2026 Advocacy Efforts Save the Industry

$ 1.2 Billion

BY DREW HAMRICK

The 2026 Legislative Session has now concluded. It has been a very successful session for rental housing providers( and indirectly for their residential customers). Our industry had successful outcomes on each of the bills on which we engaged. This included not only the enactment of statutory safeguards to protect RUBs utility billing, but also the defeat of a string of bills which would have made rental housing operations significantly more expensive and administratively burdensome.

There are a lot of factors that came together to achieve this success in advocacy. Many of our legislative victories came down to a single vote. Our“ Slow Your Roll” public affairs campaign seemed to be a message that resonated. Three additional Republicans in the House changed the math a bit. However, we believe the single biggest factor is the growth and emboldening of the more pragmatic wing of the Democratic party who make up the Opportunity Caucus.

The Association has aggressively pursued a strategy of supporting the more pragmatic members of the Democratic party for the last 3 years and the group has enjoyed increasing influence at the statehouse during this time. It remains to be seen whether that trend can continue through this year’ s primary and general elections and selection of house and Senate leadership in 2027.

16 | TRENDS JUNE 2026 www. aamdhq. org