We recommend voting for Matt Haney for State Assembly, District 17.

Haney has been one of the most productive SF legislators in Sacramento. His biggest win is AB 507, signed by Newsom in 2025, which makes it easier to turn empty office buildings into housing statewide. The law started as a San Francisco fix, since our downtown has millions of square feet of empty office space, and Haney got it expanded to the whole state. Projects that meet the rules now get approved automatically, no rezoning needed. He also authored AB 1445, which lets other cities reinvest the property tax growth from an office conversion back into the project, a financing tool San Francisco already had, and he founded and chairs the Assembly's first committee on downtown recovery, where he says 8 of his 13 downtown bills have become law. He's also pushed hard on public safety: AB 2475 stops state hospitals from releasing patients with violent criminal histories without a plan for supervision, housing, and treatment. And his AB 602, the Campus Overdose Prevention Act, has public colleges offer students treatment instead of discipline when they seek help during an overdose, starting July 2026.

In his questionnaire, Haney lays out an ambitious but grounded agenda for a second term. On housing, he wants to end exclusionary zoning, accelerate office-to-housing conversions, and move toward by-right permitting for infill projects. On the fentanyl crisis, he's working to expand treatment access and guarantee drug-free recovery housing, while supporting enforcement against trafficking networks. And he's championing downtown revitalization: modernizing nightlife rules, supporting small businesses, and making urban cores places people want to spend time again.

Haney works across party lines and gets bills signed. His opponent, Republican real estate businessman Manuel Noris-Barrera, took 15% against him in 2024. Haney has earned another term.