The nailbiter of a 60-day session ended on March 12, bringing the 2025-26 biennium to a welcome end. After last session’s terrifying $9 billion in new taxes, the legislature continued to feed their insatiable desire to grow government by instituting an income tax for the first time in 90 years, spooking small businesses and professional athletes alike. Putting the tax fight aside, we are proud to have four priority bills survive this spooky session and pass into law.

BIAW PRIORITIES THAT SURVIVED THIS SPOOKY SESSION

HB 2107 – Safety Notices

To make a previous BIAW priority permanent (SB 5980, 2023–24 biennium), our team partnered with L&I to extend and expand the law’s application to more construction sites. The law dictates that if L&I identifies a hazard likely to cause an injury to a worker during an inspection, they must issue notification within 10 working days -- because keeping employees safe shouldn’t have to wait.

HB 2304 – Expanding express warranty options for stack flat condos

In a follow-up to last session’s passage of HB 1403, this law expands the ability to use express warranties (like a 2-10 Home Buyers warranty) for newly constructed condos up to four stories high. This law allows builders to build stacked flats more affordably and lets you offer a better warranty than you can find in Washington’s implied warranty statute.

HB 1345 – Rural ADUs

The new law allows one ADU to be constructed per property if adequate water supply is available and each dwelling unit is individually metered. The ADU must be located within 150 feet of the principal unit, share the same driveway, and not permitted on nonconforming lots smaller than one acre. The ADU must not be larger than the principal unit and is capped at a square footage of 1,296.

The law also establishes a process for retroactively permitting unpermitted ADUs. However, property owners seeking to bring an unpermitted ADU into compliance must pay double the standard permit fees. If an ADU remains unpermitted, code enforcement may issue a $1,000 fine and require removal of the unit. Alternatively, the owner may bring the ADU into compliance, but doing so will require payment of triple the standard permitting fees. If a civil infraction is issued, the owner is prohibited from applying for an ADU permit for three years.

HB 2418 – Extending permit timelines to state agencies and utilities

It’s no secret that permit timelines are still problematic. Newly enacted legislation seeks to improve timelines for cities and counties currently being delayed by state agencies, utilities, and special purpose districts. If those entities charge a fee and they do not complete review within specified review timelines, they must refund up to 20 percent of the fee they charged.  

• 45 business days = Routine infrastructure extensions or connections that do not require specialized engineering or external regulatory approval
• 105 business days = Complex infrastructure or projects requiring specialized engineering or regulatory approval must include written notice to applicant and cannot exceed a total of 120 calendar days.

The legislation also requires local governments to assign a “permit responsible official” for residential projects. These positions can take the form of a designated official, position, office or functional unit but they must coordinate with other departments and government entities with permit review responsibilities to ensure that a final decision on project permit applications is issued within the applicable timelines. It also means that permit applicants will have a single point of contact responsible for helping them through the process.

Lastly, the legislation cleared up a few gray areas related to permit applications:

• Allows the shot clock to be paused if a fee is not paid or posted by the date/time outlined on the application.
• An applicant can waive review timelines at any point prior to denial or exhaustion of timeline for review. However, this does not mean local governments can force you to waive your rights at the onset of the permit application.
• Reiterates that within 28 calendar days, the local government must determine that the application is procedurally complete or incomplete. “Determination of procedural completeness is not a substantive review of the application and shall not be conditioned on the adequacy, accuracy, or sufficiency of the information submitted.” In essence, additional information or studies cannot be required at the procedural review stage. This should help with local governments who are currently gatekeeping or flat-out denying applications upon submission.

GHOSTING PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY HAUNT YOU

• HB 2442 – Local government fund use: Our team helped get the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) increase removed prior to the bill’s passage.
• HB 2472 – Fire sprinkler contractor certification: Our team made sure to exempt residential contractors from this new requirement.
• HB 1254 – Wildland Urban Interface Code : Although originally opposed to the legislation, our team was able to move to neutral after negotiating an amendment that limited the authority of the SBCC to fully implement the model WUI code. That amendment also included a delay in when the code could be adopted so it’s unfortunate the bill never made it to the House Floor for a vote.    

BAD BILLS WE BURIED THIS SESSION

• SB 5360 – Adding criminal penalties to environmental crimes, exposing employees to fines and felonies.
• SB 5496 – Limiting home buying by businesses and investors.   ‍
• SB 5609 – Categorical exemptions threated with stringent cultural resources regulations.
• SB 5943 – Expanding use of school impact fees for energy retrofits and teacher salaries.

‍GRAVE WARNINGS AHEAD

Sadly, these policy nightmares live on.

• HB 2105 – Requiring five days’ notice to immigrant workers when employers receive federal Notice of Inspection of Employment Eligibility Verification (Forms I-9). This places a scary burden on employes who could face frivolous lawsuits due to the private right of action included in the bill.
• SB 5847 – Expanding workers’ compensation medical network providers which could impact workers’ increase workers’ compensation premiums .‍
• SB 5981 – Updating the 340B drug program, likely to increase health insurance premiums. Read our veto request
• SB 6188 – Giving the state new authority to increase stringency of asbestos certification requirements.
• SB 6346 – Imposing a new income tax, starting with “millionaires” and small businesses.