Senate housing committee advances mix of permit, financing and land-use bills; orders statewide study

The Senate Committee on Housing and Development on April 7 advanced several bills aimed at speeding housing production and creating new financing tools, and held a public hearing on a statewide study of barriers to affordable housing.

Sen. Khan Pham, chair of the committee, said the package reflects efforts to tackle long-standing obstacles to housing supply. "With state resources limited and federal funding increasingly uncertain, it's imperative that Oregon's funds for affordable housing leverage building as many affordable homes as possible," Pham said while introducing SB 52, the study bill.

The work sessions and motions that followed moved five bills to the next steps in the legislative process. Committee members passed amendments and sent the bills to the Senate floor with recommendations or to other committees for further review. Major items advanced included:

- SB 6 (building permits): As amended, the bill would require the agency or official responsible for administering and enforcing the state building code to issue a decision on a building-permit application within 45 business days of receipt of a complete application for covered middle housing and single-family residences in subdivisions of more than six lots. The committee adopted the dash-3 amendment and moved the bill to the floor with a “do pass” recommendation and a request that it be referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

- SB 829 (affordable housing insurance): With the dash-2 amendment adopted, the bill would establish an "affordable housing premium assistance fund" and direct the Department of Consumer and Business Services to operate an affordable-housing insurance program to mitigate property-insurance premium costs for eligible entities and to report on the feasibility of a state-operated reinsurance program for multifamily housing price stability. The committee moved the bill to the floor with a "do pass" recommendation and requested referral to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

- SB 684 (mixed-income loan program): The bill, as amended, would create a loan program and a dedicated mixed income public development fund to support construction and acquisition of mixed-income housing; projects receiving loans would be required to maintain affordability restrictions for at least 90 years. The committee adopted the dash-4 amendment and moved the bill to the floor with a "do pass" recommendation and requested referral to the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue and then to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means by prior reference.

- SB 1129 (urban reserves rules): The committee adopted the dash-1 amendment. The bill requires the Land Conservation and Development Commission to amend rules related to prioritization of certain types of land when adding urban reserves. The committee moved the bill to the floor with a "do pass" recommendation.

- SB 974 (land-use shot clocks for single-family dwellings): The committee suspended rules to consider the bill without a fiscal impact statement on hand (the fiscal impact was described in committee as indeterminate) and adopted the dash-3 amendment. The dash-3 narrows and clarifies provisions that set timelines for local government decisions on land-use applications for single-family dwellings, addresses when a jurisdiction must notify an applicant whether an application is complete, and refines tolling and extension provisions. The committee moved the bill to the floor with a "do pass" recommendation.

The committee also held a public hearing on SB 52, a study bill directing the Legislative Policy and Research Office (LPRO) to conduct a statewide analysis of factors impeding affordable housing production. Pham said the study would evaluate land and construction costs, regulatory barriers, regional differences, and the impact of wage laws on project feasibility and timelines; LPRO will use an open procurement process and contract with outside experts as needed.

Supporters and witnesses emphasized the urgency of increasing housing supply and the need for regionally nuanced, data-driven recommendations. Tanisha Rosa of Oregon Housing and Community Services told the committee that the agency has the authority to lend and cautioned against statutory sidebars that could unintentionally prohibit existing lending activities. Samantha Behr of the Oregon Home Builders Association described refinements in SB 974's dash-3 amendment intended to narrow the bill’s scope and remove a provision on final plat recording, and Eric Chancellor, representing the city of Bend, said cities remain concerned about unintended consequences and want continued work on timing and process details.

Votes at a glance

- SB 6 (as amended, dash-3): Amendment adopted; moved to floor with "do pass" recommendation and referral to Joint Committee on Ways and Means. Vote recorded in committee: Aye — Senator Patterson; Aye — Vice Chair Anderson; Aye — (Chair listed in transcript as) Chair Babbel. Outcome: approved by committee.

- SB 829 (as amended, dash-2): Amendment adopted; moved to floor with "do pass" recommendation and referral to Joint Committee on Ways and Means. Committee roll call recorded: Aye — Senator Brown; Aye — Senator Hatch; Aye — Senator Patterson; Aye — Vice Chair Anderson; Aye — Chair Pham. Outcome: approved by committee.

- SB 684 (as amended, dash-4): Amendment adopted; moved to floor with "do pass" recommendation and requested referral to the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue and then Joint Committee on Ways and Means by prior reference. Committee roll call recorded: Aye — Senator Brodmann; No — Senator Nash; Aye — Senator Patterson; No — Vice Chair Anderson; Aye — Chair Pham. Outcome: approved by committee.

- SB 1129 (as amended, dash-1): Amendment adopted; moved to floor with "do pass" recommendation. Committee roll call recorded: Aye — Senator Brodman; Aye — Senator Nash; Aye — Senator Patterson; Aye — Vice Chair Anderson; Aye — Chair Pham. Outcome: approved by committee.

- SB 974 (as amended, dash-3): Rules suspension approved; amendment adopted; moved to floor with "do pass" recommendation. Committee roll call recorded: Aye — Heather Brodman; Senator Nash — excused; Aye — Senator Patterson; Aye — Vice Chair Anderson; Aye — (chair listed in transcript as) Chair Mann. Outcome: approved by committee.

What the committee asked to be clarified

Committee members pressed for clarity on specific implementation and unintended consequences: whether statutory language could inadvertently reduce current lending authority for Oregon Housing and Community Services; how the shot-clock provisions would interact with multi-agency review and engineering-review timeframes; and how design-review waivers in SB 974 would be limited to new, greenfield developments of 20 lots or more rather than built-out, character-rich neighborhoods.

Next steps

Bills advanced from the committee will be scheduled on the Senate floor and, where requested, will be referred to the committee(s) listed above (Finance and Revenue, Ways and Means). SB 52 will proceed through the LPRO contracting process for the study and return recommendations as described in the bill text and procurement timeline.