President’s message

The 2023 legislative session is scheduled to come to an end on April 23—and time will tell if our legislators will truly honor the commitment to housing so many of them shared when session started back in January.

The BIAW legislative team reports the most promising legislative session in a while—and we thank all our members who’ve been answering our calls to action, visiting our legislative action center to sign in pro or con, and testifying before the legislature at important hearings. We’re especially grateful for all the members who joined our Legislative Action Day just a few weeks ago!

Legislative Action Day resulted in huge success

For the first time since 2020, home builders, remodelers and associates from across Washington met in person with their legislators at the Washington State Capitol. With a renewed focus on Washington’s housing shortage, most of our members told us they had great meetings with their legislators during BIAW’s Builder Legislative Day on March 21.

Government affairs staff from across the state did a wonderful job scheduling meetings and preparing members to discuss our issues. BIAW staff made sure everyone had talking points as well as a stack of 310 $100 “BIAW bucks” to represent the average $31,000 added to the price of a new home due to permitting delays at local permit departments.

the House Laurie Jinkins, who stayed for more than an hour to discuss housing with members.

Stay tuned to help out in the final days of session

As this issue of Building Insight goes to print, several important pro-housing bills continue through the legislature. Bills allowing for more “middle housing” and “transit-oriented development” help our more urban areas accommodate more families and reduce commutes by increasing housing density.

We’re also having good success on bills that help builders across the state reduce the cost of building new homes and remodeling existing ones by consolidating permit review processes, improving State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review and exempting certain interior remodel permits from full site reviews.

But as you’ll read in this month’s legislative update, there are many other bills that continue to throw up barriers to home building and increase costs for everyone. In a particularly awful move, Puget Sound Energy is pushing a bill to eliminate natural gas for all new construction in its service area by June 30, 2023 and for all customers by 2050. They’re transferring their costs to decarbonize onto the backs of their existing ratepayers, forcing families to choose between heating their homes or buying groceries.

At a time when we’re facing a housing shortage and skyrocketing inflation, BIAW is fighting hard, not just for builders, but for the families we serve.

Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins at the Hammer & Highballs Legislative Reception with BIAW President Gary Wray, Executive Vice President Greg Lane and First Vice President/ Treasurer Jay Roberts.

Our Hammers & Highballs reception later that evening gave members a chance to socialize with legislators from both parties. Over 200 legislators, members and guests attended the event, including Speaker of

Stay tuned for full coverage of the Winter Board Meeting and Legislative Action Day in the May issue of Building Insight!