A new Arizona law aims to cut down on unnecessary delays in the licensing process for single-family homes.
Under Senate Bill 1566, municipalities and counties must have set time frames for issuing licenses or building permits for home construction. If municipalities or counties are found to be intentionally obstructing the approval of licenses or creating delays out of malice, they will face a $5,000 penalty, enforced by the Attorney General’s Office.
“Malice is a very high standard. It has to be intentional,” the bill’s sponsor, Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert), told an Arizona House committee in March.
“This doesn't happen a lot, but we do hear about anecdotes where people are intentionally delaying projects, there's no reason — there's nothing that's being waited on,” Petersen said.
Kileen Lindgren, senior state policy manager with the Pacific Legal Foundation, a firm that works on property rights issues nationwide, told the committee better enforcement of permitting time frames would keep prices lower.
“Building and developing costs a lot of money, but time is also money and adds a lot of costs and a lot of uncertainty and disincentivizes people from wanting to invest in their homes,” Lindgren said.
Several Arizona municipalities opposed the bill. And most Democrats in the House and Senate voted against it.
Rep. Quantá Crews (D-Phoenix) said she had formerly worked in the County Assessor’s Office and said, in her experience, delays in permitting processes were usually justified.
“I have had projects that for properties have taken me months, and not because I was stalling anything,” Crews said. “I just wanted to make sure that it was done correctly.”
Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the bill into law. It is set to take effect on the General Effective Date, which is likely to fall in September.
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Soon after these first steps towards recovery concluded, public interest outside of the region waned. But the process for those involved was only just beginning.
