California Sen. Scott Wiener is celebrating the passage of SB 79, which requires local governments to approve qualifying housing projects if they’re located near transit. Wiener says in an analysis of the bill:

“SB 79 tackles the root causes of California’s affordability crisis by allowing more homes to be built near major public transportation stops and on land owned by transit agencies – bolstering transit use, slashing climate emissions, and supporting public transportation in the process.”

Unfortunately, Sen. Wiener hasn’t bothered to check the facts. Los Angeles and San Francisco have built thousands of new units near transit over the past decade, but transit ridership in both cities has been in steady decline.

Transit Ridership Is Growing but Still Down from a Decade Ago

He also obviously hasn’t seen the California Air Resources Board’s 2022 report on the Sustainable Communities Act. The Executive Summary says,

“Californians are driving more than ever – leading to more pollution, higher costs, more roadway fatalities [….]”

Sustainable Communities Act Report, California Air Resources Board, 2022

It’s maddening that Wiener continues to jam legislation like this through the legislature when he clearly doesn’t understand the facts. And it seems most of the members of the California Legislature haven’t bothered to check the facts, either.