Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a Bay Area lawmaker’s bill Friday aimed at spurring more housing development near public transit.

Senate Bill 79 by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, allows taller housing developments near major transit hubs, aiming to create much needed housing and boost transit ridership.

“For too long, California has poured billions into transit without building the housing density needed for those systems to reach their potential,” Newsom wrote in a signing statement. “SB 79 helps change that by focusing more homes near rail stations — boosting ridership, cutting traffic and pollution, lowering household costs, and expanding access to jobs, schools and services.”

Wiener, who had seen two prior attempts at similar legislation fail to pass out of the Legislature an

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