HB 1099 intended to improve the state's climate response through updates to the Growth Management Act (GMA), specifically by adding a climate change goal and element. The bill almost made it across the finish line last year, so it started ahead of the game this session and passed out of the House the second week. AWC supported this proposal and continued to advocate for funding to implement it.

The bill passed out of its Senate policy committee with amendments focused on vulnerable populations and overburdened communities in the planning process. However, it took a sharp turn as it left the Senate Ways & Means Committee, as they removed all requirements for greenhouse gas emission (GHG) and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reductions, focusing on resiliency planning instead. That version passed the Senate, but because it was different than the House-passed version, it had to be approved by the House.

This set off a scramble to see if a stronger bill could still be negotiated in the conference committee, convened to come to agreement on what the ultimate bill would look like. If agreement is reached in the conference committee on a bill, it then goes back to each chamber—in sequence—for an up or down vote only—no amendments.

The conference committee managed to come to agreement by taking the climate and resiliency planning in the bill, attaching an optional version of the Governor’s missing middle bill (HB 1782), and pairing that concept with a real estate excise tax (REET) revenue sharing for cities that authorize certain missing middle housing types near transit (HB 1157). That spliced version of HB 1099 passed the Senate but ran out of time in the House and was never voted on—a very disappointing end for a compromise bill that spanned two years and countless hours.