From the 88th - Both of TMHA’s Primary Goals Pass the House
This was a big legislative week for TMHA’s 88th advocacy efforts. Both of TMHA’s primary legislative goals passed the House this week.
HB 2970 by Chairman Guillen passed the House on Wednesday afternoon. HB 2970 is the manufactured housing zoning parity bill to allow certain types of equivalent, new, real property manufactured homes in single family zoned districts inside cities. The bill survived multiple last-minute efforts to kill it by those opposing the zoning preemption.
TMHA’s other legislative priority is HB 2706 by Rep. Shine. HB 2706 passed the House earlier this morning. HB 2706 contains various regulatory clean-up and efficiency provisions, as well as streamlining the floorplan lien perfection process in Texas.
Both bills are now halfway through the legislative process and are now in the Senate.
A quick civics lesson refresher, for a bill to become law it must pass both the House and Senate (and not be vetoed by the governor). Meaning, both HB 2706 and HB 2970 start over in the Senate.
TMHA’s Lobby Team is thrilled with these bills passing out of the House. We know it will be another difficult effort to continue to move the bills forward. In particular, the MH zoning preemption bill, which we anticipate will face even more intense opposition now that it has passed the House.
In the coming days and weeks, we will be reaching out to specific TMHA members to help us with our efforts by contacting their senators to join our advocacy efforts.
In other news, to say we are now in the thick of it is an understatement. For the sake of conciseness, below is a quick rundown on some of the pertinent bills that are moving, but please understand this is a highly truncated summary from the 300+ bills we are still actively working on out of the 7,977 total of bills filed.
HB 2 – House version of property tax relief would cap all real property at 5% per year increases in assessed values, passed the House on Thursday. This comes after the Senate passed their versions, SB 3 and SB 5, that would not place appraisal caps, but rather increase the homestead and personal property used in the production of income tax credit amounts. Time will tell which version, or if a compromise is reached on property taxes, but rest assured something on property taxes will hit Gov. Abbott’s desk.
HB 14 – This bill passed the House this week and would create a 15-day timeframe after the statutory required time for a city to conduct its development inspections. If a city was unable to conduct the required building inspection in the time required by law, then a third-party can be used to inspect the development.
HB 866 – This bill streamlines city and county platting procedures and will expedite approvals and future development projects. HB 866 passed the House on Thursday.
HB 1286 – This bill would create a state standard for new RV park construction to meet the National Fire Protection Association 1194, Standard for Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds. HB 1286 passed the House today.
SB 767 – This bill has passed the Senate and is now in the House. SB 767 would require cities to post a fee schedule of new and increased fees on the cities’ budget's cover page. It also allows interested parties to register for email notifications about proposed new/increased fees. Cities within counties of less than 30,000 population are exempt from this provision.
With just over a month and a half to go, the Session is in full swing. It’s always a sprint to the finish, and that will certainly be the case this year.
Stay tuned for more updates because with the irrepressible ticking of the clock, the fate (good and bad) for bills is coming soon.