Housing & Community Development Committee advances five housing bills, including first-time buyer savings account and protections against predatory real-estate

At a Housing & Community Development Committee voting meeting streamed online, members reported five housing-related bills to the next stage of the legislative process, including measures to establish a first-time homebuyer savings account program and to ban certain long-term real-estate service agreements.

The measures addressed different parts of housing policy: House Bill 818 would create a first-time homebuyer savings account program administered by the Treasury Department; House Bill 1020 would let municipalities adopt vacant- and blighted-property registries and impose fees; House Bill 1037 would clarify that municipalities may permit replacement residential structures to use the setback dimensions of a demolished structure; House Bill 1062 would create a statewide blight data-collection system populated with property-maintenance-code serious-violation reports; and House Bill 986 would prohibit certain long-term or otherwise unlawful real-estate service agreements and treat violations as unfair or deceptive practices.

Why it matters: the bills would give local governments additional tools to address blight and vacant properties, establish a new savings vehicle aimed at first-time buyers, adjust local permitting rules intended to speed housing replacement on small lots, and add consumer protections intended to curb predatory contracts that can trap homeowners, particularly older adults.

House Bill 818 (first-time homebuyer savings account): Representative Bizarro, sponsor, described the bill through committee staff: “House Bill 8 18 establishes the first time homebuyer savings account program in the Treasury Department,” committee staff member Jim said during the meeting. Committee members adopted amendment A00279, which Jim described as making “several technical changes, including clarifying the definition of first time homebuyer and specifying Treasury's administrative duties and powers.” The amendment passed without recorded opposition; the committee then approved the bill, as amended, by a recorded vote of 24 to 2.

House Bill 1020 (vacant property registration): Committee staff described House Bill 10 20 as empowering communities “to create and maintain a vacant property registration.” Sponsor Representative Torczyk said the bill “enables municipalities to adopt ordinances, which would allow them to maintain vacant and blighted property registries and impose fees,” and cited support from municipal groups. Representative Torczyk said the measure balances accountability with exemptions for property owners. The committee voted to report the bill as committed by a recorded vote of 25 to 1.

House Bill 1037 (setback rule for replacement homes): Committee staff summarized House Bill 10 37 as an amendment to municipal planning code related to uniform construction-code setback requirements for residential housing. The sponsor said the bill is intended to remove ambiguity and speed reconstruction on small lots by allowing municipalities to permit a replacement structure to follow the prior structure's setbacks if the municipality adopts an ordinance to that effect. A committee member asked whether the change remained discretionary for municipalities; the sponsor confirmed it is permissive. The committee reported the bill as committed by a recorded vote of 26 to 0.

House Bill 1062 (statewide blight data collection): Committee staff described House Bill 10 62 as creating a statewide blight-data collection system populated with property-maintenance-code serious-violation reports. The sponsor said the measure would give small towns “an extra tool in their toolbox” to identify and address vacant and blighted properties and that it would take effect in a calendar year. The committee reported the bill as committed by a recorded vote of 23 to 3.

House Bill 986 (Unfair Real Estate Service Agreements Act): Sponsor Representative Cephas spoke at length about predatory, long-term real-estate service agreements that can tie homeowners to brokers and impede refinancing or sale. Cephas said the bill would deem certain contract provisions unenforceable and classify violations as unfair or deceptive trade practices under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection law; she said damages and penalties would be available to affected homeowners. “Homeowners who try to list their property with a different agent may face penalties such as paying the original company a commission,” Cephas said, describing the problem the bill seeks to address. The committee reported the bill as committed by a recorded vote of 25 to 1.

Votes at a glance - House Bill 8 18 (first-time homebuyer savings account): approved 24–2. - House Bill 10 20 (vacant and blighted property registries; Title 53 amendment): reported as committed 25–1. - House Bill 10 37 (municipal setback rule for replacement homes): reported as committed 26–0. - House Bill 10 62 (statewide blight database): reported as committed 23–3. - House Bill 9 86 (Unfair Real Estate Service Agreements Act): reported as committed 25–1.

Next steps: Committee chairs moved each bill forward to the next legislative stage. No formal amendments beyond A00279 (applied to HB 818) were recorded in committee debate. Several committee members briefly commented in favor of bills or asked clarifying procedural questions; sponsors and staff indicated the bills are intended to give municipalities and homeowners additional tools, not to impose mandatory statewide actions.

The committee meeting was called to order and streamed online; attendance was taken by staff and the clerk recorded roll calls for each recorded vote.