A bill from last session has been reintroduced and passed the Senate.

The substitute version of SB 5946 was poised to pass the Legislature last session. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Nguyen (D–Burien), would provide an exemption from State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review for permit actions to site temporary shelters or transitional encampments.

As a threshold requirement, a local jurisdiction must have declared a state of emergency on homelessness. The bill then outlines requirements that facilities must meet to qualify for the SEPA exemption. Facilities must:

• Be used by people experiencing homelessness;
• Have less than two hundred beds;
• Not allow the use of drugs or alcohol;
• Not require permanent structures;
• Not be sited within 1,000 feet of a public or private school or early learning facility unless approved; and
• Not be used for more than three years.

Dates to remember

SB 5946 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Environment & Energy Committee at 8 am on Thursday, February 20.