Conference committee approves disclosure and feasibility rules for county inclusionary mandates

The conference committee considered HB 1741 HC2 ST1 and approved a CD1 that treats county inclusionary zoning mandates as development exactions (impact fees) and restricts counties from adopting or enforcing such mandates unless certain conditions are met. The CD1 requires a needs assessment study that evaluates financial feasibility and general economic impacts to ensure inclusionary requirements do not suppress overall housing production; it reinstates a provision that allows a county to proceed only where prototypes are found financially feasible under the inclusionary mandate.

CD1 also adds a carve-out: any county inclusionary mandate that requires 10% or less of total dwelling units to be below-market rate would be exempt from the bill's additional requirements. Managers said the preamble and language were revised to reflect the intent to preserve well-designed inclusionary programs while preventing poorly designed mandates that could reduce multifamily housing production. The committee voted to adopt the managers' recommendation and the measure passed on the record.