WMFHA Advocacy: EHB 1217 - Concurrence and Next Steps

EHB 1217 has been a challenge from day one. The legislature hit the ground running, holding a hearing on the very first day in a packed room of advocates opposing the bill.  Since then, WMFHA's Advocacy team have been fully engaged - meeting with lawmakers, mobilizing our members, developing strategy, proposing amendments, and gathering data.

We've made it clear: rent caps do NOT work - unless the goal is to drive investment out of the housing market.

Still, this has been an uphill fight.  Many legislators share our goal - more housing options for all income levels - but differ significantly on how to achieve this.  Your WMFHA Advocacy team has worked relentlessly to push for critical changes to this legislation.  That doesn't mean we support its advancement - we're in this fight until the very end!

EHB 1217 passed the Senate on 4/10/2025 with several amendments that, while still problematic, improve the original bill.  WMFHA remains strongly opposed to a rent cap of any form; however we want the House to 'concur' on this policy to avoid taking big steps backwards and risking the progress already made.

What does it mean to 'concur'? What is concurrence? What happens after that?  

We are hosting a webinar tomorrow (Thursday, April 17th) from 3:00 to 3:30pm to walk through the bill's current language, review concurrence and next steps, run through compliance requirements [if the bills passes], and how we're continuing our advocacy efforts.