SB 5729 has had quite an adventure in the Legislature.

Previously, the proposal would have limited the amount of application reviews and required acceptance of third-party engineer reports without city review. Those provisions were struck, and a new narrower policy has advanced.

The bill now only contains the following provisions:

• A jurisdiction may not charge an applicant for third-party peer review of submittal materials that have been reviewed by a licensed professional on staff within the same professional license scope unless there is a dispute between the local jurisdiction’s staff and the applicant.
• Nothing precludes a local jurisdiction from using a third-party licensed professional, at the applicant's cost, to review an applicant's submittal materials in lieu of such review by the local jurisdiction’s licensed professional on staff.

The substitute bill is in the Rules Committee for a third reading and teed up for a chamber vote.

Concerning permit approval bill continues to advance

January 16, 2026

SB 5729 is a familiar proposal that continues to surface in the Legislature. Although it purports to encourage construction of affordable housing by streamlining the permitting process, what it does is remove oversight and feedback loops at the most logical and least costly step in the process—the permit counter.

Last year, the Senate passed the bill, but it did not advance out of the House Local Government Committee. This session, it reverted to the Senate Housing Committee with a proposed substitute.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Chris Gildon (R–Puyallup), does the following:

• Deems a building permit complete if prepared, stamped, and signed by a professional engineer or architect under specified conditions.
• Deems a project permit application approved following three reviews or requests for additional information by the local government if it complies with the comprehensive plan and development regulations. Additional review and requests are allowed but “informally.”

In addition, a new provision requires that if a city has a licensed professional on staff qualified to review submittal materials from applicants within the scope of the profession for which the individual is licensed and registered, the local jurisdiction must bear all costs and the jurisdiction can't recover the cost of a third-party reviewer via permit fees.

Date to remember

SB 5729 will be heard in the Senate Housing Committee on Wednesday, January 21, at 10:30 am.