Lawmakers revise community housing infrastructure bill and set $14 million cap on education tax increment commitments

A legislative working session on May 9 reviewed amended language for a draft community and housing infrastructure bill (S.127), focusing on definitions of affordable housing, the list of eligible infrastructure improvements, which parcels count as a project site, the roles of two review bodies, and a $14,000,000 cap on education property tax increment commitments.

John Gray, Office of Legislative Counsel, walked the group through the draft changes, saying on the definitions work: "on page 1, we're starting with updates to the affordable housing definitions." He described the amended affordable-housing definition as housing "that’s subject to a housing subsidy covenant" and noted the draft picks up covenants required under an existing title-27 definition and specifies affordability "in perpetuity." Gray said the draft defines an "affordable housing development" as a housing development in which "at least 20% of the units are affordable housing units," and removes a prior minimum-5-unit floor found in a title-24 construct.

The draft also narrows the enumerated "improvements" that the program may fund. Gray said the earlier draft had included power and telecommunications but that language was removed and replaced by a more limited, exhaustive list that explicitly references wastewater, stormwater, public roads, sidewalks and…