Senate committee advances committee substitute that removes group and supportive housing and changes mixed-use and short-term rental rules

The Senate Committee on Local Government adopted a committee substitute to Senate Bill 854 that alters housing and local land-use rules, including removing group and supportive housing from the bill and giving cities more explicit authority to regulate short-term rentals and enforce historic design standards.

Senator Middleton, who explained the substitute, told the committee the substitute: removes group and supportive housing from the scope of the bill; explicitly allows cities to regulate short-term rentals while maintaining homeowners association protections and existing deed restrictions; protects historic areas by allowing enforcement of historic design standards in designated districts while preventing unreasonable restrictions on height and density; reduces the required residential portion for mixed-use developments from 65% to 50% to expand flexibility; and prevents cities from imposing stricter setbacks, height limits, or parking requirements on conversions of existing structures.

Senator West asked whether the substitute removes group homes; Middleton confirmed it does. The committee then voted to adopt the committee substitute and report SB 854 to the full Senate. The transcript records the committee substitute reported to the full Senate with a tally described as "5 ayes and 1 nay."

The committee did not take further amendments at the hearing. The substitute leaves numerous local implementation details to city ordinances and does not itself set new statewide land-use enforcement mechanisms beyond the items the substitute addresses.

The committee recorded the action as adoption of the committee substitute, reporting the substitute to the Senate with the recommendation that the committee substitute pass, and sending the bill forward for full-Senate consideration.