Essential information on each bill is below. For more details, click on the bill number – e.g., “SB 5000.” The new page will show the progress of the bill, videos of debate, and the link to send a comment to your legislator about the bill.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5748 offers an innovative solution to make development more affordable by incentivizing the reduction or elimination of impact fees. The bill allows cities and counties to replace traditional impact fees with a local sales and use tax, though it requires voter approval to do so. This tax would be capped at a rate of 1% and can only be enacted if a local government significantly reduces impact fees by at least 50%. By allowing for a substantial reduction or outright elimination of impact fees, this bill reduces the financial burden on developers, ultimately making new housing and businesses more affordable in rapidly growing areas.
Cities and counties would retain local control over how these tax revenues are spent, ensuring they go directly to the public facilities for which impact fees would have been collected, such as roads, parks, schools, and fire protection services. This will make development easier and faster, which is essential to meet the demands of a growing population. The ability to review the tax rate every three years ensures that it stays balanced with development costs and prevents unnecessary taxation. Such a system removes the financial barriers that can delay or even prevent the construction of much-needed housing and business expansions. With clear and targeted use of tax revenues, SB 5748 provides a transparent and accountable model for funding local infrastructure. This is a win-win for both developers and the communities that desperately need new homes and services.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5749 aims to address the housing supply crisis in Washington State by allowing cities and code cities to designate “housing development opportunity zones.” These zones can be established in areas with existing large commercial developments, such as shopping malls and vacant stores, to prioritize residential and mixed-use development. The bill outlines that cities can utilize existing infrastructure and may waive impact fees to reduce development costs. Additionally, the resolutions or ordinances for these zones are exempt from certain planning requirements, allowing for more flexible implementation.
To ensure accountability, the bill mandates an evaluation by the joint legislative audit and review committee to assess the number of housing units, particularly affordable housing units, created in these zones. If the review indicates that affordable housing has not increased, the legislature intends to repeal the authorization for these zones. The act is set to expire on July 1, 2045, and requires cities to cooperate with the committee in providing necessary data for the evaluation.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5753 creates a public housing task force, but it fails to take real action to address Washington’s housing crisis. Instead of promoting immediate, tangible solutions like zoning reform or incentivizing private sector development, this bill allocates time and resources on another government study. Housing shortages are a real and urgent problem, yet this bill delays progress for at least two more years while a task force discusses potential strategies.
Washington already has multiple housing agencies and programs—adding another committee to “review” issues does nothing to lower housing costs or increase supply. The bill relies on government-controlled housing instead of encouraging market-driven solutions that build homes faster and more efficiently. A state-run public housing model is expensive, slow, and prone to mismanagement, leading to long-term taxpayer burdens.
By focusing on publicly constructed and operated mixed-income housing, this task force ignores the need to reform permitting processes and reduce regulatory barriers—the real drivers of the housing crisis. Instead of empowering local governments and private developers, this bill centralizes more control at the state level, increasing inefficiencies. Washington residents deserve real, immediate housing solutions, not another taxpayer-funded task force that will likely produce yet another lengthy report.
Bill Summary
Bipartisan Senate Bill 5757 amends an RCW to enhance the regulation and oversight of automated traffic safety cameras used by cities and counties in Washington. The bill requires local legislative authorities to conduct an analysis of proposed camera locations, considering the impact on vulnerable road users, before installation or relocation. Additionally, the bill mandates that cities and counties must post annual reports detailing traffic crash statistics and the use of revenue generated from camera fines, with specific allocations for low-income communities and areas with high injury crash rates.
Significant changes include the stipulation that 50% of all revenue from automated traffic safety camera infractions must be deposited into the state motor vehicle fund. The bill also introduces provisions for reduced penalties for low-income individuals receiving public assistance, and it establishes guidelines for the use of an online ability-to-pay calculator for fine reductions. Furthermore, it clarifies that infractions detected by these cameras will not affect the registered owner’s driving record and sets a maximum fine of $145, adjustable for inflation, with potential doubling for school zone violations.
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Taxes
Expanding local taxing authority to fund public safety and community protection focused programs and services.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5775 sets a dangerous precedent by allowing significant tax increases without direct public approval. By bypassing voter approval, the bill undermines the democratic process, stripping citizens of their say in how additional taxes are levied and spent. It would expand local taxing authority by allowing counties and cities to impose a public safety sales and use tax without voter approval. It grants local governments the power to collect this tax, starting for cities on December 31, 2025. Citizens deserve to preserve democratic oversight of taxation for our communities.
In addition, counties are given the option to impose a separate criminal justice sales and use tax of 0.1 percent that does not require voter approval and is shared with cities on a per capita basis. This means that local officials can unilaterally decide on tax rates and spending allocations without the community’s direct input. Taxpayers already pay more than enough for public safety. An additional tax burden is not needed. The crime problem is not a lack of money, but includes a lack of proper punishment for crime, an undermining of police use, and far too many “soft-on-crime” judges.