Bill Description: House Bill 801 would limit local government restrictions on new multifamily and mixed-use housing developments on religious land. 

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NOTE: House Bill 801 is similar to Senate Bill 1278 (2026), but this bill removes the enforcement mechanism allowing an aggrieved party to bring an action in district court.

Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

House Bill 801 would create Section 67-6541, Idaho Code, to require cities and counties to allow multifamily and mixed-use development as allowable uses on religious land and to prevent them from requiring “a zoning change, variance, conditional use permit, or other special approval in order to permit such uses on religious land.”

The bill defines “Religious land” as “land owned by a religious organization or land leased by a religious organization for a term of no less than forty (40) years.”

The bill includes a number of specific limits on local regulation of religious land.

This bill would expand property rights and reduce government meddling in the market, which reduces the availability of housing. 

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