A Senate bill addressing the urgency of homeless encampments has been weakened by amendments and is now far less helpful as a tool for cities to address this crisis.

SB 5428 was introduced last session with the goal of removing barriers to delaying the siting of temporary shelters or encampments during a declared state of emergency on homelessness. The original bill included four reasonable criteria for a permit to be exempt from the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) requirements to conduct an environmental review. As passed out of the House policy committee, there are ten additional requirements that defeat the purpose of expediency of the SEPA exemption, with most unrelated to environmental protection. One notable example is the condition requiring the jurisdiction provide employment, mental health, and drug counseling services to persons residing on site.

AWC supports the intent of this bill and is requesting it be narrowed to achieve the goal as originally proposed—removing barriers that cause delay in siting temporary shelter for the homeless.