| Environment For the last 32 years, the state has operated under the guidance of the Growth Management Act (GMA). This Act was intended to preserve valuable rural and resource lands and open space and direct most development into urban areas. Its requirements include planning for land use, housing, transportation and more. With the emergence of the climate change and housing crises, modifications to the GMA are being proposed to strengthen the state’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance climate resilience and mitigation and provide adequate housing for the entire population. Issue Team Chair: Cynthia Stewart, cstewart@lwvwa.org |
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Session Wrap-Up At the beginning of this legislative session, we hoped for passage of a bill that would mandate addressing climate change as both a new goal in the Growth Management Act and as a requirement for local governments to include in their comprehensive plans. HB 1181 was passed, and that objective was achieved. Environmental justice principles were also included and addressed in other legislation as well. Another pre-session objective was to address the need for housing density. A number of bills to address housing needs were introduced, including multiple bills related to accessory dwelling units and density. HB 1110, related to middle housing, passed, achieving that objective. It requires that local comprehensive plans no longer allow single family zoning, but rather, allow increased density in all residential zones, with particular increases within a half-mile walk of a major transit stop (this does not include regular bus stops).
League priority bills are in bold below.
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| House Bills | House | Senate | After Passage | |||||||||
| Bill # | Bill Name (Brief Title) | League Position | Take Action | In Committee | On Floor Calendar | Passed | In Committee | On Floor Calendar | Passed | Passed Legislature | On Governor's Desk | Signed |
| HB 1110 | Increasing middle housing in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family detached housing | Support | ||||||||||
| HB 1167 | Relating to residential housing regulations | Support | DIED | |||||||||
| HB 1181 | Improving the state's response to climate change by updating the state's planning framework. | Support | |
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| HB 1245 | Increasing housing options through lot splitting | Support | DIED |
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| HB 1425 |
Facilitating municipal annexations. | Support | ||||||||||
| HB 1620 |
Concerning the number of inhabitants required for incorporation as a city or town. | Support | ||||||||||
These weekly updates will provide you with a "deep dive" into the progress of each bill, along with more analysis of the potential impact of the bill if it should pass.
- Weekly Report 1.15.23—Read More
- Weekly Report 1.22.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 1.29.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.5.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.12.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.19.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.26.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 3.5.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 3.12.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 3.19.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 3.26.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 4.2.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 4.9.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 4.16.23— Read Here
- Session Wrap-Up 4.30.23— Read Here
SB 5235 Relating to accessory dwelling units, amends the Growth Management Act (GMA) to require cities and counties to allow for the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) within urban growth areas (UGAs), and prohibit such cities and counties from imposing certain ADU regulations.
SB 5412 Reducing local governments' land use permitting workloads, by ensuring objective and timely design review 3 for housing and other land use proposals.
SB 5466 Promoting transit-oriented development, amends the GMA in order to relate land use policies and practices to keep pace with progress being implemented in transportation infrastructure development and new investments in transit. Establishes a grant program to assist cities with development of affordable housing units in conjunction with transit service.
HB 1110 Increasing middle housing in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family detached housing. Modifies the Growth Management Act to authorize minimum development densities in residential zones.
HB 1167 Relating to residential housing regulations, establishes a grant program to assist counties and cities adopt preapproved middle housing plans and prohibits a city or county from imposing any regulations, reviews, or standards on multiplex housing that is not applied to detached single family residences.
HB 1181 Improving the state's response to climate change by updating the state's planning framework. This bill substantially changes the GMA and comprehensive planning process by adding a new section to the GMA related to climate change and resiliency and adds a climate change and resiliency element to the list of elements that must be included within the local comprehensive plans.
HB 1245 Increasing housing options through lot splitting, would amend the GMA
HB 1425 Facilitating municipal annexations would change the number of residents required for annexation in small communities.
HB 1620 Concerning the number of inhabitants required for incorporation as a city or town. This bill would remove the requirement that an area must have at least 3,000 inhabitants, instead of the otherwise standard 1,500, to incorporate if it is within 5 air miles of a city with a population of 15,000 or more.
Bills that Died
SB 5190 Companion bill to HB 1110 above.
SB 5203 Companion bill to HB 1181 above.
SB 5357 Establishing limitations on detached accessory dwelling units outside urban growth areas.
SB 5364 Increasing housing options through lot splitting, would amend the GMA to prohibit, within a residential zone that allows for the development of detached single-family residences, the splitting of a single residential lot into two residential lots under certain conditions.
SB 5456 Minimum Parking Requirements, would support transit-oriented development by modifying the Growth Management Act to prohibit parking requirements in circumstances related to transit service.
SB 5651 Concerning equity and environmental justice in the growth management act. Companion bill to HB 1723 below.
HB 1133 Establishing limitations on detached accessory dwelling units outside urban growth areas.
HB 1351 Encouraging transit-oriented development through a prohibition on the imposition of minimum parking requirements.
HB 1401 Allowing cities and counties to create a simple, standardized housing permit process for affordable housing units in areas designated for housing. This bill amends the Growth Management Act to allow all cities and counties to adopt development regulations that create a simple, low cost, expedited permit process for development of single-family, duplex, triplex, or accessory dwelling housing units with less than 1,801 square feet per unit and requires those jurisdictions who do this to report on units built.
HB 1611 Concerning local government permitting. This bill modifies the Growth Management Act to mandate a review of permitting processes by March 2024 in most jurisdictions to assure that deadlines for various steps in permitting specified in the bill will be met.
HB 1723 Concerning equity and environmental justice in the growth management act. This bill would add environmental justice as a planning goal in the Growth Management Act and as an element in local comprehensive plans.
HB 1735 Adding net ecological gain as a voluntary element of comprehensive plans under the growth management act with support from the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.
How To Be Involved
To be involved in support of the League’s work on growth management issues , you can:
- Respond to Action Alerts in the legislative newsletter. These will primarily appear in the section of the newsletter related to growth management.
- Contact Cynthia Stewart, cstewart@lwvwa.org., to receive additional information.