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Politics

Attorney Clears Toni Atkins To Pursue Housing Bills

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, leaves the Assembly at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., March 17, 2014.
Associated Press
Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, leaves the Assembly at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., March 17, 2014.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins on Friday released a legal opinion saying she can pursue legislation that would expand affordable housing in California even though her wife makes money consulting on affordable housing issues.

California's voter-approved conflict of interest laws prohibit lawmakers from making decisions that financially benefit them. The Office of Legislative Counsel said those rules don't apply to Atkins' affordable housing plan because it doesn't benefit specific people or companies and applies broadly.

"It is our opinion that the conflict of interest provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974 do not prohibit your involvement," Deputy Legislative Counsel Daniel Vandekoolwyk wrote in the opinion, which didn't say if Atkins had a financial interest in housing bills.

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Atkins, a San Diego Democrat who became speaker last May, says creating affordable housing is a top priority for her after growing up poor in Appalachia. Her wife Jennifer LeSar has two businesses that advise nonprofits, developers and government agencies on housing issues.

A financial statement filed last week says LeSar's clients include Affirmed Housing, an affordable housing developer, and the cities of San Diego, San Jose and Palo Alto.

Through spokesmen for Atkins, neither Atkins nor LeSar immediately responded to a request for comment.

Last month, Atkins announced her affordable housing plan to add $300 million in tax credits for developers who offer low-income housing and to fund affordable housing through a $75 fee onto deeds and other real estate transaction documents recorded when businesses buy property and residents refinance their homes.

The bills are AB35, AB90 and AB1335.

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Atkins previously told the Los Angeles Times that more money for affordable housing wouldn't necessarily directly benefit her wife. LeSar told the newspaper said her relationship with the speaker has been costly for her business because she avoids funding that would create the appearance of a conflict of interest.