serve my community. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any comments, questions or concerns that you may have with the district—or with your state government.
The legislative year is over, and while there’s still work to do, I’m proud of our accomplishments. About a dozen of my bills were sent to the Governor, and my bill to fund emergency homelessness solutions, including $27 million for San Francisco, were enacted through the state budget. Thank you for the honor of representing you in the California State Assembly.
Traffic relief, safer roads and better air quality are on the way. The Bay Area received great news from the California Transportation Commission (CTC) recently when it announced $660 million for thirteen projects in our region. Close to home, the funding includes improvements to Jefferson Street in San Francisco and the addition of express lanes on Highway 101 from SFO to Mountain View.
U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) has begun a large scale enforcement program in Northern California. It is clear this is retaliation against California because we stood up for our values. We defended our immigrant communities with legislation to help keep families together. It's important to know that, even if you are not a citizen of the United States, you have rights.
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), commonly known as “in-law units” or “granny flats,” are poised to play an important role in alleviating California’s housing crisis. After being sworn in to a fourth term this week, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) introduced AB 68 and AB 69, making it even easier and faster for homeowners to build livable space in their backyards.
“We are in a housing crisis, and ADUs are one of the quickest ways to expand our affordable housing supply,” said Ting. “While the state has already removed some of the red tape, we need to do more to spur widespread adoption.”
According to the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, applications for ADU permits have jumped significantly since the Legislature eased some regulations, but homeowners still face challenges when it comes to building codes, limiting the full potential of ADUs.
Ting’s ADU bills aim to:
Speed up the approval process to 60 days
Prohibit restrictive local requirements pertaining to lot size and parking
Allow more types of units, such as units in multi-family dwellings, to be approved with less bureaucratic review
Create a Small Home Building Standards Code to make construction more cost-effective and safe
Sacramento – Due to a remarkable economy and responsible budget practices, California’s finances are in good shape today. However, a more robust reserve is needed to weather a recession. With that in mind, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, unveiled his budget blueprint, Funding Progress | Protecting Tomorrow, calling for an incremental expansion of economic opportunities for all Californians while building up the reserve and paying down debt.
“We’ve invested wisely to keep California moving forward. Our goal is to maintain those investments that resulted in higher funding for education, poverty reduction, healthcare, housing and other priorities,” said Ting. “At the same time, we need to protect the state against a recession by saving even more.”
Highlights of Funding Progress | Protecting Tomorrow include:
Sacramento – Shortly after being sworn in today, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) renewed efforts to fight global warming with cleaner cars. He introduced AB 40 for 2040, which requires the California Air Resources Board to develop a comprehensive state strategy to achieve complete electrification of the transportation sector in 22 years, by year 2040.
“Much of the research today says climate change is happening at a much faster rate than anticipated. Since transportation accounts for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions and 80% of transportation emissions come from passenger vehicles, our vehicles are both the problem and solution. Cleaner cars would make the biggest impact in reducing this pollution,” said Ting.
The urgency to adopt zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) more aggressively is highlighted in last month’s federal report that delivered a dire warning about the consequences of climate change if we don’t act, including greater instances of illness and premature deaths.
“It’s clear that we need to shift to zero-polluting electric cars and trucks. We simply have to stop exposing children to harmful air pollution and to stop wrapping the planet in climate pollution,” said Kathryn Phillips, Director of Sierra Club California. “The question is not whether we will have an electric car future or even when. The question is how do we get there as quickly as possible? This bill will help answer that.”
The global car market is already moving toward ZEVs. National governments, including Great Britain, France, China, Norway, Ireland, Netherlands and India, have announced policies to electrify vehicles. At the state and local levels, bans on gas and diesel powered vehicles have been announced by the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the cities of Copenhagen, Rome, Athens, Paris, Madrid, Mexico City, and Brussels.
“Moving toward a clean cars future is not just important, it's necessary,” said Mary Creasman, CEO of the California League of Conservation Voters. “With climate change impacts worsening daily and federal progress on clean cars being gutted, California must take bold action.”
AB 40 requires the report to be completed by 2021 and is one of many Ting bills intended to put California on a path to cleaner cars.
(San Francisco, CA) – Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, released the following statement in response to the Legislative Analyst’s Office’s (LAO) fiscal outlook for 2019-20:
California’s strong economy has enabled us to erase budget deficits and make significant progress in affordable housing, education, poverty reduction and other priorities while boosting our rainy day fund. I’m glad to see the fiscal outlook is still bright for the state, but the LAO report also warns we don’t have enough saved up to weather a recession. We must make smart investments and proceed with caution to protect programs for the long-run. No one wants to relive the devastating budget cuts we were forced to make only a short time ago.
Assemblymember Phil Ting is pushing the envelope of California environmental legislation; authoring AB 1745, which seeks to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles after 2040. While the bill did not pass this year, he vows to bring it back in 2019. In a conversation with Jobs With Impact, a podcast covers Phil’s early career as a civil rights activist in the Asian community, his views on green job opportunities, and the climate priorities of the California legislature, where he currently chairs the Assembly Budget Committee. Listen here.
Your voice matters! A lot is at stake at the national, state & local levels. Please register to vote by Monday’s deadline (10/22), so you can participate in the November 6 election. The online application is easy to fill out: RegisterToVote.Ca.Gov.
Some of San Francisco’s underserved business corridors are about to get a boost, thanks to five new liquor licenses awarded to restaurants by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control today. Type 87 liquor licenses are made possible by AB 471, which was championed by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and signed into law last year. With three in the Bayview and two in the Sunset, the 2018 recipients are:
Java Beach Coffee Roasters: 3620 Wawona Street
Word A Café: 5114 Third Street
Old Skool Café: 1429 Mendell Street
Corinne Chuitang Pusawong: 2244 Taraval Street
Bayview Pasta: 5009 Third Street
“I’m excited for the neighborhoods that’ll see more jobs, foot traffic and social spaces,” said Ting. “It’s also an opportunity for a new generation of restauranteurs who previously couldn’t afford a license.”
A Type 87 liquor license differs from a traditional one (Type 47) in the following ways:
Location: Restaurants must be located in: the Sunset, along Noriega and Taraval Streets; the Excelsior, on Ocean Avenue and Mission Street; Visitacion Valley, on Leland Street and Bayshore Avenue; the Portola’s San Bruno Avenue; and the Bayview’s Third Street.
Affordability: Cost is about $15,000 instead of the nearly $300,000 that conventional liquor licenses cost on the secondary market. Restaurants in outer neighborhoods typically lack the revenue to recoup such a large investment, placing them at a competitive disadvantage.
One-Time Use: These licenses cannot be re-sold or transferred. If a business closes or relocates, it is canceled and a new one is created in its place.
Before Ting’s legislation was enacted, new liquor licenses hadn’t been issued in San Francisco in over 80 years. New restaurants and bars typically have to buy their liquor licenses from other businesses that have closed or want to sell their license.
AB 471 allows for 30 Type 87 licenses total, five awarded per year until 2023. When more than five businesses apply for one in any given year, a random drawing is held. The first wave of restaurants were approved last year. Today’s lottery was the second wave.
Open enrollment for Covered California begins today! You can shop for private health insurance & compare prices. Financial assistance may be available, if you qualify. January 15, 2019 is the deadline to sign-up or switch to a different Covered CA health plan: http://www.CoveredCA.com.
LATEST NEWS
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), commonly known as “in-law units” or “granny flats,” are poised to play an important role in alleviating California’s housing crisis. After being sworn in to a fourth term this week, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) introduced AB 68 and AB 69, making it even easier and faster for homeowners to build livable space in their backyards.
Sacramento – Due to a remarkable economy and responsible budget practices, California’s finances are in good shape today. However, a more robust reserve is needed to weather a recession. With that in mind, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, unveiled his budget blueprint, Funding Progress | Protecting Tomorrow, calling for an incremental expansion of economic opportunities for all Californians while building up the reserve and paying down debt.
The urgency to adopt zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) more aggressively is highlighted in last month’s federal report that delivered a dire warning about the consequences of climate change if we don’t act, including greater instances of illness and premature deaths.
Some of San Francisco’s underserved business corridors are about to get a boost, thanks to five new liquor licenses awarded to restaurants by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control today. Type 87 liquor licenses are made possible by AB 471, which was championed by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and signed into law last year. With three in the Bayview and two in the Sunset, the 2018 recipients are: