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Senate hears bill to allow arbitration for disputed local impact fees
Summary
Senate Bill 65 would provide arbitration as an alternative to costly court challenges to local impact fees; sponsors framed it as a way to help small cities and property owners contest allegedly excessive fees without expensive litigation.
Senate Bill 65, presented by Senator Polten, would create an arbitration mechanism for disputes over municipal impact fees. Sponsoring remarks described the measure as a response to complaints that some localities charge excessive impact fees and that the only remedy currently available is costly litigation in court, which can be prohibitive for small cities, contractors and homeowners.
Polten said the League of Cities and Towns helped craft the concept and that stakeholders including home builders, real estate agents and special districts had participated in 18 months of work. He acknowledged that arbitration is not a perfect solution but said it offers a more accessible dispute-resolution option. A representative of a special district raised questions during committee and was asked to confer further with the sponsor.
Under floor procedure the bill was placed for third reading after limited floor questions. The transcript records the bill being moved to the third-reading calendar; final floor action was to advance the bill for further consideration.
