Regional Planning Roundtable Commission

Section 2 of the bill creates allows for the creation of the regional planning roundtable commission (commission) within the department of local affairs (department) . The commission is a 15-member 21-member board with members who serve 2-year terms. The purposes of the commission include:

• Assisting local governments in complying with statutory housing, land use, or other planning requirements;
• Assisting local governments in accessing state and federal resources and technical assistance for complying with statutory housing, land use, or other planning requirements;
• In cooperation with local governments, creating, managing, and revising regions as necessary for the purpose of establishing a regional roundtable to address regional housing, land use, or other planning challenges and opportunities; and
• Assisting local governments in establishing a regional roundtable to address regional housing, land use, or other planning challenges and opportunities.

The commission will only meet when a local government requests assistance in addressing a regional opportunity or challenge. In so meeting, the commission shall:

• Define a region for purposes of establishing a regional roundtable to assist in addressing the regional opportunity or challenge;
• Considering local expertise, suggest who should serve on the regional roundtable established in connection with addressing the regional opportunity or challenge; and
• Identify state resources available to assist in addressing the regional opportunity or challenge.

The bill allows the department to seek, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations to cover the costs in implementing the bill. Only after the department has received sufficient gifts, grants, or donations to implement the bill is the commission created and able to meet.

Section 3 allows money in the housing needs planning technical assistance fund to be used for the planning, establishment, and implementation of the commission.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)