Senate Bill 356 was introduced on February 8th, and was referred to the Housing Committee the following week.

According to the Legislative Counsel’s Digest;

The bill (titled “Housing: Code Enforcement Incentive Program: Community Code Enforcement Pilot Program.”) would increase the maximum grant under the (Community Code Enforcement Pilot) program from $450,000 to $2,000,000, and require the department to adjust that amount for inflation at least once every 5 years. The bill would require that the full-time code enforcement officer on the code enforcement team,…….be a certified code enforcement officer, as defined, and that the team additionally include at least one representative from a community-based organization.

The bill would revise the requirement for a grantee to provide and fund a city planner, health officer, or other specialist to specify that the grantee may provide and fund a building official.

The bill would also revise the authorized use of grant funds to include support for the engagement of community-based organizations. The bill would revise the requirement for the plan for cooperative and effective working relationships, …….to include cooperative and effective working relationships with local building officials and community-based organizations. The bill would also additionally require the grant proposal to include the number of certified code enforcement officers, as defined, employed by the applicant.

To view the Legislative Counsel’s Digest and current text etc., please click here.