By Dave Emanuel
When a piece of legislation is introduced in the State House, there is frequently a companion bill introduced in the state Senate. That is the case with HB 1093. The companion legislation is Senate Bill (SB) 494. The primary difference between the bills is that SB 494 specifies, “local government entities shall not enact or enforce any restrictions on land or dwellings that are or are anticipated to be subject to a long-term residential rental agreement and are located on any property where residential dwellings are allowed.”
In the proposed legislation, long term is specified as a period of 12 months or more. Although a 12-month rental term won’t be particularly attractive to sex traffickers, the minimum rental term is irrelevant because the senate bill would eliminate ALL control over residential development. If the bill were to pass, city and county government restrictions would be completely eliminated, and the state does not have any zoning restrictions on the books.
Currently, SB 494 is in review by the State and Local Government Operations committee. Email addresses of the committee members can be found below. If you have concerns about the harm SB 494 will do to your community, contact the committee members as well as your state rep and state senator and express your opposition to SB 494.