Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a bill that would have blocked the institution of inclusionary zoning policies in the state of Louisiana, according to the New Orleans Advocate.
Earlier this month, a majority in the Louisiana House and Senate passed a bill blocking inclusionary zoning with strong support from developers who claimed that the pro-affordable housing policies would make building too costly.
Edwards' veto comes with the condition that parishes in Louisiana must enact inclusionary zoning policies by 2019, else he will not strike down another bill seeking to block them.
If the parishes do not implement inclusionary zoning policies, the governor said he will “conclude that it is not their will to utilize these strategies, and I will be inclined to sign a similar piece of legislation in the 2019 Regular Session,” Edwards said of the bill in a letter to state Sen. John Alario, the Senate president, according to the New Orleans Advocate.
This added pressure to enact or forever hold their peace is a response to parishes' reluctance to use these policies though they have been available since 2006 when the Louisiana legislature first signed them into law.
