LOC News
SDC Study and Transparency Bill Passes Legislature
A bill to fund a comprehensive study on System Development Charges (SDCs) received final passage yesterday in the Senate. HB 3040 B directs and funds Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) to conduct a comprehensive study of SDCs to fully examine all cost-drivers associated with housing and infrastructure to better inform the Legislature in advance of any future policy discussions. The bill directs OHCS to consult with local governments, special districts, developers, realtors and other stakeholders as needed in conducting the study, and directs local governments to comply with reasonable requests from OHCS for information in furtherance of the study.
HB 3040 B also includes a new transparency requirement, which many cities already meet. Any city, county or special district that maintains a public website is required to include the following information on its website in a manner that is readily accessible to the general public, for system development charges that it assesses:
- The current system development charge fee rates for each type of development;
- Details of the methodology used to determine those fee rates;
- A list of capital improvement projects that will receive funding from system development charge fee revenue; and
- Contact information for a local official responsible for answering questions about system development charges.
Any jurisdiction that does not maintain a website must make this information available to the general public free of charge upon request.
Cities may recall that a previous version of the bill proposed several statewide mandates for SDCs, based on the false assumption that SDCs are to blame for rising housing development costs in Oregon. Specifically, the earlier bill would have required local governments to: defer collecting SDCs until certificate of occupancy for multifamily residential, commercial, and industrial development; defer SDC collection until sale of a single-family home as part of closing costs; apply the same SDC methodology for development of manufactured homes as multifamily housing; and track and post SDC receipts online for every individual development.
Thanks to strong advocacy from city leaders and our other local government partners, the LOC was able to negotiate this final version of the bill. The LOC will be tracking the development of the SDC study closely and will support and coordinate city feedback and engagement with OHCS.
Contact: Ariel Nelson, Lobbyist – anelson@orcities.org
Last Updated 6/25/21