Gov. Jared Polis’ signature housing bill won preliminary approval from the state Senate but not without more changes, though most were minor.

Senate Bill 213, which, as introduced intended to impose state mandates and effectively strip local governments of their authority over land use and zoning, was already gutted in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. 

What is left is largely a bill requiring a statewide housing needs assessment. 

SB 213 started off by allowing the state to take control of local land use planning, which has been the purview of local governments for decades and backed – opponents argued – by 50 years of Colorado Supreme Court rulings. Opponents also said the original bill would be unconstitutional, given that local governments have home rule authority to make their own governance decisions, granted to them under the state constitution. 

The measure, while requiring more dense housing to be built in Front Range and rural resort communities, did not require that housing to be affordable.

Supporters believed increasing the supply would drive down prices and make some of that housing – accessory dwelling units: granny flats, townhomes, triplexes and fourplexes – affordable. 

Notably, the bill never addressed condo development, long considered more affordable both for first-time homeowners and older Coloradans seeking to downsize. 

After several days of delays, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday tossed the the original bill and replaced it with an amendment, offered by its sponsor, Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City. It stripped out most, but not all, of the state control over local government decisions on land use.

The rewritten bill won enough support from key Democrats on the appropriations committee to move it to the full Senate for Thursday’s debate, but not without comments that more changes would be necessary.

A total of 17 amendments, offered by Democrats, made it onto the bill on Thursday.

Several amendments offered during that debate won support from Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, who has offered her own version of the bill in two committee hearings. 

Kirkmeyer’s most popular idea, which deals with a statewide housing summit, was among the amendments the Senate adopted. 

Another amendment added one more person to a 13-member multi-agency committee, which Republicans have decried as unelected bureaucrats who aren’t answerable to local government constituents. The 14th member would represent special districts and would be appointed by the House minority leader. 

An amendment from Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont, however, drew objections from Kirkmeyer and other Republicans that it added requirements to the housing needs assessment they said don’t need to be in state law.

During the bill’s first committee hearing a week ago, Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, said she wanted to see more language in the bill around affordability and displacement strategies. On Thursday, she got approval for such an amendment. Under the change, the bill would define displacement as the involuntary relocation of residents, along with a host of displacement causes, such as gentrification, in which residents are forced to move because rents and sales prices have exceeded what they can afford and other issues.

She also won support for a nine-page amendment that created a legislative oversight committee on affordable housing and homelessness, along with a task force on the same issue. Both would eventually provide reports on housing issues.

Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, who also wanted to see changes in the bill when it was in the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee, won support for the ideas that would get his vote. That included a definition of affordability, in part based on regional or preexisting definitions from rural resort communities, and an amendment addressing water that would require both the state water plan and basin implementation plans to be taken into consideration on water supply forecasts.

Those forecasts, under the amended bill, would assess the availability and sufficiency of water supplies for new housing developments. 

“This bill is not necessary,” Kirkmeyer said prior to the voice vote. “It’s a power grab.”

She complimented Moreno for removing the state control and for adding the summit provision. Allowing the counties and municipalities to come up with a statewide vision is a good idea but doesn’t need a bill, she said.

It’s unclear whether the governor or the bill’s House Democratic sponsors, Reps. Iman Jodeh of Aurora and Stephen Woodrow of Denver support the changes to the bill in the past few days. The Colorado Municipal League and its allies regard their feedback as key to moving from a position of opposition to support.

SB 213 heads to a final vote on Friday.