Housing Bill Clears Another Hurdle, One More Approval Required

The omnibus affordable housing bill moved through its last step before final passage today (April 27). As noted earlier, HB 665 which removes the cap on the Sadowski affordable housing trust funds, passed the House last week. Its companion bill, SB 262, was withdrawn from its remaining committees in the Senate earlier this week, and placed on the Special Order Calendar (the bills that are actually taken up).

Today, SB 262 was amended so that it is identical to HB 665, and then HB 665 was substituted for the Senate bill and HB 655 was placed on the "bills on third reading calendar" for action tomorrow. Because HB 665 has passed the House, if the Senate approves it tomorrow without amendments, the bill will go to the Governor for his signature.

As always, it isn't over until it's over. We will be vigilantly watching for any attempts to amend HB 665 tomorrow. If amended, the bill would have to return to the House where its passage would be in grave doubt (both because of time and because the amendment might be something the House doesn't want). At this point in the session, attempts to amend items onto popular bills takes place, so we be on top of this potential issue.