Week of January 24th: Legislative Update
In the short term, we get a bit of a breather. HB 1099 now heads to the Senate, where it won’t be heard until after February 15th. But once we get to the Senate, we need all hands on deck to see this bill to the finish line.
Join us on Wednesday at 6 PM for our HB 1099 text bank, where we’ll engage supporters like you all over Washington on this climate legislation. Together, we can build the momentum we need heading into the Senate. RSVP today!
But, wait – there’s more!
Our other priority legislation, SB 5042, our bill to close the sprawl loophole in the GMA, is on the verge of a vote on the Senate floor – we’re expecting a vote as early as Wednesday.
Last week, we launched a story map to help you visualize the impacts of sprawl in our communities. I highly recommend checking it out.
Most importantly, if you haven’t already, now is the time to contact your senator to ask him or her to VOTE YES on SB 5042!
Send your email NOW!
Bonus: What’s going on with missing middle housing
A few weeks ago, we flagged the Homes4WA bill (HB 1782/SB 5670) introduced by Senator Mona Das and Representative Jessica Bateman that aims to create additional middle housing near transit and in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family detached housing. Since then, there’s been a lot of discussion in the Democratic caucus about how to best tackle our housing crisis through changing restrictive zoning policies.
One of the roles that Futurewise plays in the legislature is to make sure that bills that pass are good policy, legally sound and are implementable at the local level. We’re excited to see serious consideration of missing middle housing legislation this session. It’s really crucial not only that we pass missing middle housing legislation, but that we do it well and we do it right the first time. As it stands right now, we think that the Homes4WA bill (HB 1782/SB 5670) is our best shot to achieve our housing goals.
Legislators need to hear from you!
Send an email to your legislators in support of Homes4WA
Thank you again for your support in getting HB 1099 out of the House. Now on to seeing SB 5042 out of the Senate!