Special to the Vanguard
Senator Wiener’s Bill, received another big new labor endorsement — the Conference of Operating Engineers — of bill (SB 4) to allow religious institutions & nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on their land. They join the Carpenters, SEIU, Laborers & CSEA in support of SB 4.
Here’s the letter:
On behalf of the California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers, I write to inform you of our support of SB 4 (Wiener), which would aide in solving the States existing housing crisis by authorizing housing development projects on land owned by religious institutions and independent institutions of higher education to be approved “by right’ in 
situations when developers on these projects pay a fair wage, provide apprenticeship opportunities, and ensure employees are covered by valid health insurance.
The International Union of Operating Engineers and our Local Unions have long recognized the current housing crisis facing the citizens of our state and impacting our membership. Our organization has consistent y sought to be part of the solution to solve this extremely important issue. SB 4 is a thoughtful proposal that strikes the appropriate balance to ensure that developers can move to expeditiously provide more housing while not leaving the workers participating in these important projects left behind.
We believe the balance that this legislation strikes will result in more available housing and ultimately lead to more affordable housing that could be utilized by our membership and those in need. Additionally. the apprenticeship opportunities provided by the bill will ensure we have a highly trained workforce in the housing industry to continue to combat this current crisis for years to come.
For these reasons and more, I wish to inform you of our Support of SB 4 (Wiener).
