How NAIOP SoCal Mobilized to Defeat SB 939
The bill that would have places a moratorium on commercial evictions has failed to make it through the State Senate committee.
Yesterday, SB 939 was officially defeated in the California State Senate committee. If passed, the bill would have placed an eviction moratorium on commercial leased in addition to allowing tenants to renegotiate their lease terms or terminate their lease without any penalty. The commercial real estate community ardently opposed the bill, including NAIOP SoCal. The organization played an active role in defeating the bill, mobilizing its members and educating the industry on the content of the legislation.
“We credit the immense outreach of the commercial real estate industry in their efforts to educate California State Senators as to the negative impacts of this bill,” Stephane Wandel, NAIOP SoCal legislative affairs vice chair, tells GlobeSt.com. “It shows what we can achieve when we use our collective voice. Hopefully now the Legislature will concentrate on finding a balanced approach that will benefit all impacted parties, tenants and property owners, to assist in bringing back jobs to California.”
NAIOP SoCal’s position was not only that the bill placed an unfair burden on landlords, but simply that it wasn’t necessary because property owners were already re-negotiating terms with existing tenants. “This bill was unnecessary as property owners are very motivated to keep existing tenants,” Tim Jemal, CEO of NAIOP SoCal. “A vacant building means no rent, which means the property owner cannot keep up the ongoing expenses that exist, such was mortgages, and ultimately that leads to foreclosures and loss of jobs. Nobody wants an empty building. Since the onset of the pandemic, property owners throughout California have successfully worked with their tenants to develop win-win agreements to keep tenants. Developing creative ways to keep tenants is far better than trying to find new tenants in this COVID-19 induced economic shutdown.”
Today, the organization is celebrating the state’s decision, saying that the legislators made the right choice to suspend the bill. “SB 939 is a bad bill. It is far too broad and would have done serious damage to California’s economy,” Rex Hime, president of the California Business Properties Association, tells GlobeSt.com. We applaud those who believe policy is more important than politics in addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though this bill is stalled out for now, we’ll be keeping watch to make sure the language doesn’t find its way back into another bill at some point.”