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Kansas bill would loosen local building-code limits, aim to speed home construction
Summary
Senate Bill 418 would adopt several measures — including allowing the 2018 building code for smaller houses and other streamlining steps — that sponsors say will cut delays and lower costs for new homes; the committee heard a brief overview and closed the hearing.
Senator Rose told the Senate Commerce Committee that Senate Bill 418 is intended to reduce construction delays and lower the cost of new homes. "There are 5 components to the bill," Rose said, adding that "three of those components are intended to speed up the construction process of new homes."
The bill, as Rose described it, combines several changes: by-right provisions to streamline approvals, expanded third-party review to shorten permit timelines, adjustments to protest-petition procedures, limits on material costs for houses under 3,000 square feet and zoning to allow single-family houses across more parts of cities. Rose said the bill would require cities to allow the 2018 building code in certain cases rather than the 2024 code, noting builders had told him the newer code "drives up the cost of materials from what builders tell me by about $30,000 per house."
Rose framed the measure as an effort to prevent local requirements from "pricing Kansans out of buying a new home." Committee members asked a small number of clarifying questions; a witness identified as Stanley participated online from Olathe but no additional public testimony was taken during this portion of the session.
The committee closed the hearing on SB 418 on the record; no committee vote or formal action on the bill was taken during this meeting. The committee moved on to other bills on the agenda.
