Hartford — After a five-hour debate, the Democratic majority in the state Senate approved legislation on Wednesday that would make it easier for owners of commercial property to covert to residential units.

The bill, which would take effect on Oct. 1, next moves to the House of Representatives. If approved there and signed into law by the governor, who proposed similar legislation during his February State of the State address, it would let owners of retail, office and hotel space make partial or total conversions to apartments, in an attempt to address the state's housing crisis.

It would require local zoning officials to approve conversion plans, and would free developers from public hearings, special permits or other discretionary zoning action. The legislation would not apply to industrial buildings including warehouses.

During a debate, which took up the entire afternoon with only a week left in the legislative session, suburban Republicans who are a 24-12 minority, criticized what they said is an attack on their local zoning regulations officials. The vote was 22-12 with two senators, both Democrats, missing.

The bill was a victory for Sen. MD Rahman, D-Manchester, the co-chairman of the legislative Planning and Development Committee who headed a task force on affordable housing that failed earlier in the year to reach an agreement on recommendations to the General Assembly. He said the housing crisis necessitates the need for easing the conversion process.

"This bill does not exempt converted buildings from any applicable building or fire safety codes," Rahman during the debate. "We all know we have thousands of commercial properties, offices, retail, hotels, motels, closed, unused at this time. So, we have a housing shortage." He said that properties that are currently vacant and blighted will become more attractive for transformation and get back on the tax rolls.

Sen. Ryan Fazio, of Greenwich, a ranking member of the Planning and Development Committee who voted against the bill in committee and Wednesday, agreed that there is a need for more housing units both in the state and the nation, and non-residential conversions are also happening everywhere.

"Indeed, I think localities and zoning officials and certainly the market, the real estate market, has and will continue to make that transition from some properties that are currently zoned and used for commercial purposes to be converted and rezoned for residential purposes," Fazio said. "There is a market shift on demands for more residential, as more and more people work from home. That is creating a greater demand on the residential real estate market as office space is actually seeing reduced demand."

He said that in his district, which includes parts of New Canaan and Stamford, such conversions are also happening. In particular, he said in Greenwich, local zoning officials have been approving such conversions along Route 1, creating mixed-use neighborhoods. "At the same time, it is necessary that we respect the time-honored traditions in this state of home rule and local control," Fazio said. "We can solve problems in a discrete and decentralized manner. We can do so with local voters having as much input as possible. We can also have state policy that pushes us in the right direction without having one-size-fits-all."

Sen. Tony Hwang, a member of the Planning and Development Committee, who also voted against the bill, railed for several minutes on a lack of affordable housing requirements in the bill, and the ability of developers to avoid public zoning hearings.

"The key word is no public hearing, no public input, no insight from local zoning authorities," said Hwang, in his fifth term in the Senate representing Bethel, Fairfield, Easton, Newtown and Weston. "It literally gives a carte blanche to the owner of a commercial property to redevelop that property. That's what we're doing in this bill, because when you take away the right of local zoning authorities, local public hearings and the granting of approval beyond special permits and provisions, you have just given a blank check to a developer. It is profound."

"You can convert the property the way you want it," Rahman said. "As I mentioned earlier, you have to meet all the normal zoning regulations."

"But we have an affordable housing crisis in the state of Connecticut," Hwang said during a question-and-answer session with Rahman, noting that in his hometown, developers are required to make 10 percent of new units affordable.

"Any additional housing is a good thing. We need it at this time," Rahman said, adding that there are no such requirements for affordable units.

"This bill doesn't differentiate a $10,000-a-month unit to a medium-income requirement," Hwang said, his voice rising. "Why? If we're talking about a housing crisis, why do we not take the advantage to leverage and create affordable housing stock? This is a fantastic opportunity for us to put the light hand of government, as we have done in taking away local as-of-right governance, to impress upon the developer to include affordable deed-restricted housing. But no, there is no affordable housing component. This is so, in my mind, distant and off-target from the goals that we aspire to in regards to addressing housing needs."

Others who voted against the bill included Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, Sen. Eric Berthel, R-Watertown and Sen. Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford.