Committee approves bill barring landlord rejection for housing-subsidy users, adds positive-rental-history reporting

Sponsors described Senate Bill 335 as a measure to prevent landlords from rejecting prospective tenants who use income-based housing subsidies and to require landlords to offer reporting of positive rental payment history. The sponsor asked the committee to adopt several amendments to align House and Senate language and to clarify the bill's scope.

One amendment struck the word "utilities" to limit income verification to the portion of rent not covered by a subsidy and to make failure to pay utilities a commercially reasonable and non-discriminatory ground where applicable. The sponsor also moved a voice amendment to align the bill with the Senate text related to positive rental history and the landlord-size threshold.

The committee adopted the amendments as offered. The Chair conducted a roll-call vote. The committee recorded a series of 'yes' and 'no' responses and the Chair announced, "Senate Bill 335 passes 11." Recorded votes included yes votes from Delegate Turner, Delegate Fennell, Delegate Pruski, Delegate Johnson, Delegate Bhandari, Delegate Rogers, Delegate Che, Delegate Queen, Delegate Amprey, Delegate Adams and others; several members were recorded as "no" or excused.

SB 335 now moves from committee as amended with the changes described; sponsors said the changes align the House language with the Senate while preserving protections for subsidy users and creating a mechanism for reporting positive rental history.

Next step: SB 335 proceeds as a passed committee bill, reported out in amended form.