What’s on the Agenda at State Policymaker Group Meetings This Summer?

State legislative sessions are a hectic time for lawmakers and lobbyists as back-to-back meetings and committee hearings give little time to dive deep into specific policies. The summer months, though, can provide a needed break and a chance to learn best practices from peers across the country. State policymaker groups — such as the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the Attorney General Alliance (AGA) and the Council of State Governments (CSG) — hold annual conferences in the summer to discuss key policy trends. 

The policy sessions at these meetings provide a valuable look into how state lawmakers think about issues and what ideas might get turned into legislation when sessions reconvene in January. For commercial property owners, policy positions on issues like retail crime, grid reliability and property tax changes could have real implications for the industry at large. Below are a few policy trends that are expected to come up this summer at state lawmaker group meetings that could impact the industry.

Gift Card Fraud 

Gift card fraud has been a major issue this year in state legislatures as lawmakers work to stop thieves from accessing and draining money from stolen gift cards. Lawmakers in five states have enacted sweeping legislation that establishes the crime of gift card fraud and assigns penalties based on the assumed value of stolen cards. The Attorney General Alliance held a panel at their annual meeting on the emerging threat of gift card fraud and the legislative solutions available to states. The gift card fraud panel is part of the ongoing work of AGA’s Organized Retail Crime Working Group, led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr, and featured the newly-formed Gift Card Fraud Prevention Alliance. In addition to AGA, there are plans to include more gift card fraud panels at other state policymaker groups and retailer meetings this summer and fall. 

Expanding the Housing Supply 

The backlog of available housing has motivated many consumer advocacy groups, think tanks and businesses to advocate for more flexible zoning rules and less regulation when it comes to building more residential properties. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is considering two model policies related to the lack of housing supply at their upcoming annual meeting later this month.

The Ending Housing Extortion Act is intended to promote the construction of both residential and commercial properties by banning housing exactions such as fees, conditions, allocations or other concessions. The policy does not prevent private parties from entering into covenants, unless it is required by a government body. While the “FAIR Zoning Act” is designed to boost housing by prohibiting or limiting rezoning protests to expanded uses of private property.  The model offers an alternative to a zoning protest ban, which would require a majority vote of the governing body to affirm a zoning change under protest in certain circumstances. 

NCSL, CSG East and CSG West will also be leading discussions at their summer meetings on what state lawmakers can do to address housing affordability and strategies to increase the supply of affordable housing. The broader discussion on affordable housing, and by extension, zoning policies, could impact the commercial property market and the design of communities across the country. 

Property Taxation

Taxation is always a main subject area at any state policy group meeting. NCSL’s State and Local Taxation Task Force typically addresses the latest trends in tax-related issues lawmakers face at the Legislative Summit in August.  The Institute for State Policy Leaders (ISPL) hosts an annual seminar with leading experts in the tax world to educate state lawmakers on ways to confront trending tax issues.

Property tax relief has been popular over the past couple of years due to increasing property assessments. There is a model constitutional amendment up for consideration at ALEC that would cap the increase of taxable value to property to the lesser of the fair market value, 2.5% or the annual percentage change of the fair market value. It also caps millage tax percentages based on all ad valorem taxes levied in the previous year and allows an increase in the county millage tax cap percentage by a majority vote of the county.

Energy Demand & Grid Resiliency

As data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities drive up power demand, state lawmakers are increasingly concerned about balancing the need for grid reliability while not missing out on the opportunity to recruit new businesses. Over the past year, organizations such as ALEC, NCSL, Western Governors and CSG have featured programming that addresses the need to modernize the electric grid to meet future demand.  The CSG South’s Southern Legislative Conference is conducting a panel discussion in July on ways states can deploy Advanced Transmission Technologies (ATT) as a cost-effective solution to expand grid capacity. CSG West will also be discussing how Western states are improving grid infrastructure through regional coordination, strategic investments, and legislative action. And, finally, ALEC members will vote on a set of policy principles that outline ways neighboring states can better coordinate on transmission siting and permitting.