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Land Access & Opportunity Board urges reinstatement of $1M in BAA for developer seed grants and community resilience
Summary
LAOB directors told the committee they need a $1 million reinstatement in the Budget Adjustment Act—$750,000 for emerging developer pre-development grants and $250,000 for community preparedness grants—to launch planned FY26 programs and build in-state community engagement capacity.
Renee, identified as director of the Land Access & Opportunity Board, and co-director Jean Hamilton told the Appropriations Committee the LAOB was created in statute in 2022 and is asking that $1 million be reinstated in the governor’s Budget Adjustment Act for FY26.
Renee said $750,000 of the request would fund pre-development seed grants for beginning and emerging developers in partnership with the Department of Housing and Community Development, and $250,000 would support community resilience and emergency-preparedness grants. She told the committee LAOB has $350,000 available from prior carryforward to begin pilot rounds and said full funding would enable planned launches of the FY26 grant rounds.
LAOB described its governance and program strategy—12 appointing authorities and cross-sector community-engagement work—and argued state funding would build in-state facilitation and community-engagement capacity rather than continually contracting outside vendors. “We are bringing folks together and... getting them to think about problems from many different perspectives,” Jean Hamilton said, describing the board’s community-engagement model.
Committee members asked about staffing and whether LAOB contracts for services; LAOB said it uses a mix of in-house staff, small contracts and in-kind work, and that the requested appropriation would scale staffing and programs to meet demand. The committee thanked the board and invited follow-up meetings to review program materials and potential FY27 funding requests.
