Californians Decisively Reject Rent Control Measure

California voters have rebuffed Proposition 33, which would have given cities and counties authority to control residential rents, according to unofficial election results. At the same time, Golden State voters approved Proposition 34, a measure that critics call “revenge politics” aimed at one of the rent control proposal’s key backers. Proposition 33—known as the Justice for Renters Act—sought to prohibit the state from limiting the kinds of rent control laws enacted by cities and counties. It also would have eliminated an existing law known as the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which prohibits rent control on single family dwellings, condos, and new housing (generally that were built after Feb. 1, 1995). The Costa-Hawkins act also prohibits “vacancy control,” which denies or limits an owner’s ability to increase rent for new tenants. ...