A high profile introduction by the Administration to help advance affordable housing, HB 503 has been voted out of the House Environment & Transportation Committee, in a heavily amended form. The new bill, much streamlined in many respects, creates a new set of early “vested rights” for housing developers, creates a process for new housing targets for each local jurisdiction, and establishing a new state-level Commission on housing issues.

The Committee’s vote was on a heavily-amended bill, and should bring the formal amendments to the floor early next week – likely for a “second reader” debate on Monday, March 31. The amended bill effectively removes all the bill’s original language – many items which triggered county concerns and questions, and replaces it with all new language.

The revised bill has two completely new elements:

-Directs the State Department of Housing and Community Development to create “housing targets” for each county, and larger municipalities. These targets would be developed in consultation with local governments, and based on a variety of data and factors. An annual report would illustrate local progress toward the established targets.

-Creates a “Housing Opportunities Made Equitable” Commission, with wide membership (including multiple specific local government seats) and a charge to evaluate not only local approval processes, but also matters including materials costs, financing, and the like.

One important element from the original bill is retained, and expanded to affect all jurisdictions, not only those with a calculated housing shortage (as envisioned in the original bill). That is the notion of “regulatory certainty,” which in the revised bill is now established in two different places in the application/approval process, with different language. That segment of the bill is capsuled below, from an unofficial reprint of the bill (the Committee’s formal amendments will be presented on the House floor, likely Monday):

At various times in past years, the development community has sought, through legislation and/or legal challenges, to create earlier and broader “vested rights” for development projects. MACo and local governments, coupled with environmental groups and similar stakeholders, have resisted such a change – which overturns decades of Maryland law.

From here, the steps ahead for HB 503:

-House debate on “second reader” to receive the committee’s recommendation, and presumably adopt their amendments

-House final debate on the floor on the amended bill, for final House passage

-Referral to the Senate rules committee (since the bill leaves the House after the crossover date) unless a special motion is made to avoid this step

-Re-referral to the Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, for deliberation (they have already heard the companion Senate bill)

-Approval by the full Senate, and if necessary, the House on Senate-passed amendments