Committee narrows rental‑agreement rewrite, keeps bifurcation and 90‑day transition for protected tenants

The Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs shifted to consider residential rental agreement revisions and reviewed a reworked draft that removes many earlier provisions but retains targeted tenant protections.

Cameron of the Office of Legislative Council explained that draft 1.1 strikes a set of items from the earlier judiciary committee draft (5.1): the cap on rent increases, certain application‑fee and screening provisions, the two‑month security‑deposit cap, and the section on retaliatory conduct. The remaining provisions focus on Good Samaritan provisions, bifurcation for victims of domestic violence, a 90‑day transition period for protected tenants to find housing or additional tenants, and changes to no‑trespass procedures.

Committee members debated a newly added subdivision stating that nothing prohibits a landlord from collecting past due rent or recovering losses due to damages from a terminated tenant or from a protected tenant. Members and counsel discussed practical effects: the bill requires landlords to give a protected tenant a 90‑day period to find housing or a replacement tenant, but landlords could still pursue ejectment and recover unpaid rent later through standard eviction/ejectment remedies.

On no‑trespass language, members noted the section overlaps judiciary work; one proposal would require a pattern of lease violations before issuing a trespass order tied to lease violations, with an exception for violent or dangerous acts. The committee acknowledged the criminal‑trespass dimension and the need to coordinate with judiciary drafting.

Committee members concluded the session by scheduling continuation of rental‑agreement discussion at the next meeting; no final floor action on the rental provisions was recorded in the transcript.

The committee will continue consideration at its next scheduled meeting.