Lawmakers last night took the first bipartisan step toward addressing Colorado’s affordable housing and starter home crunch, when the Senate Business, Labor, and Technology Committee passed Senate Bill 177, the so-called construction defect reform law, by a 6 to 2 vote.

The bill aims to clear-away barriers and disincentives to affordable and multi-family home construction in Colorado, by providing pathways to dispute resolution that don’t necessarily end in court. It does not prevent or discourage legal action by individual homeowners who choose that course of action. An ever-present threat of lawsuits has been cited by homebuilders and local officials as a major contributor to Colorado’s affordable housing crunch.

“This bipartisan bill is the end result of extensive study and deliberation by stakeholders, and between members of both parties, who share a common interest in removing barriers to affordable and multi-family housing construction in Colorado,” said Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel (R-Douglas County) after the bill’s passage. “The hands-on involvement of Sen. Jessie Ulibarri and other Democrats shows that this represents a reasonable modification of Colorado’s counterproductive construction defect laws.”

“Colorado’s economy is dependent on a strong housing market that includes diverse and attainable options. Despite strong demand, communities across Colorado face a growing shortage of one of the most critical options – condos and town homes. This shortage is due in part to concerns about the inconsistencies of how disputes are resolved that involve homeowners and developers,” said Sen. Jessie Ulibarri (D-Westminster). “Senate Bill 177 ensures that construction issues within a condo or town home community are addressed quickly and fairly for individual homeowners, while at the same time respecting each member of the condo community.”

Currently, if a handful of unit owners in a condo, apartment, or other multi-family housing community notice construction defects, the entire Homeowners Association can take legal action against the builder, dragging other unit owners, who may not have a problem, into a costly or risky legal battle that leaves their property in a lengthy state of limbo. This bill, if it becomes law, will require associations to get majority approval before taking such actions. It also creates easier and speedier methods for dispute resolution, short of taking the matter to court.

“If we want to keep Colorado an attractive place to live and work, we can’t be pricing people of modest means out of the housing with laws that make building those starter homes harder to find,” added Senate President Bill Cadman. “This bipartisan bill, if we can get it passed, will help make the dream a home ownership a little easier for Coloradans to achieve.”

The bill next will be heard by the entire Senate. Passage means it will move to the House of Representatives for action.

SB-177 isn’t the only construction defect-related bill being weighed by lawmakers at the moment. Senate Bill 91, authored by Sen. Ray Scott of Grand Junction, passed the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday, further bolstering prospects that construction defect reform could happen this session.

The bill would help reduce homebuilder uncertainty by shortening by two years the period of time in which owners of their homes can request a fix. That still gives homeowners a six-year window in which to detect and report a potential problem, but doesn’t leave builders in the prolonged period of uncertainly they face now.

“This bill still offers homeowners plenty of protection against construction defects, but helps reduce some of the prolonged uncertainty and risk that now discourages the construction of multi-unit projects,” said Scott. “It’s hard for companies to offer affordable housing when the state’s flawed construction defect laws just add to the delays, uncertainties and costly risks these builders already face.”

SB-91 now moves to the Senate as a whole for debate.