‘We hope common sense will prevail’: Controversial rent bill heads to House floor [Video]

BOISE, Idaho — With a 13-4 vote, the House Business Committee sent a controversial rent bill to the floor Monday. 

If signed into law, local governments could not make landlords accept federal housing assistance programs, including Section 8 vouchers. Cities or counties also could not regulate rent, fees or deposits. 

Representative Brandon Mitchell, R-Moscow, sponsored HB 545. He said it would help protect the private property rights of small business owners. 

“Local governments shouldn’t be able to force a company to do something that they may not want to do,” he said. “When you have Section 8, it comes with a lot of different regulations, a lot of different responsibilities that you have. Some smaller companies don’t have the manpower to actually run something like that.” 

Much of Monday’s testimony focused on two City of Boise protectionsfor renters. The first, passed …