By Cindy Alia
Updated 2/26/24
We are pleased to note the Senate Ways and Means committee held today at 10:00 am failed to hear HB 2114 in executive session. This means the bill is dead for this session as it would miss the deadling established for today for a bill to be read on the floor. That won't happen as the Ways and Means committee failed to hear the bill in executive committee and it can't be passed to the rules committee or the floor. Good news for landlords and tenants alike who would find it hard to be prepared for the additional burdens and expenses that would have resulted from the passage of the bill.
Updated 2/20/24
HB 2474 Concerning compliance with siting requirements for transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, indoor emergency shelters, and indoor emergency housing did not pass the senate committee on Local Government, Land Use & Tribal Affairs today. The bill is in effect dead for the session due to the flawed concept of removing local government decision making and placing that authority in the hands of an unelected governmental body, the department of commerce. In other words, the removal or delaying of state funds and governmental force alone will not rule the way local governments comply with prior state mandates on how and where these types of housing will be sited, managed, and implemented. Very good and reasonable testimony provided to the committee by the public.
HB 2114 Improving housing stability for tenants subject to the residential landlord-tenant act and the manufactured/mobile home landlord-tenant act by limiting rent and fee increases, requiring notice of rent and fee increases, limiting fees and deposits, establishing a landlord resource center and associated services, authorizing tenant lease termination, creating parity between lease types, and providing for attorney general enforcement. will be heard in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on February 22 at 1:30 pm. You can track the bill here. Please read below for CAPR's thoughts on the suitability of the bill in terms of effectiveness for affordable housing and the harm to the property rights of landowners providing housing.
2/19/24
These two bills undermine housing affordability and property rights, both house bills now waiting in line for the Senate Floor. With the cut-off calendar looming for the passage of bills from the opposite house the senate is in a hurry to scoot these bills under the finish line.
HB 2114, Improving housing stability for tenants subject to the residential landlord-tenant act and the manufactured/mobile home landlord-tenant act by limiting rent and fee increases, requiring notice of rent and fee increases, limiting fees and deposits, establishing a landlord resource center and associated services, authorizing tenant lease termination, creating parity between lease types, and providing for attorney general enforcement.
and HB 2474 Concerning compliance with siting requirements for transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, indoor emergency shelters, and indoor emergency housing.will both impact housing affordability, and property rights.
How will 2114 impair property rights and make housing less available and affordable?
2114 Will lead to landlords facing a the choice of not being able to afford to provide housing because rents will be capped. The bill limits rent and fee increases to 7 percent during any 12-month period and prohibits rent and fee increases during the first 12 months of a tenancy for tenants subject to the Residential Landlord-Tenant Act and the Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act, regardless of the length of their lease, with certain exemptions.
It also requires unrealistic time frames for rent and fee increase notice requirements; tenant lease termination provisions; limits on move-in fees, security deposits, and late fees; and requirements for parity between month-to-month and longer-term rental agreements.
Remedies and enforcement mechanisms, including Attorney General enforcement of certain provisions in the bill under the Consumer Protection Act and a private cause of action for damages against landlords who violate certain provisions of the bill will discourage property owners from being landlords for fear of both lost rents and exhorbitant legal costs. New landlords will certainly be hesitant to enter into such an unsure market and find a different path forward with their properties.
The bill has passed the house and is scheduled for both a public and an executive hearing on February 22, one day after the cut-off date for passing bills from the opposite house, but is avoiding that cut-off because it was sent to the Ways and Means Committee which is not included in the cut-off, but rather can be sent to the floor where it must pass by March 1, just six days before end of session.
It seems likely the Senate has planned to pass the bill. It is a good idea to call your Senator or 1 800 562 6000 to register your opinion of a vote on the bill!
How will 2474 impair property rights and make housing less available and affordable?
The bill will restrict final zoning decision authority by local elected officials for transitional housing and hands over the authority of county councils and citizens to unelected bureaucrats in the Department of Commerce. Why have counties and their citizens gone through years of pain with the growth management act and continual updates just to have it discarded in part by the legislature? If it is good for the goose, it should also be good for the gander, picking and choosing favored programs and eliminating GMA mandated control over implementation decisions is not what was considered part of the GMA.
The bill goes so far as to strong arm counties with threats of withholding state funds if a city fails to issue a project permit or modify its zoning ordinance and development regulations. This is not local control, obviously. The sponsors of the bill have gone far beyond what the ideal of local zoning authority so far enshrined in the growth management act.
Regardless of the overstep the house passed the bill and shuttled it over to the senate where it is scheduled for a public and executive hearing on the same day February 20th, one day prior to the cut-off for bills originating in the opposite house. The bill has gone to a committee subject to the cut-off date, but could be passed from committee to rules and possibly escape the cut-off due to some technicality such as a fiscal note in existance or an all nighter pulled by rules and the senate floor.
Unsurprisingly those who would tend to benefit are in favor of the bill, while those who would suffer for it are opposed. Either way, the bill results will be costly.
Probably also a good idea to call your senator and object to this by-passing of local control and accountability as well as a patchwork quilt of property zoning and expectations of the growth management act. You can also call the legislative hotline 1 800 562 6000 to make sure your message to your senator is heard and does not get lost in the inboxes of such busy people as senators and their assistants.
This kind of government over-reach should not occur, and if the bill passes it would be expensive to make sure it does not occur.
February 20, 2024