Planning and Development Committee advances municipal engineering contract measure; several bills referred or set for public hearing

The Planning and Development Committee met Feb. 5 at 10:30 a.m. in Room 2B and by Zoom and voted to refer multiple bills, raise several concepts for public hearing, and hold subject-matter hearings on selected proposals.

Committee chair Senator Grama opened the meeting and led a series of voice votes and roll calls that referred bills to committee and moved several items to public hearing. The committee voted to refer bills including SB 231 (state forest land calculation for grant‑in‑lieu payments), SB 1040 (municipal bonding for energy‑grade modernization projects) and HB 5616 (amend charter of the Lime Grama Fair Association), among others, to the committees listed on the agenda; those referrals were approved by voice vote.

The committee also voted to “raise” multiple concept bills for public hearing, including proposals on liens for housing‑code or public‑place ordinance violations; a task force to study regulation of corporate housing acquisition; recommendations from the Intergovernmental Policy and Planning Division within the Office of Policy and Management; certificates of correction for tangible personal property assessed in error; and applications for senior, veteran, and circuit‑breaker property tax relief. Those concept resolutions…