---
type: "Bill"
title: "Workforce Housing Opportunity Zone."
description: "The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. Existing law provides for various reforms and incentives intended to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "SB 540"
citation: "California SB 540 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Workforce Housing Opportunity Zone."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Roth"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 36
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2017-02-16"
last_action: "2017-09-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cac30eab-3576-4f25-a0f8-706442332cf2"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540"
source_hash: "5b5a43c91b150a27eaffbdf1fd10cf480a56deef3ffa7a2eb7c517e9aa51e3ad"
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 SB 540 (20172018) — Workforce Housing Opportunity Zone.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. Existing law provides for various reforms and incentives intended to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/16/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54099INT)
2. **03/20/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54098AMD)
3. **03/29/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54097AMD)
4. **04/18/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54096AMD)
5. **05/10/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54095AMD)
6. **07/14/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54094AMD)
7. **09/29/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54092CHP)
8. **SB540** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540)
9. **09/20/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB540&version=20170SB54093ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 540 Roth Senate Third Reading By CHIU — **70–8** (pass) · lower
- Unfinished Business SB540 Roth et al. Concurrence — **29–7** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Natural Resources] — **9–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Roth — primary (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-16** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-02-17** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 19.
- **2017-03-02** Referred to Coms. on T. & H., GOV. & F., and EQ. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-20** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-03-21** Set for hearing March 28.
- **2017-03-22** March 28 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2017-03-23** Set for hearing April 4.
- **2017-03-29** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on T. & H. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-03-30** Set for hearing April 5 in GOV. & F. pending receipt.
- **2017-04-05** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on GOV. & F. (Ayes 9. Noes 0. Page 627.) (April 4). Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-04-07** Set for hearing April 19 in EQ. pending receipt.
- **2017-04-17** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on EQ. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 623.) (April 5). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2017-04-18** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on EQ. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-04-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 784.) (April 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-05-04** Set for hearing May 15.
- **2017-05-10** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-15** May 15 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.
- **2017-05-19** Set for hearing May 25.
- **2017-05-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 1. Page 1186.) (May 25). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 33. Noes 7. Page 1383.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-15** Referred to Coms. on L. GOV. and NAT. RES. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on NAT. RES. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (July 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-07-13** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2017-07-14** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, referral-committee, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2017-08-31** Assembly Rule 96 suspended. (Ayes 51. Noes 23. Page 2826.)
- **2017-08-31** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-08-31** Ordered to third reading.
- **2017-09-14** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 70. Noes 8. Page 3419.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-15** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2017-09-15** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 29. Noes 7. Page 2960.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-22** 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 369, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cac30eab-3576-4f25-a0f8-706442332cf2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).