Senate committee reopens hearing on SB 54, which would require cooling in rental housing

The Senate Committee on Housing and Development reopened the public hearing on Senate Bill 54 on March 24, 2025, to allow witnesses who had signed up previously to testify. The bill would establish cooling methods as a condition of habitability for dwellings and includes timing provisions tied to building permit dates; a dash-2 amendment expected that day would narrow a community-cooling alternative for market-rate developments while retaining that option for affordable housing providers and would shift the permit-based compliance date for new buildings to Jan. 1, 2027.

Why it matters: Lawmakers and advocates framed the bill as a public-health response to increasingly severe heat events, while housing providers warned that mandated in-unit cooling could impose major costs that may be passed to renters. Committee members heard testimony from health officials, housing associations, energy program staff and individual…