Legislative Update (March 2026)
Our legislative update lets you know about the bills that Friends of Clark County is following in the Washington State Legislature.
This is a very short session with two very big problems:
- State budget deficits due to declining revenues and
- Concerns about federal spending cuts.
We received good news on February 16th that the 2 year revenue forecast for Washington State is considerably better than what was projected at the end of last session. But, bills that reduce revenues or spend more money still face an uphill climb.
A lot of bills never got out of their committee or their house of origin before the cutoff dates.
Of the over 30 bills we were tracking at the start of session, we are left with only a few as of February 21st. Those are:
- Bills FOCC Supports (Pro):
- SB 5820 – Removes FRDU (Freight Rail Dependent Uses) overlay for Clark County. FOCC has been advocating heavily around this one. Be sure to take our Call to Action to Help Protect Clark County From Irresponsible Railroad Expansion if you haven’t already.
- ESSB 5552 – building codes for Kit Homes. Helps with affordable housing.
- HB 2304 – Increasing supply of condos by expanding what is subject to express warranty and express warranty insurance coverage. Passed both chambers.
- HB 2238 – Statewide food security. Hearing in Ways & Means February 27th. Data collection leading to strategy work.
- HB 2170 / SB 5999 – Ecosystem services bill. Did not make it through this legislative session.
- Futurewise (our state-level partners and Growth Management Act advocates) Priorities:
- HB 2266 – Encourage permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, indoor emergency housing, and indoor emergency shelters. Prohibits some restrictions and requires they be allowed within UGAs.
- HB 2269 – Allow Middle Housing in areas of more intensive rural development in unincorporated areas. Requires such to be served by a publicly owned sewer system or large onsite septic. – Passed both chambers.
- HB 2294 – Prohibits negative use restrictions on real property that have the effect of limiting consumer access to food and medicine.
- Other Bills FOCC is Tracking:
- SB 5994 – Preserving Timber tax revenue for school districts with recent school levy failures. Scheduled for House Finance committee March 2nd.
- SB 6062 – Relating to residential development in commercial and mixed-use zones. Limits restrictions that can be imposed. It and its companion both died in committee this session.
- SB 6027 – Expanding allowable uses for certain local sales and use taxes collected for housing and related services for affordable and supportive housing. Finance committee on March 2nd.
Fortunately, many bills FOCC opposed all died, including continued attempts to open up rural areas to unfettered accessory dwelling unit (ADU) development. This would allow a 2nd home on rural lots zoned for 1. An ADU can be 1200 sq feet! We also had a win for forests and streams when HB 2620 died, which sought to overturn the Forest Practices Board’s vital stream protection rule and provide more giveaways to the timber industry.
The next cutoff date is March 2nd, when bills have to be out of fiscal committees. Some of the above bills are pending fiscal committee review, others just need to survive a floor vote in the opposite chamber by March 6th, and a couple just need to be signed by the Governor. .
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