---
type: "Bill"
title: "Housing Accountability Act."
description: "(1) The Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner than renders infeasible, a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or an emergency shelter unless the local agency makes specified written findings based upon substantial evidence in the record."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 678"
citation: "California AB 678 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Housing Accountability Act."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bocanegra"]
version_count: 12
action_count: 35
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2017-02-15"
last_action: "2017-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/933f6b7a-f976-4c12-a7e5-eb17e5f62d2d"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678"
source_hash: "75f6db2f49d59146582cf191a77ce0066cd371858a9433eedc8ca39f742ba1e2"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 678 (20172018) — Housing Accountability Act.

(1) The Housing Accountability Act, among other things, prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner than renders infeasible, a housing development project for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or an emergency shelter unless the local agency makes specified written findings based upon substantial evidence in the record.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/15/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67899INT)
2. **03/21/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67898AMD)
3. **05/01/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67897AMD)
4. **05/15/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67896AMD)
5. **05/26/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67895AMD)
6. **06/12/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67894AMD)
7. **06/26/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67893AMD)
8. **07/03/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67892AMD)
9. **07/13/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67891AMD)
10. **09/29/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67889CHP)
11. **AB678** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678)
12. **09/19/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB678&version=20170AB67890ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB678 Bocanegra et al. By Skinner — **27–10** (pass) · upper
- AB 678 BOCANEGRA Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **70–7** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **8–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **6–1** (pass) · upper
- AB 678 BOCANEGRA Assembly Third Reading — **68–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bocanegra — primary (person)
- Beall — coauthor (person)
- Skinner — principal coauthor (person)
- Wiener — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-16** From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
- **2017-03-20** Referred to Coms. on H. & C.D. and L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-21** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on H. & C.D. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-22** Re-referred to Com. on H. & C.D. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-19** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2017-04-27** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (April 26). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-05-01** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-05-02** Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-11** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (May 10). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-05-15** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-05-16** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-26** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 1711.) `amendment-passage, reading-3, reading-1`
- **2017-05-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 68. Noes 6. Page 1792.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-30** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-08** Referred to Coms. on T. & H. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-12** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-22** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 8. Noes 2.) (June 20). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-26** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-07-03** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-12** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (July 11). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-07-13** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-07-13** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-07-13** (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2026.)
- **2017-07-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-13** (Ayes 27. Noes 11. Page 2026.)
- **2017-07-17** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 17). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-07-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 27. Noes 10. Page 2962.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-15** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2017-09-15** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 3507.)
- **2017-09-15** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 70. Noes 7. Page 3511.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-26** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2017-09-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-09-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 373, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/933f6b7a-f976-4c12-a7e5-eb17e5f62d2d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).