Votes at a glance: four housing bills cleared from Senate Housing Committee in executive session (Feb. 19)

The Senate Housing Committee, in its Feb. 19 executive session, adopted proposed substitutes and voted to advance several bills to the Ways and Means Committee. The committee recorded voice votes and moved each measure forward; specific numeric tallies were not recorded in the hearing transcript.

Key committee actions recorded in the executive session:

- SB 5,222 (rent stabilization; proposed substitute A offered by Sen. Alvarado): The committee adopted the proposed substitute A and then moved that the substitute receive a due‑pass recommendation and be sent to the Ways and Means Committee. The transcript records the substitution was adopted by voice vote and the due‑pass recommendation was approved by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was provided in the record. Staff previously summarized the bill as capping most rent increases at 7% over a 12‑month period, adding a required annual rent‑increase notice form, creating an online landlord resource center, and requiring a social‑vulnerability impact assessment with a revised timeline in the substitute.

- SB 5,686 (foreclosure mediation program expansion; proposed substitute B offered by Sen. Orwell): The committee adopted the proposed substitute B by voice vote, then moved the bill with a due‑pass recommendation to the Ways and Means Committee. Staff briefed the measure as expanding the foreclosure mediation program to include unit owners in properties governed by associations, creating an $80 foreclosure‑prevention fee assessed at mortgage origination (per bill draft), modifying referral timing for delinquent assessments, and changing document‑sharing and confidentiality provisions in the mediation process.

- SB 36 13 (clear and objective residential development standards; proposed substitute C offered by Sen. Solomon): The committee adopted proposed substitute C by voice vote and moved the substitute with a due‑pass recommendation to Ways and Means. Staff described earlier that the bill would direct the Department of Commerce to develop clear and objective standards and a model code, require local regulations to comply by a specified date unless they adopt the model code, and provide limited appeal pathways to the Growth Management Hearings Board.

- SB 56 13 (the transcript references a bill numbered in the 56xx series during executive session and adopted a substitute in the record): The committee adopted a proposed substitute and advanced the bill; the hearing record uses voice‑vote procedures and does not list numeric vote tallies.

For all items above, the committee used voice votes; the record indicates the motions carried and the bills were forwarded to the Ways and Means Committee (or passed subject to signatures where noted). Where the transcript lacked numeric vote counts or named roll‑call votes, the committee record lists only the outcome and that the method of voting was voice vote.

These steps do not represent final enactment; each bill will proceed along the legislative process and may be amended further in Ways and Means or on the Senate floor.