Of course - my rent was just jacked up again. Got the letter in the mail today. (Now paying about 22% more than two years ago) Landlord needed to get another 10%+ rent increase in before they're under rent control.
Figured this would happen. Just sad to see it actually go through. So much for protecting existing renters...
I seem to remember that your rent in Jan 2020 must be lowered to what it was in March 2019.
Edit: text from https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...
"...The bill would provide that these provisions apply to all rent increases occurring on or after March 15, 2019. The bill would provide that in the event that an owner increased the rent by more than the amount specified above between March 15, 2019, and January 1, 2020, the applicable rent on January 1, 2020, shall be the rent as of March 15, 2019, plus the maximum permissible increase, and the owner shall not be liable to the tenant for any corresponding rent overpayment..."
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...
If they, looking at housing starts and the economy and projecting out, think that there's a chance that there'll should be a 40% increase over five years, they now have to raise your rent to have a chance to get there and also know that the other landlords in the quasi-market that they're competing with will be doing the same.
So this will likely hurt many, many other renters. Not to mention makes it harder to move across town (they'll do massive rent increases every time a unit is vacant in anticipation of not being able to do it while you're there) and will hurt any newcomers to the state (ya know the same shit we like to bitch about Boomers doing).