Wyoming 2025 Regular Session

Wyoming House Bill HB0272 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	2025
2	2	STATE OF WYOMING
3	3	25LSO-06321HB0272
4	4	HOUSE BILL NO. HB0272
5	5	Investment in Wyoming housing.
6	6	Sponsored by: Representative(s) Sherwood, Harshman and
7	7	Thayer and Senator(s) Brennan and Gierau
8	8	A BILL
9	9	for
10	10	1 AN ACT relating to community development; creating the
11	11	2 Wyoming housing investment program; providing legislative
12	12	3 findings; providing for grants and loans for housing
13	13	4 projects; specifying terms and conditions for grants and
14	14	5 loans; creating an account; providing for an annual
15	15	6 transfer of funds; requiring reports; making conforming
16	16	7 amendments; providing a sunset date for the program; and
17	17	8 providing for an effective date.
18	18	9
19	19	10
20	20	11
21	21	12. W.S. 9-7-126 is created to read:
22	22	13
23	23	14
24	24	15 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06322HB02721
25	25	2 (a) The legislature finds and declares that:
26	26	3
27	27	4 (i) There is in this state a critical shortage
28	28	5 of adequate, affordable housing;
29	29	6
30	30	7 (ii) It is in the public interest of the
31	31	8 citizens of this state to facilitate the provision of
32	32	9 adequate, affordable housing in order to promote the
33	33	10 economic welfare of the state and its residents by
34	34	11 increasing employment opportunities, stimulating economic
35	35	12 activity, augmenting sources of tax revenue and fostering
36	36	13 economic stability, thus improving the state's economy;
37	37	14
38	38	15 (iii) It is the purpose of this section to
39	39	16 promote and continue economic development by providing
40	40	17 grants and loans for adequate housing necessary to create
41	41	18 additional economic benefit to the state;
42	42	19
43	43	20 (iv) This section constitutes a valid public
44	44	21 purpose of primary benefit to the state of Wyoming.
45	45	22 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06323HB02721 (b) There is created the Wyoming housing investment
46	46	2 program. The authority shall administer the program under
47	47	3 this section. The authority shall promulgate all rules
48	48	4 necessary to administer and implement the program.
49	49	5
50	50	6 (c) There is created the Wyoming housing investment
51	51	7 account. The authority shall manage and administer the
52	52	8 account. All funds within the account are continuously
53	53	9 appropriated to the authority for purposes of this section.
54	54	10 The account shall consist of all funds transferred or
55	55	11 deposited to the account from any source and all monies
56	56	12 collected from federal grants and other contributions,
57	57	13 grants, gifts, bequests and donations to the account.
58	58	14
59	59	15 (d) The Wyoming housing investment account shall be
60	60	16 available for the following projects in the following
61	61	17 annual amounts:
62	62	18
63	63	19 (i) Not more than fifty percent (50%) of the
64	64	20 account balance in any fiscal year shall be expended for
65	65	21 grants and loans to nonprofit entities for the following
66	66	22 purposes and subject to the following conditions:
67	67	23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06324HB02721 (A) Grants and loans under this paragraph
68	68	2 shall be made only for:
69	69	3
70	70	4 (I) New construction of adequate,
71	71	5 affordable housing, including land acquisition,
72	72	6 infrastructure and building materials and labor costs;
73	73	7
74	74	8 (II) Rehabilitation of existing
75	75	9 housing in order to provide adequate and affordable
76	76	10 housing, including housing that is or was eligible for the
77	77	11 federal low-income housing tax credit but for which
78	78	12 eligibility for the credit has been exhausted or has
79	79	13 expired due to the housing no longer complying with the
80	80	14 requirements for the credit or to provide housing that
81	81	15 qualifies for any other low-income housing tax credit that
82	82	16 may be available under federal law;
83	83	17
84	84	18 (III) Transitional housing projects
85	85	19 for unhoused persons;
86	86	20
87	87	21 (IV) First-time homebuyer assistance;
88	88	22
89	89	23 (V) A program for rental vouchers. 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06325HB02721
90	90	2 (B) Grants and loans made under this
91	91	3 paragraph shall be disbursed only to nonprofit entities
92	92	4 located in Wyoming;
93	93	5
94	94	6 (C) Loans issued under this paragraph shall
95	95	7 have an interest rate of zero percent (0%) and any other
96	96	8 terms and conditions required by the authority;
97	97	9
98	98	10 (D) Funds repaid from any loan issued under
99	99	11 this paragraph shall be deposited in the Wyoming housing
100	100	12 investment account.
101	101	13
102	102	14 (ii) Not more than forty-five percent (45%) of
103	103	15 the account balance in any fiscal year shall be expended
104	104	16 for loans for business entities for the following purposes
105	105	17 and subject to the following conditions:
106	106	18
107	107	19 (A) Loans under this paragraph shall be
108	108	20 made only for:
109	109	21 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06326HB02721 (I) New construction of adequate,
110	110	2 affordable housing, including land acquisition,
111	111	3 infrastructure and building material and labor costs;
112	112	4
113	113	5 (II) Rehabilitation of existing
114	114	6 housing in order to provide adequate and affordable
115	115	7 housing, including housing that is or was eligible for the
116	116	8 federal low-income housing tax credit but for which
117	117	9 eligibility for the credit has been exhausted or has
118	118	10 expired due to the housing no longer complying with the
119	119	11 requirements for the credit or to provide housing that
120	120	12 qualifies for any other low-income housing tax credit that
121	121	13 may be available under federal law.
122	122	14
123	123	15 (B) Loans shall be made only to persons who
124	124	16 are residents of Wyoming or whose principal place of
125	125	17 business is located in Wyoming;
126	126	18
127	127	19 (C) Loans issued under this paragraph shall
128	128	20 require interest to be charged at a rate set by rule of the
129	129	21 authority, provided that the interest rate shall not exceed
130	130	22 the benchmark United States effective federal funds
131	131	23 interest rate; 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06327HB02721
132	132	2 (D) The authority may impose other terms
133	133	3 and conditions on loans issued under this paragraph;
134	134	4
135	135	5 (E) Funds repaid from any loan issued under
136	136	6 this paragraph shall be deposited in the Wyoming housing
137	137	7 investment account.
138	138	8
139	139	9 (iii) Not more than four percent (4%) of the
140	140	10 account balance in any fiscal year shall be expended for
141	141	11 capacity building grants for cities, towns, counties and
142	142	12 nonprofit entities to conduct or have conducted studies,
143	143	13 analysis and research for housing and for grant
144	144	14 administration and planning staff for projects authorized
145	145	15 in this section;
146	146	16
147	147	17 (iv) Not more than one percent (1%) of the
148	148	18 account balance in any fiscal year shall be expended by the
149	149	19 authority on administrative expenses, including at-will
150	150	20 employment contract positions for the fiscal year.
151	151	21
152	152	22 (e) For purposes of the account balances specified in
153	153	23 subsection (d) of this section, balances shall be 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06328HB0272
154	154	1 calculated after the transfer required under W.S.
155	155	2 9-4-220(c).
156	156	3
157	157	4 (f) The authority shall establish an application
158	158	5 process for the grants and loans that are available under
159	159	6 this section. The authority may establish a fee for the
160	160	7 ongoing monitoring of projects receiving grants and loans
161	161	8 under this section to ensure that the projects remain in
162	162	9 compliance with this section and any associated rules.
163	163	10
164	164	11 (g) No grant or loan shall be made under this section
165	165	12 without the written opinion of the attorney general
166	166	13 certifying the legality of the transaction and all
167	167	14 documents connected therewith.
168	168	15
169	169	16 (h) Not later than November 1 of each year, the
170	170	17 authority shall report to the joint appropriations
171	171	18 committee on:
172	172	19
173	173	20 (i) The balance of the Wyoming housing
174	174	21 investment account;
175	175	22 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-06329HB02721 (ii) All grants and loans made in the
176	176	2 immediately preceding fiscal year under this section,
177	177	3 including the recipients of each grant and loan and the
178	178	4 purpose for which the grant or loan was made;
179	179	5
180	180	6 (iii) All outstanding loans made under this
181	181	7 section, and the balance of each loan;
182	182	8
183	183	9 (iv) Any recommendations for legislation for the
184	184	10 Wyoming housing investment program.
185	185	11
186	186	12 (j) No new grant or loan shall be issued under the
187	187	13 Wyoming housing investment program on and after July 1,
188	188	14 2031. All grants and loans for projects under this section
189	189	15 issued before July 1, 2031 shall be completed in accordance
190	190	16 with this section and the terms and conditions of each
191	191	17 grant or loan. The authority shall remit all unexpended,
192	192	18 unobligated funds in the Wyoming housing investment account
193	193	19 on July 1, 2031, and on each July 1 thereafter until no
194	194	20 funds remain outstanding for the account, to the state
195	195	21 treasurer to be deposited into the strategic investments
196	196	22 and projects account.
197	197	23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-063210HB02721W.S. 9-4-219 by creating a new subsection
198	198	2 (c), 9-4-220(b)(intro) and by creating a new subsection (c)
199	199	3 and 9-7-103(a)(xvi) are amended to read:
200	200	4
201	201	5
202	202	6
203	203	7
204	204	8
205	205	9
206	206	10
207	207	11
208	208	12
209	209	13
210	210	14
211	211	15
212	212	16
213	213	17
214	214	18 (b) For fiscal year 2021 and in each fiscal year
215	215	19 thereafter
216	216	20 unencumbered and unobligated funds available for
217	217	21 expenditure in the strategic investments and projects
218	218	22 account shall be expended for the following purposes and
219	219	23 subject to the following: 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-063211HB02721
220	220	2
221	221	3
222	222	4
223	223	5
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225	225	7
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231	231	13
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233	233	15
234	234	16
235	235	17 (a) As used in this act:
236	236	18
237	237	19 (xvi) "This act" means W.S. 9-7-101 through
238	238	209-7-126
239	239	21 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-063212HB02721. This act is effective immediately upon
240	240	2 completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law
241	241	3 as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming
242	242	4 Constitution.
243	243	5
244	244	6 (END)