Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito made a stop in Salem Friday as part of a statewide campaign to drum up support for a bill that would make it easier for municipalities to approve housing construction projects.

An Act to Promote Housing Choices calls for targeted zoning reform to advance new housing production in Massachusetts and help produce 135,000 new housing units by 2025.

Polito and Baker are campaigning in locations throughout Massachusetts as the state legislature has yet to schedule a committee hearing for the bill, although in March Housing Committee co-chair Rep. Kevin Honan, D-Allston, promised a hearing “fairly soon.” Baker and Polito said they chose Salem for their latest stop because of Mayor Kim Driscoll’s recent, high-profile effort to rezone vacant downtown properties for housing, which failed several city council votes after being unable to muster the requisite two-thirds majority on the council despite having the backing of a majority of council members.

“Over the last four years, our administration has prioritized housing, investing in the production and preservation of more than 15,000 affordable units, and signing the largest housing bill in Massachusetts history, but decades of strict zoning rules have hampered the development communities need,” Baker said in a statement.“By making it easier for cities and towns to adopt the best practices needed to advance new housing production and facilitate long-term planning, our Housing Choice legislation will help the commonwealth reach our goal of 135,000 new units by 2025.”

“As former municipal leaders, Governor Baker and I believe strongly in empowering local decision-making. That’s why we looked to stories like Salem’s struggle to enact majority-backed zoning reform while crafting our Housing Choice legislation,” Polito said in a statement. “We believe strongly in the bill’s promise to promote housing production while maintaining local authority, and are thankful to Mayors Cahill and Driscoll for their perspective and support.”

The Housing Choice bill would change the threshold for making zoning and other changes to enable housing construction to a simple majority vote, rather than the current two-thirds supermajority. This legislation will not mandate cities and towns to make any of these zoning changes, but will allow municipalities that want to rezone for denser development and new housing to do so more easily. Massachusetts is currently one of only a few states to require a supermajority to change local zoning.

Zoning changes that would qualify for the simple majority threshold include:

• Building mixed-use, multifamily and starter homes, and adopting 40R “Smart Growth” zoning in town centers and near transit.
• Allowing the development of accessory dwelling units, also known as “in-law” apartments.
• Approving Smart Growth or Starter Homes districts that put housing near existing activity centers.
• Granting increased density through a special permit process.
• Allowing for the transfer of development rights and enacting natural resource protection zoning.
• Reducing parking requirements and dimensional requirements, such as minimum lot sizes.

This legislation also includes a provision, added by the Joint Committee on Housing last session, that would reduce the voting threshold for a special permit issued by a local permit granting authority to a simple majority vote, for certain multi-family or mixed-use projects with at least 10 percent affordable units in locations near transit or, in centers of commercial activity within a municipality.