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Land Use & Housing
AWC Priority
Refinements to the Land Use and Housing Elements of GMA Plans (ESHB 1727)
After months of discussions among interests representing cities, counties, realtors and environmental groups, there was agreement on language that would have "fine tuned" some GMA-planning requirements and promoted consultations among cities and counties about how to better coordinate development in unincorporated urban growth areas. Such an agreement was not enough to convince the Senate that such incremental changes should be passed.
Passage of ESHB 1727 got caught up in disputes between the House and Senate; not necessarily over the content of the bill, but over the failure of unrelated measures to move forward in one or the other chamber. Once that roadblock became evident, interests worked to amend the agreed upon language (noted above) on to E2SHB 1359, a bill dealing with affordable housing issues. Again, as can be the case towards the end of a legislative session, attempts to amend this agreement on to the bill were thwarted by other disagreements. In the end, none of the GMA or city/county consultation language was enacted.
AWC is disappointed that language was not adopted that recognizes the need to promote better cooperation between cities and counties in some areas to facilitate enactment of consistent development regulations in the incorporated and unincorporated parts of GMA urban growth areas. We will continue to work this issue over the interim and expect it will be back before the legislature next session.
Additionally, AWC will continue to work with interests that crafted ideas to promote opportunities for affordable housing. We will team up with groups such as the Realtors to figure out ways under current law to promote more housing choices in cities.
For more information, please contact Dave Williams, davew@awcnet.org.
AWC Priority
Timing of Accrual of Property Tax Revenues (ESSB 5836)
This bill expedites the transfer of library and fire district property taxes in areas containing these services when annexed to a city. The bill is on its way to the Governor for signature and was the only annexation-related bill promoted by AWC that passed this session. Over the interim, we will accept the offer of assistance from the fire districts to explore ways to remove their concerns with facilitating annexations in hopes of coming back next session to pass some or all of our legislation.
SHB 1458 requires new notice requirements to property owners before condemnation decisions/actions may occur. The bill was signed by the Governor on April 17 and takes effect on July 22, 90 days after session.
ESHB 2016 would have provided for a "first right of refusal" to owners of property acquired through eminent domain but not utilized and clarified the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes. The bill failed to come to the Senate floor for a vote before the Legislature adjourned due both to time and policy concerns.
We expect the Attorney General will convene a task force over the interim to look at a number or potential issues surrounding this topic. AWC will want to participate and will update members when more is known.
For more information, please contact either Sheila Gall, sheilag@awcnet.org, or Dave Williams, davew@awcnet.org.
AWC Priority
Regulating House-Banked Social Card Games (ESSB 5558)
ESSB 5558 failed to pass out of the House by the Friday, April 13 cut-off and died. The bill had been on the calendar for a number of days without movement. House leadership, including the Speaker, was concerned about unintended consequences associated with the cap on gambling licenses. The same legislators were sympathetic with city gambling/land use issues and indicated an interest in addressing these issues. We expect to advance this issue again next year and hope to capitalize on this legislative interest. For details about the latest version of the bill, please see the Land Use section of the April 13 Bulletin.
Further information about this issue will be provided in the Final Legislative Bulletin in May. Please contact Jim Justin at jimj@awcnet.orgor Sheila Gall at sheilag@awcnet.org with questions or comments.
Additional Affordable Housing Funding (E2SHB 1359)
In the end, this bill that had once included amendments to the Growth Management Act and a new program targeted at homelessness, was pared down to include an additional $8 document recording fee, 90% of which is distributed to the county to support their housing plan. If a city elects to run its own homeless housing program, the city would be eligible to receive these funds. To date, cities have elected to coordinate their efforts with their county.
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