Key Points:

• Phoenix lawmaker maneuvers to keep is bill alive

• Some opponents say the issue should be left to the cities to decide

• Homebuilders are among key opponents

An attempt to enact legislation to protect historic neighborhoods failed in the House this week, but bill supporters are working to quickly bring it back before the legislative session ends.

There were multiple bills introduced this session to enact legislation to protect historic homes. Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoneix, introduced a bill earlier this session that passed the House but didn’t get a Senate hearing. With no Senate movement on his measure, he kept the idea alive with a striker amendment on Senate Bill 1118 that rewrote the bill to be similar to his House legislation.

But the House on June 1 voted 25-30 against SB 1118. Now, Gress is motioning for the bill to be introduced later for reconsideration, but time is running out this session as budget talks are close to finalizing. 

The House version of the bill originally called for an exemption for historic neighborhoods to the state’s middle housing law that went into effect at the beginning 2026. The law requires cities of a population of 75,000 or more to allow the development of middle housing options like duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes, within a mile of a city’s central business district.

The proposal has since been amended with SB 1118, which now clarifies middle housing may be developed in historic areas if the new construction is designed to be compatible with the historical character of a neighborhood. 

Save Historic AZ, a group of historic neighborhood associations that have supported Gress’ bill this session, said in a June 2 news release that the bill would return next week to the House floor for another vote since some key supporters were absent and some House members who originally voted yes on the House bill flipped their votes on the Senate version. 

“The opposition, sensing defeat, pulled out all stops to stall 1118 until next week,” Save Historic AZ said in its news release. 

Gress also sarcastically congratulated the lobbying efforts of the Arizona Housing Coalition and the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona on the House floor when it was clear he didn’t have the votes to pass the bill. He specifically called out former Republican state Sen. Steve Kaiser, who is now a lobbyist on behalf of the housing coalition, and the homebuilders’ Vice President of Legislative Affairs Spencer Kamps, who both were sitting in the gallery to observe the House vote on the bill.

“This issue is not over,” Gress said. “We will continue to advocate for communities and neighbors and historic preservation.”

Kaiser declined to comment on Gress’ words on the floor and Kamps did not respond to a request for comment from the Arizona Capitol Times. Both their organizations have supported the state’s middle housing law and have called Gress’ bill an attempt to undermine the law. 

It was a bipartisan group of lawmakers who voted against the bill, with more than half of House Republicans and 10 Democrats opposed to the measure. 

Rep. Sarah Liguori, D-Phoenix, has faced some controversy from constituents in her central Phoenix district over her opposition to the idea. She was one of the 10 Democrats who voted against it.

She called for cities to enact their own local policy to apply the state’s middle housing law to extend further than just a central business district so more neighborhoods could see middle housing options. 

“Historic neighborhoods were built on middle housing principles, and I think that more neighborhoods and more accessibility with housing types is what we as a body should be doing for Arizonans — not retracting backwards on it,” Liguori said.

Rep. Kevin Volk, D-Tucson, said he saw Gress’ bill as an attempt to protect Phoenix historic neighborhoods since there are several within the city’s central business district. He also said expanding the middle housing law to cover the entire city would drastically increase the number of properties eligible for middle housing, although he said he was interested in a bill that more broadly protects historic buildings.

Rep. Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, also voted against the bill and said she was bothered that it could give residents of historic homes different rights than non historic neighborhood residents, although she said she was open to working on the bill in the future. 

“The rule for thee is not the rule for me and I hate that kind of attitude,” Martinez said.