Now that the holidays are over and we are less than two weeks from the start of the legislative session, bills are showing up daily. Here’s some of the bills of interest for planners that have shown up so far.
HB68 – Housing Amendments – talked about this bill before, as it has been discussed in both legislative interim committee meetings and Land Use Task Force meetings. This bill completely overhauls the housing function of state government, moving much of the administrative function from Workforce Services to a new division within the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. It also does away with the Commission on Housing Affordability and the Governors Senior Advisor for Housing, incorporating all those functions into the new housing division.
SB39 – Investment Zones Amendments – the bill makes a number of adjustments and modifications to provisions for convention center reinvestment zones, housing and transit reinvestment zones, station area plans, FHIZs, HOPZs, home ownership promotion zones.
HB16 – Solar Power Plant Amendments – defines what a solar power plant is, and, among other provisions, requires local land use approval. This provision I think could use some work, because it seems to say a solar power plant must be a conditional use, and that it must be approved by the governing body. Elsewhere in LUDMA the specification is that CUs are an administrative action to be reviewed by the land use authority, which is often the planning commission. Governing body action is often not required for CUs. This bill seems to require that. Is that okay?
HB191 – Airport Land Use Amendments – defines what a “flight park” is and applies the airport land use requirements recently required by a bill to flight parks.
In my November 20 post, in the list of potential bills for the 2026 legislative session, I included a proposed bill by Rep. Ray Ward that would have some pretty far-reaching affect. Rep. Ward, you may recall, has in the last couple of legislative sessions put forward bills that would, among other things, make accessory dwelling units, and most notably, residential lots of 5,400 sf, permitted in all residential zones. Because Rep. Ward essentially put forward these bills on his own without any prior discussion with the Land Use Task Force or local government organizations, they did not go anywhere in those previous sessions. This time, his proposed bill still would address these issues, but in a different way. He has had discussions with the LUTF, the League and others and invited input. His bill was just posted, now for everyone’s review and comment. It is HB184 – Local Land Use Revisions. This version of the bill makes what it calls “preferred land use regulations” mandatory in all local land use regulations as permitted uses. Those uses are starter homes, 5,400 sf lots, and ADUs. Each one is defined in the bill. The bill then sets forth some administrative procedures for applications and review and approval of such preferred land uses. The bill then also allows the planning commission or legislative body to deny such an application if, for any reason, the body finds on the record “that the benefit to the person and community would be outweighed by the negative effect to others in the community.” That’s a pretty vague standard, one that I think could be challenged by either side. This should be an interesting bill to watch.
There will be more bills to come in the next few weeks, and plenty of work to be done to review and comment.