July 20, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Michael Andersen, Sightline Institute, michael@sightline.org
PORTLAND, OR – In the 2023 legislative session, more than a dozen US states have proposed legislation to reduce the overbuilding of parking lots. That’s according to a newly published list from think tank Sightline Institute of all measures proposed or passed in state legislatures so far this year.
For decades, nearly every town across North America has required all new homes and businesses to have a pre-determined number of parking spaces. But as housing shortages and empty office buildings have gotten more widespread, states are increasingly taking up the effort to allow sites more cost-saving flexibility instead of waiting for cities to adopt new codes one by one. Last year, Oregon and California both adopted policies that struck down parking mandates at the state level.
“We were aware of a handful of state parking reforms passing or nearly passing this year,” says Catie Gould, author of the analysis and senior transportation researcher for Sightline. “What we hadn’t previously realized was how many bills were introduced this year. This idea suddenly has quite a bit of traction.”
See the full list and accompanying article: From Vermont to Oklahoma, Legislatures Challenge Parking Mandates
Related: Beyond Parking Mandates | Data and insights on the growing movement to break free from parking mandates.
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Catie Gould is Senior Transportation Researcher at Sightline Institute. View her latest research, and follow her at @Citizen_Cate.
Michael Andersen is Senior Housing Researcher and Transportation Lead at Sightline Institute. View his latest research, and follow him at @andersem.
Sightline Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank providing leading original analysis of housing, democracy, forests, and energy policy in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, and beyond.
