Policy Briefs

June 2026

NAIOP Austin Public Policy Update

Before we dig into the hottest topics on public policy, we wanted to thank you for your participation with NAIOP. The continued engagement by the real estate community strengthens our effectiveness. We continue to invite and encourage your engagement in the following ways:

• Attending Events: We welcome members and nonmembers to attend any of our upcoming events. Event topics range from targeted forums on specific policy items to purely social (and everything in between). We are particularly excited about our upcoming Sporting Clay Tournament on August 27, 2026. Come meet the NAIOP Austin community!
• Exchanging Information: Alerting the Public Policy Committee on any issues the Central Texas real estate community faces, whether developer, architect, engineer, or any other real estate stakeholders. This helps narrow our focus to key areas that would help our constituents. For local issues, please email Amanda Brown. For state and federal issues, please email Andrew Alizzi.
• Sponsorship: Sponsorship directly supports NAIOP’s advocacy efforts, including policy research, consultant engagement, and municipal outreach. We welcome conversations with firms interested in supporting this work. For more information, contact Anna Dorazio.
• Membership: Every healthy organization has robust membership. Please spread the word and, if you haven’t already done so, join NAIOP Austin.
• Volunteering: We are seeking NAIOP members (developers, land-use attorneys, engineers, architects, landscape architects, planners, and policy professionals) to assist with upcoming development code reviews (see more below). Even small commitments are helpful and strengthen our feedback. For more information, email Amanda Brown.

Thank You for Attending: Gavel Forum, Wilco Mayors

Gavel Forum Recap: Wilco Mayor Edition

June 11, 2026 | Cimarron Hills Country Club, Georgetown, TX

NAIOP Austin hosted the inaugural Gavel Forum and it was a huge success. Six of Williamson County’s mayors gathered at Cimarron Hills in Georgetown for a candid dialogue with the region’s development community. Mayors Jim Penniman-Morin (Cedar Park), Mike Snyder (Hutto), Craig Morgan (Round Rock), Crystal Mancilla (Liberty Hill), Na’Cole Thompson (Leander), and Jim Buzan (Taylor) joined moderator Dave Porter of the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership for a conversation that was insightful and timely.

The panel covered the impacts of recent state legislation on local development, the current state of infrastructure availability across the county’s key cities, and what planned improvements mean for the pipeline of projects ahead. The message from the panel was that Williamson County’s cities are ready for development and their leaders are actively working to make that a reality.

Events like the Gavel Forum reflect the public policy committee’s broader commitment to building meaningful partnerships with city leaders across the region. The goal is to create ongoing channels for dialogue between local government and the development community that go well beyond any single event.

NAIOP Austin’s Public Policy Committee plans to bring additional editions of the Gavel Forum to communities across Central Texas, so stay tuned.

Thank you to our panelists, our moderator, and everyone who joined us this morning.

Legislative Updates

State Updates

Advocacy in Action: Gearing Up for the 90th Texas Legislature

As preparations begin for the 90th Texas Legislature, now just seven months away, NAIOP is working with HMWK Government & Public Affairs to shape the association’s legislative strategy and engagement efforts for the upcoming session. Together, we are monitoring interim hearings, tracking key statewide elections, coordinating meetings with lawmakers and legislative staff, and developing NAIOP’s legislative priorities and advocacy planning for the 140-day regular session. Want to learn more about what happens in Austin that directly impacts our industry?

This link provides a plain-English overview of how the Texas legislative process works, why the interim months between legislative sessions matter, and how NAIOP is positioning itself long before state lawmakers return to Austin.

Navigating Texas SB 17’s Foreign Investment Restrictions

Senate Bill 17 (SB 17) established restrictions on certain real estate transactions involving individuals, entities, and governments connected to designated foreign countries, with the goal of addressing national security and economic security concerns. The Texas Attorney General has proposed rules to implement the law, which will affect how commercial real estate transactions, ownership structures, leasing arrangements, and compliance obligations are evaluated across the state. Because commercial real estate projects often involve complex financing, ownership, and long-term contractual arrangements, industry stakeholders have emphasized the importance of clear and practical implementation standards.

In April, NAIOP chapters from all over Texas came together to submit comments to the Office of the Attorney General on the rules that were released. While NAIOP Texas expressed support for the State’s security objectives, we raised concerns that several proposed rules could create uncertainty and unintended consequences for property owners, developers, investors, lenders, landlords, and tenants. The organization noted that key defined terms such as “control” and “facilitating entity” are overly broad, potentially capturing routine commercial transactions and imposing compliance burdens on parties that may have limited visibility into ownership structures or tenant relationships. NAIOP also highlighted concerns regarding enforcement procedures, economic impacts, and the need for additional clarity surrounding terms such as “headquartered,” citizenship verification requirements, and designated countries.

To address these concerns, NAIOP requested targeted revisions to the proposed rules that include:

• safe harbors for existing leases and agreements,
• protections for the exercise of pre-existing contractual rights,
• a narrower definition of “control” focused on actual decision-making authority, and
• limitations on reporting obligations for landlords and other third-party professionals.

The organization is also seeking clearer definitions, greater procedural protections during enforcement actions, reliance standards for certifications and public lists, and the creation of an industry advisory group to support ongoing implementation. NAIOP believes these changes would preserve the intent of SB 17 while reducing uncertainty and ensuring the rules align with commercial real estate practices.

Texas SB 840 and “By-Right” Multifamily

Texas Senate Bill 840 fundamentally shifted the state’s entitlement landscape by allowing multifamily and mixed-use residential development “by right” on land currently zoned for commercial, office, retail, or warehouse use. Applying to municipalities with populations over 150,000 within counties over 300,000, this legislation provides developers with a streamlined administrative approval process that bypasses lengthy local rezoning and public hearings across all major Texas metros. Under the new law, cities cannot cap density below 36 units per acre, restrict building heights below 45 feet, or mandate more than one parking space per residential unit.

The legislation also provides a massive boost to adaptive reuse, barring cities from requiring traffic impact studies, additional parking, or new utility impact fees for commercial or office buildings at least five years old being converted to residential use. However, developers must still navigate key exclusions, as the law does not apply to heavy industrial zones or areas near airports and military bases.

Local Updates

Continued Municipal Development Code Reviews Across Central Texas

NAIOP Austin Public Policy Committee continues its engagement with several Central Texas municipalities as they update their development codes. Our goal is simple: ensure the commercial real estate community has a strong, informed voice in shaping regulations that impact project feasibility, timelines, and regional growth.

Here is the progress so far, and where we are headed:

City of Georgetown: The City of Georgetown continues to advance its full Unified Development Code (UDC) rewrite, the first comprehensive update since 2003, with adoption anticipated later this year following ongoing public hearings and stakeholder engagement. The rewrite effort has focused on reorganizing the code for usability, resolving internal conflicts, and calibrating standards to better reflect current development practices and growth conditions.

The April 23 draft reflects incremental revisions from the February version, including several items responsive to NAIOP Austin comments particularly within Chapter 10 (Tree Preservation). Notable updates include clarification of the multi-stem DBH calculation methodology, standardization of “certified arborist” terminology, and the addition of an explicit requirement for ISA-certified arborist care plans when CRZ encroachment is proposed. These changes improve both interpretability and consistency in application during site development and permitting.

Additional refinements include shifting heritage tree identification to the Preliminary Plat stage (providing earlier entitlement clarity), replacing the prescriptive 6-foot sidewalk requirement with an ADA-compliance framework (allowing more design flexibility), and expressly permitting water quality BMPs and flood control infrastructure within stream buffers, which addresses prior conflicts between environmental and drainage requirements. Several minor but relevant technical corrections (e.g., soil aeration language) were also incorporated.

Several NAIOP Austin comments related to industrial development standards and implementation practicality, however, remain either unaddressed or only partially addressed in the current draft. These include requests for clarification regarding RPLS stamping requirements and surveyor/arborist responsibilities associated with tree surveys, industrial/truck route considerations related to traffic calming standards, and explicit exemptions for inter-parcel connectivity requirements where industrial operations or site security constraints are present. While certain provisions continue to allow Director discretion, the requested code-level clarifications and exemptions were generally not incorporated into the April 23 draft language.

Additional opportunities remain for stakeholder input as the Updated UDC proceeds through the adoption process. The Planning and Zoning Commission is anticipated to conduct its first adoption hearing in July 2026 and issue its final recommendation to City Council at that time. Following the Commission recommendation, City Council is expected to consider the ordinance adopting the Updated UDC during first and second readings in July and August 2026. These hearings will provide additional opportunities for stakeholders to comment on unresolved or partially addressed provisions prior to final adoption.

You can view Georgetown’s latest UDC draft and current status here.

City of Hutto: NAIOP Austin provided recommendations on a major development code rewrite, including zoning procedures, landscaping and criteria manuals. The draft code is still in-process, and our expectation is that there will be another round of review and comment.

City of San Marcos: NAIOP Austin commented on zoning, subdivision and development processes. The draft code is still in-process and has not yet been passed.

Upcoming Reviews: Travis County, Pflugerville, Buda, Kyle, Leander, Liberty Hill, Taylor, and Dripping Springs. NAIOP Austin is assembling the technical review teams for upcoming reviews, and early participation is encouraged.

We are seeking NAIOP members (developers, land-use attorneys, engineers, architects, landscape architects, planners, and policy professionals) to assist with upcoming reviews. Even small commitments are helpful and strengthen our feedback. If interested, please reach out to Amanda Brown.