The Legislature is acting quickly on three bills that impact the Growth Management Act (GMA), with two bills passing out of their house of origin well ahead of the deadline.
New planning deadlines and salmon recovery goal
HB 1117, introduced last session by Rep. Debra Lekanoff (D–La Conner), made it to the floor
of the Senate but failed to receive a vote in time. This year, the bill that would incorporate net ecological gain and salmon recovery into comprehensive plans has passed the House and now heads back to the Senate. The bill is unchanged from where
it left off last session and AWC supports the current version.
HB 1117 is a much-improved version of the net-ecological gain bills we saw introduced in 2020. The bill adds salmon recovery as a GMA goal and requires jurisdictions to incorporate a net-ecological gain strategy into the land use element
during plan updates. Importantly, during implementation, the bill prohibits development regulations from requiring private projects to meet net ecological gain, although it does apply to public projects. In addition, both the capital facilities element
and the transportation element must include a schedule to eliminate fish passage barriers.
A key component of this proposal is that it would not go into effect if financial support from the state is not provided. We greatly appreciate the acknowledgment that doing this important work correctly will require additional planning resources that
cities do not currently have.
HB 1241, another proposal that almost passed the Legislature last session, has passed its policy
committee ahead of the deadline and is awaiting committee action in its fiscal committee. The bill amending comprehensive plan update timelines and implementing progress reports has not changed since our last summary.
Effective date of GMA actions
SB 5042 was the first bill out of the gate last session but stalled in its house of origin. This
year the bill, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Salomon (D–Shoreline), has advanced out of its house of origin early in session.
This bill would establish the effective date for certain actions under the GMA as the later of two dates: either 60 days after publication of the notice of adoption or, if a petition to the Growth Management Hearings Board was filed, upon issuance of
the Board’s final order.
The actions covered by the bill are:
- Urban growth area expansions;
- Removal of agricultural, forest or mineral resource land designations;
- Creation or expansion of a limited area of more intensive rural development;
- Establishment of a new fully contained community;
- Creation or expansion of a master planned resort.
In the past, AWC has stayed neutral on proposals similar to that of SB 5042. If you have thoughts or concerns with the proposal, please share them with Shannon McClelland.