Salmon, climate, and appeal safe harbors for housing action plans and increasing housing capacity are just a few of the big issues the Legislature is weighing as it moves bills forward that amend the Growth Management Act (GMA).

Climate and resilience planning

HB 1099 sponsored by Rep. Davina Duerr (D–Bothell), intends to improve the state's climate response through updates to the 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 supports this proposal and continues to advocate for funding to implement. The bill does contain a specific funding provision.

The bill just passed out of its Senate policy committee with amendments focused on more attention to vulnerable populations and overburdened communities in the planning process. HB 1099 also makes the following changes from the previous version:

• Modifies GMA elements, including:
  • Land use element: Adds consideration of greenspaces, reduction of residential development pressure in wildland urban interface areas, and protecting existing residential development through fire adaption measures;
  • Capital facilities plan element: Includes green infrastructure as part of a jurisdiction's inventory of existing capital facilities;
  • Utilities element: Provides additional utilities that must be included in the comprehensive plan, including drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater utilities;
  • Transportation element: Includes state-owned or operated transit routes that serve urban areas when measuring level of service standards;
  • Climate change and resiliency element: Adds that efforts to reduce localized greenhouse gas emissions must avoid creating or worsening localized climate impacts to vulnerable populations and overburdened communities; and
  • Resiliency subelement: Clarifies the specific goals, policies, and programs of the subelement, and adds guidance for local governments that have adopted a federal emergency management agency natural hazard mitigation plan.
• Provides that the Department of Commerce (Commerce) must publish guidelines that prioritize reductions in overburdened communities, and guidelines must be developed using an environmental justice assessment.
• Alters the effective date for counties or cities that submit a greenhouse gas emission reduction subelement plan to the department of commerce.
• Requires Commerce to include the presence of overburdened communities as part of the priority list for providing planning, technical, or financial assistance for local governments.
• Requires the department to establish funding levels for grants to community-based organizations.
• Clarifies that a model climate change and resiliency element must establish minimum requirements, including model options or voluntary cross-jurisdictional strategies, for fulfilling the new elements provided in this act.
• Defines “greenspace” and “green infrastructure.”

Tribal coordination

HB 1717, sponsored by Rep. Gerry Pollet (D–Seattle), intends to correct the fact that the GMA does not address tribal engagement or tribal sovereignty and lacks protocols for local governments to follow when engaging with tribes. Some tribes have memorandums of understanding with their neighboring local governments, which allows them to successfully coordinate on issues such as land use. This legislation would provide a formal framework and process to provide for local and tribal coordination.

Safe harbors

SB 5818, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Salomon (D–Shoreline), focuses on the costlier and time intensive aspect of planning for growth—appeals under the GMA and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). The bill would do the following:

• GMA and SEPA appeal protection for adopted HB 1923 actions. Repeals current deadline of April 2023;
• SEPA appeal protection for strategies adopted within a Housing Action Plan. Repeals current deadline of April 2023;
• GMA and SEPA appeal protection for adoption of development regulations or amendments that increase housing capacity, affordability, and mitigate displacement as required (see HB 1220) and that are outside critical areas;
• Expands SEPA categorical exemptions to include project actions that pertain to residential, multifamily, and mixed-use development and related to aesthetics and light and glare elements of the environment if they are subject to local adopted design review requirements;
• Prohibits checklist requirements or any paperwork to prove exemption; and
• Directs Ecology to modify rule-based SEPA categorical exemptions to include attached fourplex and amend maximum exemption levels.

There are continuing conversations on how to ensure the appeal protections for housing elements and housing action plans are only for those activities that expand development capacity.

Salmon, planning timelines, and effective date of GMA actions

HB 1117, HB 1241, and SB 5042 are also alive and well but have not received substantive changes since our last article. Notably, HB 1241 extends GMA comprehensive update timelines from 8 years to 10 years. Another bill, HB 1978, does the same for Shoreline Management Act periodic updates.

Dates to remember

HB 1241 and HB 1717 will be heard Monday, February 22 at 8 am in the Senate Housing & Local Government Committee and are scheduled for a committee vote the next day at 10:30 am.

SB 5818 is scheduled for public hearing and executive session on Thursday, February 24 at 10 am in the House Environment & Energy Committee.