HB 1923 had a very busy week, ultimately passing the House in a much better form for cities. This is the key bill proposing to increase urban residential capacity, density, and affordable housing. After the committee-passed version stripped all funding for the city work required in the bill, Rep. Gerry Pollet (D–Seattle) circulated an action letter among the House of Representatives. Fifteen legislators signed showing their support for three core principles on housing and land use bills:
- Existing local work should be honored, and strong grandfathering language is needed;
- Mandates must be accompanied by funding or other revenue authority; and
- Providing tools and options are preferential to micromanaging city land use decisions.
Their support letter concluded that HB 1923 should not move forward until funding was secured.
On March 9, the sponsor of HB 1923 approached AWC with a proposal to restart discussions on the bill if a provision was added that the planning and implementation elements (Sections 1 and 2) would be void if funding was not appropriated. With that commitment in the most recent proposal, AWC restarted conversations about how the bill might be amended to gain our support.
AWC worked with other stakeholders and legislators to develop an alternative version of HB 1923 that did not include any mandates for cities. The new version provides a menu of housing policy options. Any action taken by cities to adopt any of these options would be exempted from the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), including SEPA appeal. The safe harbor provides cities with more certainty that voluntary policy choices would not be bogged down in legal appeals. On March 13, cutoff day for the bill to move, the House passed our proposed version of the bill.
AWC thanks the support of Rep. Pollet, and the work of the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D–Burien), to reach an agreement, and to any members who reached out to their delegation. We will continue to watch and engage on this bill as it continues to move through the Legislature.