This week the Legislature will hear a proposal from a task force charged with designing a method to assist the superior courts reduce a backlog created by the COVID-19 emergency.

SB 5225, sponsored by Sen. Sam Hunt (D–Olympia), is the recommended approach from the Appellate Committee of the Board for Judicial Administration’s Court Recovery Task Force. The bill aims to facilitate the transfer of some judicial review of cases under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and the Land Use Petition Act (LUPA) directly to the state court of appeals.

APA amendments

Under current law, such transfers from the superior to appellate court are allowed but are rare because the statutory criteria in the APA are often not satisfied. The objective of the proposed amendments is to temporarily facilitate transfers of APA adjudicative appeals by substituting new standards for those currently in the law. These changes would sunset after five years unless extended by later legislation.

LUPA amendments

Similar to that of the APA bill, the objective of the LUPA bill is to facilitate the transfers of LUPA appeals from superior court to the court of appeals for a five-year period. Unlike the APA bill, there is currently no procedure for transferring LUPA appeals from superior court to the court of appeals. The bill proposes a new section to allow this change.

The Appellate Committee did not discuss the merits of alternative land use review mechanisms, such as the one used in Oregon, as it was outside of the scope of the Committee’s charge. Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals includes land use attorneys—those with the expertise to understand this complex area of law.

Date to remember

SB 5225 is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Law & Justice Committee on Tuesday, February 9 at 10:30 am, and for a vote in the same committee on Thursday.