Panel keeps landlord-certificate and data-combination approach in S.127, flags tenant-name and privacy questions

During S.127 markup the House Committee on Housing reviewed sections that would change landlord-certificate requirements and consolidate assessor and landlord-certificate data in lieu of a standalone short-term-rental registry.

Legislative counsel described the approach as combining two existing data sources — municipal assessor databases and landlord-certificates — to produce the same information a separate registry would provide. Counsel said the Department of Taxes and the Department of Housing and Community Development had indicated the combined data would generate much of the information the prior short-term-rental proposal sought to collect.

Committee members raised privacy questions about tenant names and whether providing tenant names in aggregated reports could create unintended consequences. One member noted the original purpose for collecting tenant names was administrative (to support renter rebate/renter credit administration), but that making names available in other contexts prompted concern. Committee counsel and members agreed the committee will pursue technical follow-up, including consultation with tax and legal staff to confirm what aggregated or anonymized outputs are feasible while preserving necessary administrative functions.

The committee agreed to keep the landlord-certificate changes and data-combination approach in the reconciled draft but asked staff to check whether the data requested would be limited to aggregated fields or would include individual tenant names and how that interacts with renter rebate administration.

No formal motions were recorded; the committee directed legislative counsel to follow up with agency staff and to return recommended drafting language if adjustments are necessary to protect privacy while preserving administrative functions.