I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1609
To nullify certain regulations and notices of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mr. G
OSARintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To nullify certain regulations and notices of the Department
of Housing and Urban Development, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Local Zoning Decisions 4
Protection Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. NULLIFICATION OF RULES AND NOTICES. 6
(a) I
NTERIMFINALRULE.—The interim final rule 7
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development 8
entitled ‘‘Restoring Affirmatively Furthering Fair Hous-9
ing Definitions and Certifications’’, published in the Fed-10
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•HR 1609 IH
eral Register on June 10, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 30779; 1
Docket No. FR–6249–I–01), and any successor rule that 2
is substantially similar to such interim final rule shall have 3
no force or effect. 4
(b) F
INALRULE.—The final rule of the Department 5
of Housing and Urban Development entitled ‘‘Affirma-6
tively Furthering Fair Housing’’, published in the Federal 7
Register on July 16, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 42272; Docket 8
No. FR–5173–F–04), and any successor rule that is sub-9
stantially similar to such final rule shall have no force or 10
effect. 11
(c) N
OTICE.—The notice of the Department of Hous-12
ing and Urban Development relating to the Affirmatively 13
Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool, published in 14
the Federal Register on December 31, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 15
81840; Docket No. FR–5173–N–07), and any successor 16
notice or rule substantially similar to such notice shall 17
have no force or effect. 18
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 19
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Fed-20
eral funds may be used to design, build, maintain, utilize, 21
or provide access to a Federal database of geospatial infor-22
mation on community racial disparities or disparities in 23
access to affordable housing. 24
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•HR 1609 IH
SEC. 4. FEDERALISM CONSULTATION AND REPORT. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 2
Urban Development shall jointly consult with State offi-3
cials, local government officials, and officials of public 4
housing agencies to develop recommendations, consistent 5
with applicable rulings of the Supreme Court of the 6
United States, to further the purposes and policies of the 7
Fair Housing Act. 8
(b) C
ONSULTATIONREQUIREMENTS.—In developing 9
the recommendations required under subsection (a), the 10
Secretary shall— 11
(1) provide State officials, local government of-12
ficials, and officials of public housing agencies with 13
notice and an opportunity to participate in the con-14
sultation process required under subsection (a); 15
(2) seek to consult with State officials, local 16
government officials, and officials of public housing 17
agencies that represent a broad cross-section of re-18
gional, economic, and geographic perspectives in the 19
United States; 20
(3) emphasize the importance of collaboration 21
with and among the State officials, local government 22
officials, and officials of public housing agencies; 23
(4) allow for meaningful and timely input by 24
State officials, local government officials, and offi-25
cials of public housing agencies; 26
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•HR 1609 IH
(5) promote transparency in the consultation 1
process required under subsection (a); and 2
(6) explore with State officials, local govern-3
ment officials, and officials of public housing agen-4
cies whether Federal objectives under the Fair 5
Housing Act can be attained by means other than 6
through new regulations. 7
(c) R
EPORTS.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months 9
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-10
retary shall publish in the Federal Register a draft 11
report describing the recommendations developed 12
pursuant to subsection (a). 13
(2) C
ONSENSUS REQUIREMENT .—The Secretary 14
may include a recommendation in the draft report 15
only if consensus has been reached with regard to 16
the recommendation among the Secretary, the State 17
officials, local government officials, and officials of 18
public housing agencies consulted pursuant to sub-19
section (a). 20
(3) F
AILURE TO REACH CONSENSUS .—If the 21
Secretary, State officials, local government officials, 22
and officials of public housing agencies consulted 23
under subsection (a) fail to reach consensus on a 24
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•HR 1609 IH
regulatory proposal, the draft report shall identify 1
that consensus was not reached and shall describe— 2
(A) the areas and issues with regard to 3
which consensus was reached; 4
(B) the areas and issues of continuing dis-5
agreement that resulted in the failure to reach 6
consensus; and 7
(C) the reasons for the continuing dis-8
agreements. 9
(4) P
UBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT PERIOD .— 10
The Secretary shall make the draft report available 11
for public review and comment for a period of not 12
fewer than 180 days. 13
(5) F
INAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall, in 14
consultation with the State officials, local govern-15
ment officials, and officials of public housing agen-16
cies, address any comments received pursuant to 17
paragraph (4) and shall prepare a final report de-18
scribing the final results of the consultation process 19
under subsection (a). 20
(d) S
UBMISSION OFFINALREPORT.—Not later than 21
12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 22
Secretary shall make publicly available online the final re-23
port prepared pursuant to subsection (c)(5). 24
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•HR 1609 IH
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the following defini-1
tions apply: 2
(1) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 4
(2) L
OCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL .—The term 5
‘‘local government official’’ means an elected or pro-6
fessional official of a local government or an official 7
of a regional or national organization representing 8
local governments or officials. 9
(3) S
TATE OFFICIAL.—The term ‘‘State offi-10
cial’’ means an elected or professional official of a 11
State government or an official of a regional or na-12
tional organization representing State governments 13
or officials. 14
(4) P
UBLIC HOUSING AGENCY .—The term 15
‘‘public housing agency’’ has the meaning given such 16
term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 17
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 18
Æ
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