What did they say?
Search what Utah legislators said in every 2026 committee hearing and floor debate. Each result links to the moment in the official video, so you can hear it for yourself.
464 times legislators spoke about housing (showing the 60 closest matches).
Rep. David Shallenberger (R-58) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · Senate Business and Labor Committee · Feb 18, 2026
Presented HB 404, which extends the existing birth-sex housing designation for shared intimate spaces from campus housing to privately owned off-campus housing.
George. Thank you. Didn't, I didn't realize data privacy was such an exciting issue. Um, so sex de uh, this bill, 4 0 4 sex designated housing amendment last year, uh, the legislature we passed, uh, dorm room bill designating sex dorms, if you're male housing or female housing on college campuses for state housing, that it would be based off their birth sex, uh, in order to live in those. This, uh, slightly expands that to off-campus housing for private housing. So if you have an apartment that you're rep, uh, renting off campus for male or female housing apartments, that, that would be based off birth sex. So there's been some, uh, uh, real life incidences where, uh, …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Summarizes that the bill will help the body engage on housing policy and removes the Community Housing Authority from the organization chart so the Legislature leads housing policy.
Yeah, colleagues, theirs frustration in our body with the way housing has played out. The answer is to not disengage. The answer is to engage more and it's difficult to engage in housing policy if you don't have a good sense of how the housing policy is working. I think that this will help us engage better. And the last thing I'd say is, uh, I'm the chair of CHA and you'll notice on the org chart we are getting rid of cha. And the part of the reason why is because we don't want cha to act as the gatekeeper to housing policy. We want this body to lead out in housing and I would welcome all colleagues who …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
In summation, says the bill will help the legislature engage on housing policy and removes the Commission on Housing Affordability from the org chart so the Legislature leads housing policy.
Yeah, colleagues, theirs frustration in our body with the way housing has played out. The answer is to not disengage. The answer is to engage more and it's difficult to engage in housing policy if you don't have a good sense of how the housing policy is working. I think that this will help us engage better. And the last thing I'd say is, uh, I'm the chair of CHA and you'll notice on the org chart we are getting rid of cha. And the part of the reason why is because we don't want cha to act as the gatekeeper to housing policy. We want this body to lead out in housing and I would welcome all colleagues who …
Rep. David Shallenberger (R-58) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · floor debate · Feb 10, 2026
Says the bill expands last year's law on male and female housing in dormitories and shared housing to off-campus housing where residents share intimate spaces, bathrooms, or living spaces, with assignments based on birth sex rather than declared sex.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, this bill expands a little bit on a bill we passed last year, uh, dealing with same sex housing, male and female housing, specifically dormitories or shared housing spaces. This is slightly expanding it to off-campus housing where it's targeted to male or female housing, uh, specifically where there is shared intimate spaces, shared bathrooms or shared living spaces. And, uh, in those circumstances, it would be based off of the applicant's birth, sex. No, they're declared sex. That is it. Thank you, Representative Shallenberger.
Sen. Kirk A. Cullimore (R-19) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · floor debate · Mar 6, 2026
Describes the bill as creating a state housing infrastructure partnership fund and a commission to review applications and award grants, modifying an affordable housing infrastructure grant board, allowing additional bonding on a local sales and use tax, reallocating transportation funds for a Salt Lake County downtown redevelopment gap, and allowing state agencies to sell surplus property.
This bill does a number of things. First, it sets up a state housing infrastructure partnership fund. It's using this from the PTIF in an effort to, uh, allow for more infrastructure to be built, which is one of the barriers to creating more housing in our state and particularly affordable housing. So in an effort to do that, it creates a commission that will review applications. This commission will be housed in the housing department of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, or, or now goed. Uh, goed would staff support for that. They would authorize infrastructure loans, um, to qualifying political subdivisions to finance improvements to help with the construction of housing, as I mentioned. Um, it also, …
Rep. Stephen L. Whyte (R-63) · H.C.R. 6, Concurrent Resolution Regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan · Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee · Feb 13, 2026
Presents H.C.R. 6, a non-binding resolution regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan, and introduces Steve Waldrop.
Uh, Representative Whyte, uh, concurrent resolution regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan. I'm gonna turn the time over to you. Thank you, Madam Chair and Distinguished Committee. Um, good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to present to you the non-binding concurrent resolution regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan. Last year in the legislative session, we passed HCR 14, which was a concurrent resolution supporting the streamlining of Utah housing policies. Last year, we also passed HB 37 housing amendments, which required the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget to develop a state housing plan no later than December 31st, 2025. As a result, the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget collaboratively completed the development of the Utah Housing Strategic …
Rep. David Shallenberger (R-58) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee · Jan 30, 2026
Presented the bill as a narrow expansion of last year's state-owned same-sex housing law, letting off-campus or private single-sex housing with shared bathrooms or bedrooms base eligibility on birth sex.
Thank you. Thank you for having me here. Um, this, this, if you remember last year we did, uh, the state owned same sex housing bill, which dealt with school dorms. And it was based off of the birth, sex, uh, for male or female housing. Uh, this is was for universities. This is sort of tagging onto that a little bit and dealing with maybe off-campus housing or private housing. Uh, also applying to same-sex housing. So if you're, uh, offering a female apartment or a male apartment, this is saying if there's, uh, and shared intimate space, a shared bathrooms or shared bedrooms in an all female apartment or an all male apartment, that the applications in order …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Explains that the bill consolidates about 40 housing policies and programs from several executive agencies under one deputy director and report to legislative committees, with no new positions or new spending, and says it does not create new housing policy.
Thank you Mr. Speaker Pram, colleagues, when I wanted to engage in housing policy, I found it really difficult to navigate the maze, the labyrinth of how housing policy is made at the executive branch. And the reason why I found it so difficult was because you've got 40 different housing policies and programs that previous legislators have put, or legislatures I should say, have put into motion that are scattered amongst four different executive agencies, DWS Goo, uh, GOPB and udot. And by the way, a public-private corporation in the Utah Housing Corp. What HB 68 is trying to do is to pull out all of those housing policies that have been, have accumulated over the last decade or …
Rep. Stephen L. Whyte (R-63) · H.C.R. 6, Concurrent Resolution Regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan · House Political Subdivisions Committee · Feb 3, 2026
Rep. Whyte presents HCR 6, a nonbinding resolution on the Utah Housing Strategic Plan, and introduces Steve Waldrop.
and Distinguished Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to present a non-binding concurrent resolution regarding the state housing strategic plan. Last year in the 2025 legislative general session, the legislature passed HCR 14 supporting the streamlining of Utah housing policies. Also, last year in the legislature, we passed HB 37 that require the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget to develop a statewide housing plan no later than December 31st, 2025. As a result, the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, in partnership with stakeholders throughout the state, have collaboratively completed the development of a Utah Housing Strategic plan, which outlines goals, guiding principles, and desired measured outcomes. This resolution signals that the Utah Housing Strategic Plan meets the state …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Explains that the bill moves scattered housing programs into one office under a deputy director, says it is policy neutral with no new positions or spending, and opens the floor to questions.
Thank you Mr. Speaker Pram, colleagues, when I wanted to engage in housing policy, I found it really difficult to navigate the maze, the labyrinth of how housing policy is made at the executive branch. And the reason why I found it so difficult was because you've got 40 different housing policies and programs that previous legislators have put, or legislatures I should say, have put into motion that are scattered amongst four different executive agencies, DWS Goo, uh, GOPB and udot. And by the way, a public-private corporation in the Utah Housing Corp. What HB 68 is trying to do is to pull out all of those housing policies that have been, have accumulated over the last decade or …
Rep. R. Neil Walter (R-74) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Supports the substitute, saying it requires agencies that receive state housing funds to report how many housing units those investments produce.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, appreciate the opportunity to talk about, uh, the addition in house Bill 68. Uh, a couple of years ago there was a, uh, this body and conjunction with our legislative process authorized more than $600 million worth of low income housing tax credits to Utah Housing Corporation. There was $150 million that Uintah deeply affordable housing projects. There was a number of other initiatives, uh, that we, uh, funded. Um, as part of that, uh, process, um, one of the questions I've always had is how many units did we get? How many housing units did we actually get for the investment that the state has made? And so what this substitute does is it …
Rep. R. Neil Walter (R-74) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Supports the bill, saying it would require agencies that receive state housing funds to report how many housing units their investments produce.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, appreciate the opportunity to talk about, uh, the addition in house Bill 68. Uh, a couple of years ago there was a, uh, this body and conjunction with our legislative process authorized more than $600 million worth of low income housing tax credits to Utah Housing Corporation. There was $150 million that Uintah deeply affordable housing projects. There was a number of other initiatives, uh, that we, uh, funded. Um, as part of that, uh, process, um, one of the questions I've always had is how many units did we get? How many housing units did we actually get for the investment that the state has made? And so what this substitute does is it …
Sen. Heidi Balderree (R-22) · H.B. 436, Moderate Income Housing Infrastructure Amendments · floor debate · Mar 6, 2026
Explains a yes vote, saying the bill aligns transportation investment with housing growth by giving priority consideration to communities that adopt moderate income housing strategies.
Uh, I'm an aye. I am a earned strong support for this bill because Utah is at a crossroads. We're the fastest growing state in the nation, and that growth is both our greatest strength and our most pressing challenge. And for too long, we've talked about housing affordability as a distant goal. With this bill, we make it a priority of our state's infrastructure. This legislation does something simple but transformative. It aligns our state's transportation investments with our housing reality by providing priority consideration for transportation projects to municipalities that proactively implement moderate income housing strategies. We're telling our cities, if you plan for our children and grandchildren to have a place to live, we will help you …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee · Feb 27, 2026
Describes developer requirements for smaller owner-occupied homes and says the state should help fund regional infrastructure for housing.
I, what, how I would look at it is we will be requiring in rule, uh, for developers to build missing middle, middle missing housing, housing that we're not seeing, which is that if you look in the bill, we directed them to find that single family detached, owner occupied housing. So think really small lots. Um, oftentimes on these projects, these are large master plan communities. You need some kind of water treatment facility or a Big Water tank that will serve all the different subdivisions of this, let's say this big greenfield development. And, um, you know, it doesn't, the math doesn't work for a private developer to bring the housing online and the cities, of course are …
Sen. Wayne A. Harper (R-16) · S.B. 221, Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone Amendments · Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee · Feb 9, 2026
Sponsor describes SB 221 as a cleanup of housing incentive programs, covering a substitute bill, consolidating adjacent transit stations into one zone, clarifying acreage and affordable housing options, adding fourth class cities, and clarifying plan adoption and tax increment triggers.
Thank you. Uh, this is a bill that, uh, is a cleanup from, uh, what we've learned with these, uh, housing incentive programs, HGRZ, fs, CZs Hops, uh, what it does. And there is a substitute that after the bill came out, there's a lot of good commentary that came. This basically goes through updates, provisions for the projects, clarifying, uh, housing, affordable housing options, clarifying if there's an amendment to the, uh, uh, to the project theory that has to go back through the, the committee goes through and clarifies if you have a couple, uh, transit stations next to each other, you can go through and consolidate those into a single HTRZ. Um, and that clarifies the boun …
Rep. Leah Hansen (R-51) · H.C.R. 6, Concurrent Resolution Regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan · House Political Subdivisions Committee · Feb 3, 2026
Rep. Hansen asks whether there is a line between government and private-sector housing.
Uh, Representative Hansen Oh, thank you Madam Chair. Um, is, is there a line between government and private sector housing? I mean in housing here? Um, Madam Vice chair, could you maybe repeat the question or help me understand that a little bit better? Please. I I just wanna make sure I I I understand the line between government housing and the private sector housing. Are they the same?
Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R-17) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 25, 2026
Explains that the bill consolidates about 40 housing programs under one housing chief at the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity, who would be confirmed by the Senate, repeals a legislative housing commission, and has no net cost.
All right. As I mentioned, this was, uh, a year long process. Uh, and so this was presented actually in the interim to both political subdivisions and, um, the economic development, uh, interim committees. So, uh, and the reason for that Mr. President is because we have about 40 different housing programs in different sections of the state government. Um, and so what we're trying to do here is to consolidate those programs for the sake of, for want of a better term, bureaucratic efficiency. Right. So the housing programs, uh, will be under one department with one person at the head who can be properly held accountable and who reports under a a straight line, uh, you know, reports …
Sen. Brady Brammer (R-21) · H.B. 520, Higher Education Student Housing Study · floor debate · Mar 4, 2026
Presents H.B. 520, which would fund a statewide feasibility study of how student populations affect local housing markets and possible mitigation strategies, including development on university-owned land; he says the bill does not mandate construction or appropriate funding.
Thank you very much. So what this does, uh, around our universities, that's some of the areas where we have some of our highest housing shortages. Uh, it's uh, due to the pressure that universities place on the local housing environment, this includes problems with retaining teachers and attracting professors into the universities. So what this bill does is it, uh, it conducts a statewide feasibility study examining the measurable impact of student populations on surrounding housing markets, the magnitude and cost of that impact and practical mitigation strategies, which would include development on university owned land. Um, and so what this bill does not do is mandate any construction or appropriate any funding. It only aims to examine data, …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee · Feb 23, 2026
Said the biggest challenge was deciding where housing should sit, and the bill places it in the economic development office rather than DWS after feedback from the governor's office.
Yeah, it's a great question. The, the har the biggest challenge was deciding where should it sit, should housing stay with DWS, should we put it in goo? Ultimately, we landed on GOO because we thought there was some overlap in terms of economic development and the pressure that that puts on housing and housing policy. And admittedly, the first draft of this, we were going to just keep it in DWS, but we had a lot of feedback from the governor's office that it would be a challenge to keep it in. D-W-S-D-W-S is really focused on administering, you know, social welfare programs in the labor market. And so there just wasn't, perhaps you, you could say the expertise …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee · Feb 4, 2026
Presents HB 68 to consolidate scattered housing policy from several executive agencies into one Senate-confirmed office under the Governor's Office, shows current and proposed org charts, and says the fiscal note is neutral.
Okay, Mr. Vice chair. Um, well, thank you for having me. When I first started as a, as a legislator, I wanted to get involved in housing policy, but it's a challenge because right now over 40 housing policies are scattered across at least four different executive agencies. And so as a legislator, it's difficult to get your arms around how housing policy is currently being administered at the executive branch level. If you think about other major topics in our state, if you've got question about roads, who do you talk to? You know, Carlos Braceis, right? If you've got questions about homelessness, we know who it will be. It'll be our, our, our colleague Representative Clancy, if you …
Rep. R. Neil Walter (R-74) · H.C.R. 6, Concurrent Resolution Regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan · House Political Subdivisions Committee · Feb 3, 2026
Rep. Walter supports the resolution and says that housing prices depend on both supply and demand, suggesting state promotion may stimulate demand.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I speak in support of, uh, house concurrent resolution regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan. Um, I want to just note two things. First one is the strategic plan is focused on supply. It's focused almost exclusively on supply. Um, for us to determine price, there are two parts to that equation. There's supply and there's demand. And one of the things that I just, uh, suggest or recommend to my colleagues as we continue to move forward, um, while we are doing all that we can to increase supply with the purpose, this, this the stated objective of housing, affordability housing at Obtainability. Um, we're also simultaneously through our other policies, sterilizing that action by …
Rep. David Shallenberger (R-58) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee · Jan 30, 2026
Said the bill has nothing to do with residency or immigration status and only applies to housing advertised as single-sex, using birth sex.
Well, it doesn't have, Is what this field does, Doesn't have anything to do with Utahans, non UANs or immigration status, nothing of that. So It just has to do with their, um, just When the, if it's, if it's advertised as a single sex housing, all female housing, all male housing, and they're checking the box, I'm a female, I'm a male, then it is off of their birth sex.
Rep. Stephen L. Whyte (R-63) · H.C.R. 6, Concurrent Resolution Regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan · floor debate · Feb 6, 2026
Whyte presents the resolution supporting the Utah Housing Strategic Plan, which was developed under HB 37 with input from many stakeholders and calls for ongoing tracking and coordination of housing efforts.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. Last year in the 2025 general session, the legislature passed a concurrent resolution supporting the streamlining of Utah housing policies. Also in last year's legislative session, the legislature passed HB 37, which required the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget to develop a state housing plan no later than December 31st, 2025. As a result, the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget in partnership with more than a hundred stakeholders and organizations and individuals throughout the state. Over last interim holding more than 63 different meetings during the interim session involving multiple organizations such as legislators, the Office of Legislator auditor, the KMC, Gardner Public Policy Institute, the Utah League of Cities and Towns. The prior …
Rep. Nicholeen P. Peck (R-28) · H.B. 520, Higher Education Student Housing Study · floor debate · Feb 26, 2026
Says the bill appears well considered and asks why $60,000 would go to a study rather than encouraging private builders to add housing.
It looks like a lot of thought has gone into this and a lot of conversations, and I really appreciate that, especially because I have college aged children who have struggled with housing. Um, I do have a question, however, which is, um, you know, normally things like this, the market kind of like sees where there's a need and then they, they handle it. They, you know, builders or, you know, people will come in and they'll make rentals or whatever for people. So I'm wondering, um, why we're putting $60,000 into a study instead of maybe just like inviting some people who could afford to maybe make housing and, and build housing to handle it instead. Is there …
Rep. Jake Sawyer (R-9) · H.B. 520, Higher Education Student Housing Study · floor debate · Feb 26, 2026
Asks whether the study looks at housing affordability or housing availability.
Um, so just to clarify again, is this, is this looking at a housing affordability or is this looking at housing availability?
Rep. Jason E. Thompson (R-3) · H.B. 520, Higher Education Student Housing Study · floor debate · Feb 26, 2026
Says the study looks at overall housing impact, including single-family homes occupied by students, young professionals, and faculty, and at adverse effects of colleges on home ownership.
Uh, that's a great question Mr. Speaker Pro, Tim, this is just to look at overall impact on housing. Um, as I've looked at this, you can't separate student housing from single family housing. The problem is, is it's all got clumped in to one where a lot of traditional single family homes are now being occupied, uh, by college students because others have been pushed out. So this is actually, um, looking at, at single family homes, um, homes for young professionals, homes for students looking homes for faculty. Just looking at the overall impact that these colleges and universities have. We, it's, it's very clear that college universities have a tremendous amazing economic impact on the cities that, …
Rep. Jason E. Thompson (R-3) · H.B. 520, Higher Education Student Housing Study · floor debate · Feb 26, 2026
Says the study focuses on housing availability and the impacts of student housing, with affordability as part of the equation.
This is looking at house housing availability. It's looking at the impacts of student housing, um, in these communities. Um, and, uh, affordability is always part of the equation, but mostly looking at the impact.
Sen. Brady Brammer (R-21) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · floor debate · Feb 19, 2026
Presents H.B. 404 as allowing sex-designated housing under the Fair Housing Act and opens the floor to questions.
Thank you. So last year we had a bill related to sex designation, designated housing for, uh, uh, college dorms. Uh, this really goes to the private sector. There's an open legal question in some jurisdictions related to whether or not if you have a space that is, uh, sex designated, how do you deal with that? If there is, uh, an issue that arises, uh, particularly as to transgender individuals that want to rent. And what this does is it says that it is not a violation of the Fair Housing Act to have a, uh, sex designated space or sex designated apartment. Uh, that, uh, especially where there's intimate spaces and that you would, that you can require …
Rep. Stephanie Gricius (R-50) · H.B. 436, Moderate Income Housing Infrastructure Amendments · floor debate · Feb 18, 2026
Sponsor says the bill would prioritize cities under the moderate income housing plan that are growing at 2.5%, above the 1.9% state average, in the bonus point system so that growth is prioritized and infrastructure needs are addressed.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. So we have a moderate income housing plan that is required in code. It currently applies to 84 cities and the purpose of this plan is to help create new products so that we can meet the housing demand for the state. Now, one of the things that got left behind as we started building houses was the infrastructure component. And so all this bill does is say that if a city that this plan applies to is also growing at a 2.5% rate, which is significantly above the 1.9% state average, that when UO works their bonus point system that they do for those cities under this modern income housing plan, that growth will be …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Responds that the programs are being moved rather than newly funded and that the change streamlines housing administration and reduces redundant entities.
That's a great question. So if you look colleagues, you'll have a piece of paper on your desk. If you look on one side that says current housing org, you'll see within that current housing org, there's a lot of policies and programs you probably may have never heard of each of those policies and programs. Some are federal, has money behind them. Um, all this is doing is simply taking that function or the entity and moving it to a new spot. So again, no new additional appropriations, no new money. And what I would say too is if you look at the sheet, we want to consolidate and streamline and simplify the way housing policy is administered. And …
Rep. Stephen L. Whyte (R-63) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Supports the bill, saying it responds to a 2023 Office of the Legislative Auditor General housing audit and a legislative resolution calling for streamlined housing policy.
Thank you Mr. Speaker Pro temp. In 2023, the office of Legislator General conducted a housing audit of the state and made some great recommendations to the legislature and to the state based upon some important data points. Last year, this legislative body passed a resolution supporting the streamlining of Utah housing policies. And since we passed that as a legislature this last year, a tremendous amount of work have gone forward for this particular bill because it addresses the findings that have been found in the audit report a couple of years ago. The challenges that we're facing right now is that we are limiting opportunities for collaboration. Sometimes efforts are also duplicative. The legislative branch, the executive branch, …
Sen. Kirk A. Cullimore (R-19) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · floor debate · Mar 6, 2026
Explains that the fourth substitute deals with county of the first class highway fund, creating a loan program for affordable housing and a commission to make determinations and award grants from that fund.
The fourth substitute, um, deals with county of the first class highway fund. It creates a, in, uh, a loan program out of there to support affordable housing and creates a commission to make those affordable housing de determinations and award grants and award, uh, other monies from the county of the first class highway fund. That's the difference from the prior sub.
Sen. Calvin R. Musselman (R-4) · H.B. 436, Moderate Income Housing Infrastructure Amendments · floor debate · Mar 6, 2026
Explains that the bill adds a pathway giving transportation priority consideration to cities whose housing supply grows 2.5% or more, with the adjustment capped at 7% and core scoring factors still dominant.
Thanks Mr. President. This bill is a fairly simple policy adjustment and I wanna emphasize adjustment. Um, but I I want to briefly explain, uh, why it's important. First, the bill does not rewrite the transportation prioritization system that the Transportation Commission uses. They have their underlying formula that does not touch that, that does the lion's share When I, it probably doesn't even do it just to say it does the lions share. Most all priority is given under that formula. What the bill does do is add an additional pathway, uh, for communities that are actually producing housing. And this is how it, it does it Specifically, if a city increases it's housing by, by supply by 2.5% …
Rep. Raymond P. Ward (R-19) · S.B. 284, Local Land and Water Modifications · floor debate · Mar 6, 2026
Supports the bill, saying it would allow external ADUs in most places while cities keep control, and that smaller and less expensive housing is needed.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanna rise in support of this bill because it will allow external ADUs in, in most places still what the city's able to control. But if we want housing to get cheaper, we've gotta find ways to allow smaller housing and ways to allow less expensive housing. And this is one great way that has been worked on for a long time and I'm so glad to see it come to this conclusion.
Rep. Raymond P. Ward (R-19) · S.B. 284, Local Land and Water Modifications · floor debate · Mar 6, 2026
Rises in support, saying the bill keeps city control over external accessory dwelling units and helps move toward less expensive housing.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanna rise in support of this bill because it will allow external ADUs in, in most places still what the city's able to control. But if we want housing to get cheaper, we've gotta find ways to allow smaller housing and ways to allow less expensive housing. And this is one great way that has been worked on for a long time and I'm so glad to see it come to this conclusion.
Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R-17) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Mar 5, 2026
Presents H.B. 68 as a reorganization that moves housing and workforce programs between agencies with no policy changes, a zero fiscal note, and elimination of a governor's office position and a legislative committee.
Thank you. Uh, Mr. Present? Aye. I, uh, this is a long bill and you'll see why it's a long bill as you take a look at, um, at the long title and just below the long title where it says Utah sections of code affected. Right. Uh, there's a long list of codes that are affected and it says that it, we are reenacting a bunch of provisions, repealing a bunch of provisions, um, amending a few provisions. And that's because what we're trying to do here is reorganize the way that the government oversees its housing and community development programs by consolidating those programs that are about, uh, the supply of housing, right. And creating the development of …
Sen. Calvin R. Musselman (R-4) · S.B. 97, Tax Revenue Amendments · floor debate · Mar 3, 2026
Explains that the amendment removes the reduced residential exemption for rental housing and keeps a consistent 45% exemption for residential property used as housing.
You, Mr. President. The amendment removes the provision in the substitute that reduces the residential property tax exemption for rental housing and instead, uh, maintains a consistent 45% residential Exemption for residential property used as housing.
Sen. Wayne A. Harper (R-16) · S.B. 221, Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone Amendments · House Government Operations Committee · Mar 2, 2026
Presented the bill as a cleanup and clarification of housing and transit reinvestment zone law, defining extraterritorial affordable housing and the base year, capping triggers at five, allowing linear zones, revising boundary adjustments and moving regulatory functions away from GOEO.
Thank you. Appreciate, uh, being placed on the agenda. There's been a lot of discussion over the last, uh, couple years since we've created, uh, HG Zs and Viz and hops and, and TR Zs and whatever alphabet soup we wanted to do with, with those. This bill is, is, uh, it is a clarification bill with a couple different additions to that. Um, there's been a, uh, question, what is the definition of extraterritorial affordable housing? We've included that. We defined the base year for the, uh, there's been some question questions to what is the base year on these things? Is it any year that it's triggered or is it the year that it is adopted? So we've …
Rep. Jason E. Thompson (R-3) · H.B. 520, Higher Education Student Housing Study · Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee · Mar 2, 2026
Presented HB 520 to study student housing, citing owner-occupancy rates in Logan and other college towns, difficulty recruiting faculty due to housing costs, and a study of impacts and solutions expected to cost about $60,000 that the governor's office believes can be absorbed.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so, uh, this committee is well aware that we, we, we are struggling, uh, with a housing crisis in our state. Um, and, uh, we're, we're grappling at, at ways of, of how to, how to address that. And, um, prior to the session, the beginning of the session, I received, received some data, um, from Logan City. And I want to, I wanna share that data with a committee. Um, Utah State University has 20, about 20,000 can students on campus at USU, uh, in Logan City proper. There's 18,570 units. Now, that's, that's, um, uh, single family detached. That's townhomes, that's apartments, that's all the above. So 18,570. Now, of the 20,000 students …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy, and Technology Committee · Feb 27, 2026
Presents H.B. 492, which creates a county highway fund from local option sales tax money and a revolving loan facility for regional infrastructure that supports planned housing.
Questions? Yeah, I'm in trouble. I should have been more humble. Um, let me just set the stage briefly. So we've been trying to tackle housing for years. Increasingly there's a chasm between where median wages are today and where median home prices are. The traditional fight up here, as many of you know, as we fight over land use and what the state role is in land use and what the local government role is in land use, we've tried to think differently about the housing policy, this go this time around. And if you listen to the league and to a private industry, they'll tell you we have 190,000 entitled units throughout the state. And those are probably …
Rep. Raymond P. Ward (R-19) · H.C.R. 14, Concurrent Resolution Supporting the Transfer of Federally Managed Lands · House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee · Feb 23, 2026
Explained that moderate income housing is generally defined as housing that a person earning the area median wage could afford by spending about 30% of income or less.
In, in other, in our other, it is not, it's not defined internal to the resolution here, but in our other discussions that we've had about housing, it's, we've tried to define it to mean housing that can be afforded by someone of moderate income in that area. And there's formulas that I think are a little overly complicated, but they involve looking at how much the average median wage is, and then how much a percentage, often 30% of that wage. And if a person could afford a house with a mortgage payment of that size, if you, if that person could spend 30% or less of their wage to afford that house, then we call that moderate income …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee · Feb 18, 2026
Says rulemaking will guide project grading and that the committee can engage in interim oversight; open to tightening statute or amendments.
Yeah. Uh, I, I appreciate the conversation. I actually really do, it's a, another really good question. I, what the bill tries to do is to leave rulemaking available to the agency, which is gonna be goo. And if that housing bill, the reorg bill passes, you know, that division will probably have some say in it. And so it, it does give general just some latitude. It, the bill specifically says, what we want is this kind of housing product, single family detached, um, uh, owner occupied housing, right? That it says that's what we want to try to get. Now that's pretty broad, right? And it leaves the rest of it up to rulemaking and there's some latitude. …
Rep. Troy Shelley (R-66) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee · Feb 18, 2026
Comments that government involvement in housing may raise prices and that the costs may shift onto taxpayers.
Back in the real world, we used to be able to accomplish this just from the free market. And it seems like the more that the government gets involved, the higher the pricing in the housing in the state gets. And I think, I think, uh, to some degree this represents more government involvement, which drives up more housing. And I, I understand what you're saying is, is, uh, it is freeing up some of this land so that the development can, can happen, but, uh, you know, it used to be that, that the developers would build that into the cost, and now we're pushing the extra costs. At least it seems like we're pushing the extra cost onto …
Sen. Daniel McCay (R-18) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · Senate Business and Labor Committee · Feb 18, 2026
Said he agrees with the bill, comparing the Bostock case to university housing with assigned roommates and suggesting a tenant should be able to exit a lease in such situations.
I, I'll just, I was going to add, uh, in my, um, I'll just add my comments that I agree. Um, if you, if you look through, you know, the, the case that was quoted, Bostok v Clayton was, uh, consolidated based on an employment rights issue and how employment rights are handled. It's not a housing, uh, as it relates to university housing with a, a lottery where you end up with a forced roommate and no choice to cancel the lease or remove it, uh, or remove yourself from the situation. And really, your only opportunity, your only situation that, uh, uh, if a, a, a person is uncomfortable with the person they've been assigned is, is to …
Sen. Derrin R. Owens (R-27) · H.C.R. 6, Concurrent Resolution Regarding the Utah Housing Strategic Plan · Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee · Feb 13, 2026
Comments that the committee's housing leaders, Representative Whyte and Steve Waldrop, delivered on the work they described, and thanks them.
I, I do want to make a couple comments. Um, so I was the co-chair of, um, this committee when it was not an interim as an interim committee. Um, we started the year. One of the charges we had been given was to kind of help us find a way forward in terms of thinking about housing, uh, housing plan for Utah, um, pulling people together. I wanna say the committee didn't really do anything. The two people that led this effort were Representative Whyte and Steve Waldrop. And we checked in with them periodically and they would tell us about the folks they were talking with, the work that they were doing, um, and how they were bringing …
Rep. Hoang Nguyen (D-23) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee · Jan 30, 2026
Asked whether the bill would let private landlords deny housing applications based on birth sex, noting last year's campus housing law drew testimony about harm.
Thank you Chair. You really don't want me to speak to you? I do actually. Okay. I think we're good. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I do have a few questions about this. Last year we heard a bill that made it so that on college campuses, a public universities, we can, we made it so that only, um, the gender that they were born at birth, that's the housing they had to stay with, right? Is is that what it was? Correct. Correct. And it, it went through and we had lots of testimony against how harmful that was going to be for folks, but we passed it anyways. This bill is making it so now in private residential …
Rep. David Shallenberger (R-58) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee · Jan 30, 2026
Said lines 203-204 limit the bill to dormitories, boarding houses, shared rentals, group living, or private landlords where single-sex housing already exists.
nothing to do with Well, Government it is limited. They do in line 2 0 4 and 2 0 3, it's, they try to narrowly tailor it to a dormitory, a boarding house, a shared rental property or other group living accommodations or a private landlord. So it's like traditional areas where it's, there's, we already have female housing or male housing in the community.
Rep. David Shallenberger (R-58) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee · Jan 30, 2026
Said advertising is up to the provider, with screening based on birth sex for housing advertised as single-sex.
Uh, the intent is if it's being advertised as an all female housing or all male housing that, I mean, it's up to them how they wanna advertise it, but their screening would probably be based off just if you're checking the box, the intent is that you were born as a woman or you were born as a male, if, depending on where you're trying to live. Not sure exactly what you were asking with that, but that was the intent.
Rep. Jordan D. Teuscher (R-44) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee · Jan 30, 2026
Urged support, explaining that the federal-law exemption limits the bill to small owner-occupied rentals, landlord-selected shared housing, and educational or institutional housing.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I agree with the, the comments of Representative Wilcox here and, and appreciate the, the sponsor for bringing this forward. I, I do think this is, um, just moving along the intent of what, uh, legislation in the past had, had tried to do. And, um, I, I think there, there were some comments during public comment that talked about how there was a fear that this was making things way too broad. And I think there, as, as a good sponsor has talked about this, has been very narrowly tailored to apply to just a small group of housing that is already gender segregated. Um, and if you look at, uh, lines 2 0 …
Rep. Jason E. Thompson (R-3) · H.B. 520, Higher Education Student Housing Study · floor debate · Feb 26, 2026
Presents HB 520 to direct a statewide feasibility study of how student populations affect surrounding housing markets, citing Logan data and noting the bill mandates no construction and appropriates no funding.
Thank you, uh, Mr. Speaker Pro Tim. So, um, colleagues, uh, Mr. Speaker municipalities, um, that our colleges and universities reside in are experiencing some of the, the worst effects of the affordability and availability crisis that we're having with housing. So before the session started, I received a, a batch of data from Logan, a city, a city which I represent, and I was astonished at what I learned, um, from the data. I'm just gonna recite some of it just so everyone has context. University of or, or, uh, Utah State University has 20,000, approximately 20,000 students that attend, uh, uh, courses on campus at Utah State. In the city of Logan itself, we have 18,570 housing units. …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · floor debate · Feb 24, 2026
Argues that housing costs have outpaced wages and that the bill funds infrastructure capacity, through a revolving loan facility repaid by developer impact fees, to support planned housing.
Colleagues, what should the role of state government be in the housing market? That's the fundamental question that we oftentimes ask ourselves. Since 1985, the median home price in Utah has grown on average year over year at 5.2%. Meanwhile, median wage growth has only been 3.2%. That 2% gap year over year for 40 years. Compounding creates a massive chasm for where medium incomes are today and where median home prices are. We know it's a problem. Middle class Utahans increasingly are unable to afford a starter home in our state. Now, we've worked hard over the last year. We've worked with mayors and city council people and city managers and private industry to try to think about the …
Rep. Jake Sawyer (R-9) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · floor debate · Feb 24, 2026
Asks whether each agency or the board would define affordable housing through resolution.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. So, um, as we're talking about those affordable housing measurements being made in resolution through the agency, are we talking about in these community reinvestments, each agency being able to make their own definition about what affordable housing is? Or is this coming from the board itself making a resolution to do that?
Rep. Jake Sawyer (R-9) · H.B. 492, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Housing Amendments · floor debate · Feb 24, 2026
Expresses concern that the 80 to 120 percent range of area median income is too broad and asks that it be tightened.
Okay, thank you Mr. Speaker. As I was looking at something, it tied to something that was talking about the board making a resolution of what affordable housing would look like. And so because there is that 40% swing between 80 and 120%, I just think if we are legislating and putting a lot of this in statute, we may think we're getting a low income housing or affordable housing and yet at 120% other people might not think that. So, um, I'm, I'm a little bit worried that we're not trying to tighten that up a little bit and leaving it to the discretion of, of these different developments. Thank you.
Sen. Stephanie Pitcher (D-14) · S.B. 215, Eviction Record Amendments · floor debate · Feb 20, 2026
Explains that the initial bill had 30 or 90 days, that stakeholders raised concerns, and that one year was agreed between the Rental Housing Association and the Utah Housing Coalition.
As we started at either 30 days or 90 days, uh, in the initial bill, uh, criminal expungement are eligible after 30 days from dismissal. Um, but the stakeholders had some concern over that initial, uh, that initial timeframe. And so one year was the agreed upon amount between the Rental Housing Association and the Utah Housing Coalition.
Rep. Michael J. Petersen (R-2) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Opposes the bill, arguing that creating a new housing division would add government, increase costs, and fail to solve housing affordability.
Thank you Mr. Speaker Pro Tem. I, I, I appreciate my good colleagues' efforts on this. I don't think I've seen anybody spend any more blood, sweat and tears on the bill than I have on this, and I appreciate him. But having said that, for far too long, the state of Utah has spent massive amounts of money on this housing issue. Hundreds of millions even. I think it's actually over a billion dollars we've spent. And for what, what have we got? I contend we've really made no progress. Our, our kids are gonna struggle more than they ever have to get a, to get a home in our state. Today, we've a, a question, do we, do …
Rep. Calvin Roberts (R-46) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Answers that the programs being moved already exist and are being transferred to a new location with no new appropriations, and that redundant entities are being removed.
That's a great question. So if you look colleagues, you'll have a piece of paper on your desk. If you look on one side that says current housing org, you'll see within that current housing org, there's a lot of policies and programs you probably may have never heard of each of those policies and programs. Some are federal, has money behind them. Um, all this is doing is simply taking that function or the entity and moving it to a new spot. So again, no new additional appropriations, no new money. And what I would say too is if you look at the sheet, we want to consolidate and streamline and simplify the way housing policy is administered. And …
Rep. Troy Shelley (R-66) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Supports the bill, describing his past experience with a housing authority's funding requests and saying the bill brings housing programs under one entity.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pro tem, uh, colleagues. I wanna offer an insight that I have on this, this very thing. Uh, my first year here and probably within my first week or so of being in the legislature, I, uh, I saw one of the housing authorities was on the agenda that I was going to be at. And so I did a deep dive really quick just to, just to follow their money, to see how their money flows. And I found that through legislative bodies. So this is, this is this body who approved this in some form somewhere slipped into some language. It allowed them to have tens of millions of dollars as allocated by the …
Rep. Troy Shelley (R-66) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Supports the bill, recounting a past experience with a housing authority's funding and arguing that bringing housing programs under one body would help coordinate funding.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pro tem, uh, colleagues. I wanna offer an insight that I have on this, this very thing. Uh, my first year here and probably within my first week or so of being in the legislature, I, uh, I saw one of the housing authorities was on the agenda that I was going to be at. And so I did a deep dive really quick just to, just to follow their money, to see how their money flows. And I found that through legislative bodies. So this is, this is this body who approved this in some form somewhere slipped into some language. It allowed them to have tens of millions of dollars as allocated by the …
Rep. Stephen L. Whyte (R-63) · H.B. 68, Housing and Community Development Amendments · floor debate · Feb 13, 2026
Supports the bill, saying it responds to a 2023 audit and a legislative resolution calling for streamlined housing policy.
Thank you Mr. Speaker Pro temp. In 2023, the office of Legislator General conducted a housing audit of the state and made some great recommendations to the legislature and to the state based upon some important data points. Last year, this legislative body passed a resolution supporting the streamlining of Utah housing policies. And since we passed that as a legislature this last year, a tremendous amount of work have gone forward for this particular bill because it addresses the findings that have been found in the audit report a couple of years ago. The challenges that we're facing right now is that we are limiting opportunities for collaboration. Sometimes efforts are also duplicative. The legislative branch, the executive branch, …
Rep. Leah Hansen (R-51) · H.B. 404, Sex-Designated Housing Amendments · floor debate · Feb 10, 2026
Asks whether the off-campus housing is state funded or private.
Thank you Mr. Speaker. Um, does the off-campus housing, is the off-campus housing state funded, or is it private?
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