Legislative Update
Gone in 60 days: BIAW races to keep homes affordable by Jan Himebaugh Government Affairs Director
n Net ecological gain standard in land use Much like the car thief played by Nicolas Cage in the 2000 movie, Gone in 60 Seconds, Gov. Inslee and majority party legislators had big ambitions, but not much time to achieve their goals this session—and the stakes were very high. Historically, the political party in control of the White House loses seats in the off-year election. A pre-session Elway poll confirmed that trend in Washington state, as voter support for Democrats shows dropping from 52% in 2020 to 42%, with Republicans gaining ground. So faced with losing seats in this fall’s elections, Gov. Inslee, environmental interest groups and antihousing Democrats entered the 2022 legislative Session with their sights set on getting as much as they could as fast as they could. Having appointed Steve Hobbs from the Senate to Secretary of State, that coalition was confident the path was cleared for their anti-housing agenda to pass this session. But the Governor and the anti-housing activists didn’t count on the opposition of BIAW members, our Government Affairs team and pro-housing Republicans and Democrats. By the time session ended March 11, BIAW and our partners had worked with legislators to block every bill on the Governor’s anti-housing agenda except one: n Net-zero energy codes
DID NOT PASS
Builders already must meet current state requirements to be 70% more efficient by 2030. HB 1770 attempted to change the target and add new carbon reduction goals. New requirements in this bill would have added over $39,000 to the price of a home. This bill also died in the Senate.
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building insight
DID NOT PASS
HB 1117 would have implemented a net ecological gain standard to development regulations, driving up costs for all homes connected to public infrastructure like water, sewer and power. This one also came to its final resting place in the Senate. n Climate change in Growth Management Act (GMA) DID NOT PASS HB 1099 would have required certain GMA cities and counties to account for climate change in comprehensive planning—including a requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled. It passed both chambers in different forms and went to conference. The conference committee adopted a compromise proposal. The Senate passed the compromise on the last day of session. Due to consistent time management issues by the House Majority, the bill died in the final minutes of session. n Job-killing ergonomics regulations
DID NOT PASS
In 2003, BIAW helped pass Initiative 841, which directed the state Dept. of Labor & Industries to repeal its job-killing ergonomics rules. HB 1837 was an attempt to revive ergonomics rules. Thankfully we were able to kill this bill in the Senate. n Increased land use uncertainty for builders
PASSED
Unfortunately, BIAW wasn’t able to kill all the bad bills. After years of battle, SB 5042, the big, bad vesting bill, made its way through the Legislature and to the governor’s desk. This bill erodes certainty for builders and puts land-use planning decisions in the courts.
