That's all, folks!"

In the immortal words of one famous pig, "That's all, folks!"*

We once again had a successful legislative session. Although we weren’t able to get some of the priority legislation we supported across the finish line, we were able to stop all the bad bills.  And the number one offender, grabbed by the nape of its collar like a criminal in keystone cops, rent control, got yanked back from the edge of the floor. Our allies and those concerned with the detrimental effects  the bill would have had on our industry, the housing market and supply tried their best in the House, ultimately, they were only able to stall it until the last possible minute.  After passing the house, it hit a brick wall in the Senate Ways and Means committee, dooming it to a life in committee purgatory.

Another large concern that went nowhere was Senator Kuderer’s ham-handed attempt to create a “voluntary” rent cap by imposing a B&O tax on the industry. Akin to your local department stores raising their prices to immediately discount them and call it a sale, this would have instituted a B&O tax on the industry that could be avoided by agreeing to a rent increase cap. Although it made it out of Senate Housing (the committee she chairs) it went nowhere in the next committee, Senate Ways and Means.

The pet deposit and credit reporting bills also stalled in committee due to the efforts of our team, but more importantly due to the input of our members and the committee testimony of a few key supplier members.  Due to their efforts, the sponsors of the bills heard our concerns and agreed to meet during the interim to discuss more equitable and reasonable solutions on these issues.

On a more expansive and far-reaching note, the real estate transfer tax (RETT) proposal also died. The opposition was supported by a large number of stakeholders including WMFHA, Washington Realtors, Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP), Building Owners and Managers Association of Greater Seattle (BOMA), Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), the Rental Housing Association of Washington (RHA), Washington Business Properties Association and others.  Through direct lobbying, member advocacy, committee testimony and an extensive advertising and public engagement campaign, we were able to prevent an additional 1% tax on the transfer of real estate.

Unfortunately, the bills we supported also fell short, either due to the compressed timeline of the short session or lack of majority support. The number one priority was Senator Mark Mullett’s bill that would have made changes to the unlawful detainer process to make it more predictable, reasonable, and most importantly, quicker. Although it did not move out of its first committee, it did serve an important purpose; providing a venue to highlight the broken unlawful detainer and eviction process, especially in King County. There were also a few housing supply bills, such as a tax incentive to convert commercial buildings to multi-family and a change to the Growth Management Act (GMA), that would have allowed a small expansion to urban growth boundaries in specific circumstances.

Although these are just the highlights, there are several other bills we were active on during the session. We will be releasing a more expansive legislative wrap-up once we are able to decompress and thoroughly analyze the session, but we recommended you immediately register for the 2024 Legislative Wrap-Up Webinar on April 3. This is the absolute best way to find out what just happened…over the last two months.

High Priority Bills

Medium Priority Bills