Bill > AB736

This bill enacts the Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, authorizing $10 billion in bonds to fund affordable housing programs, and also limits local transfer taxes on real estate sales. * **Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026:** This act authorizes the issuance of $10,000,000,000 in general obligation bonds to fund various affordable housing initiatives. The funds will be allocated to programs such as the Multifamily Housing Program ($6.7 billion), the Portfolio Reinvestment Program ($800 million), a program for acquiring and rehabilitating unrestricted housing units ($500 million), home ownership programs like CalHome ($1 billion), the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program ($350 million), a tribal housing program ($250 million), and the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program ($400 million). These bonds will be repaid from the General Fund. The act will be submitted to voters in June 2026. * **Transfer Tax Limitation:** Beginning January 1, 2027, local jurisdictions will be prohibited from collecting a transfer tax that, when combined with other local transfer taxes, exceeds 1.5% of the property's value, with some exceptions. These exceptions include transfer taxes levied as general taxes that were in effect as of June 30, 2026, which can go up to 3% or the existing general tax rate, whichever is lower. The limitations do not apply to transfer taxes on single-family homes valued at $5.4 million or more (adjusted for inflation annually). Additionally, local jurisdictions cannot levy a transfer tax on the first sale of single-family housing property destroyed or made uninhabitable by a natural disaster within five years of the event. The bill declares these transfer tax changes to be a matter of statewide concern.