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House committee hears bill to protect tenants during extreme-heat alerts
Summary
Lawmakers and witnesses debated House Bill 2,265, which would allow tenants to install portable cooling devices, add a landlord duty to provide cooling under the Residential Landlord Tenant Act, and bar physical evictions during National Weather Service extreme-heat alerts. Supporters cited heat-related deaths; landlords raised safety, insurance and implementation concerns.
A House Housing Committee hearing on Jan. 19 examined House Bill 2,265, a proposal to expand tenant protections during periods of extreme heat.
Audrey Vazik, staff to the committee, told members the bill has three main components: it bars landlords from prohibiting the installation of portable cooling devices (with listed exceptions), it adds a landlord duty under the Residential Landlord Tenant Act (RLTA) to provide cooling “as reasonably required by the tenant,” and it prevents sheriffs from executing writs of restitution or physically evicting tenants during a defined "period of extreme heat" tied to National Weather Service alerts. Vazik explained the bill defines that period as starting 24 hours before an NWS heat-related alert and ending 48 hours after the alert expires or is canceled.
“House Bill 2,265 protects tenants from periods of extreme heat,” Vazik said during her briefing to the committee.
Prime sponsor Representative Charlotte Menna, who identified herself for the record as representing the 29th District, framed the bill as driven by public-health…
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