On February 6, 2024, Executive Director Michael Sanderson testified before the House Environment and Transportation Committee in support of HB 131-Housing Development Permit Applications- Local Reporting Requirement with amendments. This bill requires counties with populations above 250,000 to comply with certain reporting requirements on permit applications.
MACo offered amendments to align bill terminology with that used in the county planning process, to “improve our chances of getting apples to apples,” said Mr. Sanderson. He also recommended some qualitative additions to the data collected, to offer context for the projects’ progress – where in some cases, an incomplete permit application or lack of supporting materials from the builder underlies the failure of a project to receive its approval. The bill sponsor, Delegate Vaughn Stewart, called the MACo amendments “helpful” and urged the committee to adopt them. “We’ll roll up our sleeves on this,” Mr. Sanderson said regarding the amendment language, noting MACo’s support for multiple bills addressing various components of the housing shortage facing much of Maryland.
Counties recognize the intent of HB 131: to begin collecting better information so state and county leaders can make more informed decisions around the affordable housing production. While counties recognize this intent, there exist several areas of concern with the current bill text.
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