Legislative Session Weekly Update 1 - Jan 23, 23

LEGISLATIVE SESSION 2023

WEEKLY UPDATES

Legislative Report - Week One Recap

Monday, January 23, 2023

The first week of the legislature is complete. Not much happened that affected rental housing, although we do have two new bills to report on:

HB 80 Residential Renters Deposits, Rep.Cal Musselman

This bill, run by the sponsor without input from RHA, extends to 45 days the time for returning a renters deposit or providing an accounting of charges it was applied to. We are watching the bill and have not yet taken a position on it.

HB 98 Process Server Amendments, Rep. Andrew Stoddard

The statute of legal process server rules is modified regularly. The current proposal is to require a Special Functions Operator, which is basically an armed officer, to be present when use of force is authorized or there might be a breach of peace. The sponsor has not consulted with the RHA. Most eviction attorneys already do this. We will watch this bill and hopefully meet with the sponsor to determine what problem he is trying to fix. As a reminder, there were several fatalities nationally in 2022 during evictions, when tenants opened fire on officers and property managers who were doing their jobs. If there is ever any indication of potential violence when doing an eviction, communicate this to your attorney so they can exercise caution and take the proper measures to protect the peace.

Three National Issues we are Watching

Executive Action on Rent Control and Other Renter Protections

There are still rumblings the Biden administration may seek to do an executive order on rent control. This action would be arbitrary and without congressional approval, like their executive action on student loan forgiveness. While such action would likely be overturned in court, it could wreak havoc on rental housing supply when we desperately need more development. Rent Control often leads to less supply since investors are looking for a return that could be limited with rent controls.

To learn more read this story in Politico https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/18/white-house-new-tenant-protections-00077686

Re-instatement of Waters Of The United States Regulations will be bad for housing Supply, according, to rental housing experts.

The Biden administration has reinstated Obama era regulations, rolled back during the Trump Administration, that will affect property development.

“Ultimately, this expanded WOTUS definition will only add to the long list of regulatory hurdles apartment developers and operators must jump through to provide housing to America’s renters. The resulting permitting delays and increased costs will exacerbate the nation’s housing affordability challenges. The administration should be looking for ways to make development easier, not harder,” NAA’s Ben Harrold told Multi-Housing News.

Red more at https://www.multihousingnews.com/naa-nmhc-oppose-epas-waters-of-us-rules/

Congress: NAA achieved several key victories in the 2023 government funding package, including an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and an $85 million grant program based on the Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) Act. Read NAA’s recap of the package.

To read previous Legislative Reports go to https://www.rhautah.org/news/legislative-update

To learn more about our Government Affairs Committee and how you can get involved go to https://www.rhautah.org/government-affairs-committee