Committee advances bill requiring 10-day residential, 20-day commercial completeness reviews for building permits

The House Business Committee on March 27 voted to send Senate Bill 1164 as amended to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation, advancing a proposal that would require local building-permit offices to notify applicants whether their applications are complete within 10 days for residential permits and 20 days for commercial permits.

Senator Cody Galloway, who represents West Boise and Meridian (District 15) and sponsored the bill in the Senate, told the committee the measure does not require a decision to approve or deny permits within those windows but would require local governments to provide a written completeness determination. "This legislation asks building permit boards to respond on completeness of an application within 10 days for residential permits and 20 days with commercial permits," Galloway said. He told the committee the timeframes were negotiated with cities and local planners after initial stakeholder feedback.

The bill’s nut graf: supporters say the change aims to reduce unpredictable delays in the permitting process that add carrying costs for developers and slow housing production. "This is a free market solution that allows for efficient paperwork, timely reviews and transparency in the process," Galloway said.

Ken Burgess of Veritas Advisors, testifying for the Idaho Home Builders Association, said his members provided anecdotal examples of long delays: "...anecdotally there are instances where a builder has gone in for a building permit, submitted all their application work, waited a week, 2 weeks, perhaps a month or more, only to find out that apparently they may have been missing 1 part of their application...and then it goes back to the bottom of the pile." Burgess said the bill would set expectations and encourage more consistent completeness checks, but he described the evidence as partly anecdotal.

Committee members pressed for details on the numeric deadlines and consequences. Representative Palmer asked where the 10- and 20-day numbers came from; Galloway replied that the original proposal used 10 days for both residential and commercial permits but cities asked for 20 days for commercial applications and that change secured their support. Representative Birch asked whether the measure was intended to address homelessness; Burgess and others clarified the bill focuses on overall housing supply and permitting delays rather than a specific homelessness intervention.

The bill requires local governments to make permit requirements publicly available and to provide written notice when an application is deemed incomplete; the measure allows applicants to submit revised materials and request extensions. Committee members confirmed the bill does not create a statutory penalty or automatic approval if the review window is missed.

Representative Palmer moved to send Senate Bill 1164 as amended to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; the chair announced the motion carried. The motion carried without a recorded roll-call tally in the committee minutes.

The committee heard no other public testimony; committee staff did not identify additional amendments at the meeting. The bill will next be considered on the House floor, per the committee’s referral.