Committee holds public hearing on HB311 to allow residential improvement districts; no vote

The committee held a public hearing on HB311, a bill that would authorize residential improvement districts and permit collection of assessments on property tax bills. The sponsor, Representative Wilcox, presented the measure but no committee vote was taken; she said she would return with the bill at a later date.

Speakers representing developers and homebuilders said the change would lower the cost of financing public infrastructure in new neighborhoods and large mixed-use projects. Phil Hunt, who described himself as working with developers in the Southeast, told the committee that “every other state in the Southeast, moving Florida to Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, the Carolinas…has a version of this assessment bill on the books.” Hunt said institutional investors prefer…