House committee holds bill that would limit HOA bans on backyard chickens after public health and local-control debate

BOISE — The House Agriculture Affairs Committee voted to hold Senate Bill 10 26 in committee after members heard several hours of testimony on whether the state should limit homeowners associations’ ability to restrict backyard chickens.

The bill, introduced to the committee by Representative Steve Tanner, would prevent an HOA from using deed restrictions or covenants to prohibit keeping chickens on single-family lots. "We don't want any entity such as an HOA to be able to use deed restrictions or covenants in order to restrict the ability of homeowners to have chickens on their property," Representative Steve Tanner said when he introduced the bill. The text discussed a baseline of "4 chickens for every 2 tenths of an acre," which Tanner said would scale to 20 chickens on an acre, and allowed HOAs to adopt "reasonable rules" governing issues such as roosters, odor and other nuisances.

The measure applies only to single-family dwellings and, as written in committee, would not apply to multifamily units, agricultural zones, rural properties, farms or hobby farms, Tanner said. He also said the bill would not preempt city or county ordinances that prohibit chickens.

Why it matters: Supporters said allowing limited backyard flocks can help families offset…