The issue focused on the so-called contract method of doing business that allows companies and landlords to include clauses that give their tenants a legal right to be evicted if the tenant refuses to pay rent. Lawmakers tried to strike a deal with the Department of Justice that would have extended the law to all state and local governments, but that legislation died in committee on the state Senate floor last year.


But the Senate passed legislation by a vote of 11 to 2 this month that would give some housing rights to