The 2025 session of the Utah State Legislature begins in two weeks – two weeks!  My days of idyll and boredom will be gone; actually, I never really had those because it’s coming right on the heels of the holiday season, and things are already getting going on the legislative front with bills starting to come out.  So – here we go!

Housing affordability (and related land use policy) are going to be one of the bigger issues again this session (as noted in a number of previous blog posts, citing Gov. Cox and legislators).  We know bills are in the works, we just don’t know exactly what many of them are going to say.  And there will surely be some surprise bills that will pop out as well – there always are!

So here are the bills which have appeared so far, and I emphasize again, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

The first two bills listed here are ones that the sponsor, Rep. Ray Ward, had informally released earlier and asked for input on them.  The bills that are out now are somewhat different from those earlier versions, and will now be subjected to the full fury of the legislative process.  As Rep. Ward has said, he is open to comments.  Here they are:

HB88 – Housing Policy Amendments – this bill would change the interval for Moderate Income Housing Plan reports from annual to triannual; it would also make ADUs (internal or external) permitted uses on all lots with a detached single-family home in a residential zone in a municipality in first and second class counties.

HB90 – Zoning Amendments – this is a very short bill, but much more sweeping in effect.  The bill would make a detached single-family dwelling on a lot of at least 4,000 sq ft a permitted use in all residential zones in all municipalities in first and second class counties.  It would also make housing a permitted use in all commercial zones, but housing is not defined.  Send in your cards and letters!

This next bill is sponsored by Rep. Jim Dunnigan.  An interesting side note, when Rep. Ray Ward presented his two bills (above) to the Political Subdivisions Interim Committee last fall, Rep. Dunnigan, who is co-chair of the committee, expressed his strong objection to allowing ADUs to be built on any residential lot.

HB37 – Utah Housing Amendments – this bill does a number of things.  With regard to the MIHP reports, it makes a number of changes and additions as to what is to be reported and how to consider and report them, and requires the state Division of Housing to make an annual report to the legislative committee; it also apparently attempts to authorize local governments to create overlay zones to allow for more housing density and housing types, which then allows for deed restrictions for ownership and income levels for “affordable” units.  There’s a real case to be made here that this is a power that local governments already have, and that the provisions of this bill may actually wind up limiting what they can do in this regard.  The bill also charges the Commission on Housing Affordability to develop regional strategic plans for housing, and to report annually to the legislative committee.

Sen. Wayne Harper is the sponsor of two bills that make some modifications to a couple of recently enacted housing programs – this is usually needed when complex new programs are introduced, and then the realities of trying to make them work reveal things that need tweaking or adjusting.  They are:

SB23 – First Home Investment Zone Amendments – the FHIZ zones just introduced last legislative session

SB26 – Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone Amendments – this has been around longer, but still needs tweaking and adjusting, and some new provisions.

And finally,

HB44 – Private Airport Notice Amendments – you may recall that a couple of sessions ago, a bill was passed that required local governments within 5,000 feet of any airport to adopt some rules and to provide notices to those nearby properties.  This bill now makes such notice apply to what are called “significant private airports.”  More to do!

Okay, that’s what we have so far.  More to come, assuredly.  If you have any thoughts of comments about any of these bills, feel free to email or contact us and let us know.