H-1038.2
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1449
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2023 Regular Session
By House Local Government (originally sponsored by Representatives
Alvarado, Hutchins, Fitzgibbon, Simmons, Christian, Low, Reed,
Gregerson, Macri, and Bateman)
READ FIRST TIME 02/07/23.
1 AN ACT Relating to amending reporting requirements for the
2 project permit application processing timeline; and amending RCW
3 36.70B.020, 36.70B.080, and 36.70A.500.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
5 Sec. 1. RCW 36.70B.020 and 1995 c 347 s 402 are each amended to
6 read as follows:
7 Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in
8 this section apply throughout this chapter.
9 (1) "Closed record appeal" means an administrative appeal on the
10 record to a local government body or officer, including the
11 legislative body, following an open record hearing on a project
12 permit application when the appeal is on the record with no or
13 limited new evidence or information allowed to be submitted and only
14 appeal argument allowed.
15 (2) "Local government" means a county, city, or town.
16 (3) "Open record hearing" means a hearing, conducted by a single
17 hearing body or officer authorized by the local government to conduct
18 such hearings, that creates the local government's record through
19 testimony and submission of evidence and information, under
20 procedures prescribed by the local government by ordinance or
21 resolution. An open record hearing may be held prior to a local
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 1 government's decision on a project permit to be known as an "open
2 record predecision hearing." An open record hearing may be held on an
3 appeal, to be known as an "open record appeal hearing," if no open
4 record predecision hearing has been held on the project permit.
5 (4) "Project permit" or "project permit application" means any
6 land use or environmental permit ((or license)) required from a local
7 government for a project action, including but not limited to
8 ((building permits,)) subdivisions, binding site plans, planned unit
9 developments, conditional uses, shoreline substantial development
10 permits, site plan review, permits or approvals required by critical
11 area ordinances, site-specific rezones authorized by a comprehensive
12 plan or subarea plan, but excluding the adoption or amendment of a
13 comprehensive plan, subarea plan, or development regulations except
14 as otherwise specifically included in this subsection.
15 (5) "Public meeting" means an informal meeting, hearing,
16 workshop, or other public gathering of people to obtain comments from
17 the public or other agencies on a proposed project permit prior to
18 the local government's decision. A public meeting may include, but is
19 not limited to, a design review or architectural control board
20 meeting, a special review district or community council meeting, or a
21 scoping meeting on a draft environmental impact statement. A public
22 meeting does not include an open record hearing. The proceedings at a
23 public meeting may be recorded and a report or recommendation may be
24 included in the local government's project permit application file.
25 Sec. 2. RCW 36.70B.080 and 2004 c 191 s 2 are each amended to
26 read as follows:
27 (1) Development regulations adopted pursuant to RCW 36.70A.040
28 must establish and implement time periods for local government
29 actions for each type of project permit application and provide
30 timely and predictable procedures to determine whether a completed
31 project permit application meets the requirements of those
32 development regulations. The time periods for local government
33 actions for each type of complete project permit application or
34 project type should not exceed one hundred twenty days, unless the
35 local government makes written findings that a specified amount of
36 additional time is needed to process specific complete project permit
37 applications or project types.
38 The development regulations must, for each type of permit
39 application, specify the contents of a completed project permit
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 1 application necessary for the complete compliance with the time
2 periods and procedures.
3 (2)(a) Counties subject to the requirements of RCW 36.70A.215 and
4 the cities within those counties that have populations of at least
5 ((twenty thousand)) 20,000 must, for each type of permit application,
6 identify the total number of project permit applications for which
7 decisions are issued according to the provisions of this chapter. For
8 each type of project permit application identified, these counties
9 and cities must establish and implement a deadline for issuing a
10 notice of final decision as required by subsection (1) of this
11 section and minimum requirements for applications to be deemed
12 complete under RCW 36.70B.070 as required by subsection (1) of this
13 section.
14 (b) Counties and cities subject to the requirements of this
15 subsection also must prepare an annual performance report((s)) that
16 ((include, at a minimum, the following information for each type of
17 project permit application identified in accordance with the
18 requirements of (a) of this subsection:
19 (i) Total number of complete applications received during the
20 year;
21 (ii) Number of complete applications received during the year for
22 which a notice of final decision was issued before the deadline
23 established under this subsection;
24 (iii) Number of applications received during the year for which a
25 notice of final decision was issued after the deadline established
26 under this subsection;
27 (iv) Number of applications received during the year for which an
28 extension of time was mutually agreed upon by the applicant and the
29 county or city;
30 (v) Variance of actual performance, excluding applications for
31 which mutually agreed time extensions have occurred, to the deadline
32 established under this subsection during the year; and
33 (vi) The mean processing time and the number standard deviation
34 from the mean.
35 (c) Counties and cities subject to the requirements of this
36 subsection must:
37 (i) Provide notice of and access to the annual performance
38 reports through the county's or city's website; and
39 (ii) Post electronic facsimiles of the annual performance reports
40 through the county's or city's website. Postings on a county's or
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 1 city's website indicating that the reports are available by
2 contacting the appropriate county or city department or official do
3 not comply with the requirements of this subsection.
4 If a county or city subject to the requirements of this
5 subsection does not maintain a website, notice of the reports must be
6 given by reasonable methods, including but not limited to those
7 methods specified in RCW 36.70B.110(4))) includes information
8 outlining time frames for certain permit types associated with
9 housing. The report does not need to include the total time for a
10 project to receive final decision approval from a city or county. The
11 report must provide:
12 (i) Permit time frames for each permit process in the county or
13 city in relation to those established under this section, including
14 whether the county or city has established shorter time frames than
15 those provided for in this section;
16 (ii) The total number of decisions issued during the year for the
17 following permit types: Preliminary subdivisions, final subdivisions,
18 binding site plans, permit processes associated with the approval of
19 multifamily housing, and construction plan review for each of these
20 permit types when submitted separately;
21 (iii) The total number of decisions for each permit type which
22 included consolidated project permit review, such as concurrent
23 review of a rezone or construction plans;
24 (iv) For each project permit application received during the
25 year, the total number of days from the county or city's receipt of
26 the application to the issuance of the final decision on the
27 application. This shall be calculated from the day completeness is
28 determined under RCW 36.70B.070 to the date a decision is issued on
29 the application. The number of days shall be calculated by counting
30 five days per week, excluding holidays;
31 (v) For each project permit application received during the year,
32 the total number of days the application was in review with the
33 county or city. This shall be calculated from the day the project
34 permit application is deemed complete under RCW 36.70B.070 to the
35 date that the final decision is issued on the application. The number
36 of days shall be calculated by counting five days per week, excluding
37 holidays and any period between when the county or city has notified
38 the applicant, in writing, that additional information is required to
39 further process the application and when that information is
40 submitted by the applicant. Time periods in which review of the
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 1 application was temporarily suspended at the written request of the
2 applicant shall also be excluded; and
3 (vi) For each project permit application received during the
4 year, the total number of days that were excluded from the
5 calculation in (b)(v) of this subsection because the county or city
6 had notified the applicant that additional information was required
7 and the applicant had yet to provide the necessary information.
8 (c) Counties and cities subject to the requirements of this
9 subsection must:
10 (i) Post the annual performance report through the county or
11 city's website; and
12 (ii) Submit the annual performance report to the department of
13 commerce by March 1st each year.
14 (d) No later than July 1st each year, the department of commerce
15 must publish a report which includes the annual performance report
16 data for each county and city subject to the requirements of this
17 subsection and a list of those counties and cities whose time frames
18 are shorter than those provided for in this section. The department
19 of commerce shall develop a template for counties and cities subject
20 to these requirements to utilize for reporting data. The annual
21 report must also include key metrics and findings from the
22 information collected.
23 (e)(i) The initial annual report required under this subsection
24 (2) must be submitted to the department of commerce by March 1, 2025,
25 and must include information from permitting in 2024.
26 (ii) A county or city subject to the requirement of this
27 subsection (2) that does not submit an annual performance report to
28 the department of commerce by March 1st is ineligible to receive
29 grants from the growth management planning and environmental review
30 fund under RCW 36.70A.500 unless the county or city has certified to
31 the department, and the department has confirmed, that the county or
32 city is in compliance with the reporting requirements.
33 (3) Nothing in this section prohibits a county or city from
34 extending a deadline for issuing a decision for a specific project
35 permit application for any reasonable period of time mutually agreed
36 upon by the applicant and the local government.
37 (((4) The department of community, trade, and economic
38 development shall work with the counties and cities to review the
39 potential implementation costs of the requirements of subsection (2)
40 of this section. The department, in cooperation with the local
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1 governments, shall prepare a report summarizing the projected costs,
2 together with recommendations for state funding assistance for
3 implementation costs, and provide the report to the governor and
4 appropriate committees of the senate and house of representatives by
5 January 1, 2005.))
6 Sec. 3. RCW 36.70A.500 and 2012 1st sp.s. c 1 s 310 are each
7 amended to read as follows:
8 (1) The department of commerce shall provide management services
9 for the growth management planning and environmental review fund
10 created by RCW 36.70A.490. The department shall establish procedures
11 for fund management. The department shall encourage participation in
12 the grant or loan program by other public agencies. The department
13 shall develop the grant or loan criteria, monitor the grant or loan
14 program, and select grant or loan recipients in consultation with
15 state agencies participating in the grant or loan program through the
16 provision of grant or loan funds or technical assistance.
17 (2) A grant or loan may be awarded to a county or city that is
18 required to or has chosen to plan under RCW 36.70A.040 and that is
19 qualified pursuant to this section. The grant or loan shall be
20 provided to assist a county or city in paying for the cost of
21 preparing an environmental analysis under chapter 43.21C RCW, that is
22 integrated with a comprehensive plan, subarea plan, plan element,
23 countywide planning policy, development regulation, monitoring
24 program, or other planning activity adopted under or implementing
25 this chapter that:
26 (a) Improves the process for project permit review while
27 maintaining environmental quality; or
28 (b) Encourages use of plans and information developed for
29 purposes of complying with this chapter to satisfy requirements of
30 other state programs.
31 (3) In order to qualify for a grant or loan, a county or city
32 shall:
33 (a) Demonstrate that it will prepare an environmental analysis
34 pursuant to chapter 43.21C RCW and subsection (2) of this section
35 that is integrated with a comprehensive plan, subarea plan, plan
36 element, countywide planning policy, development regulations,
37 monitoring program, or other planning activity adopted under or
38 implementing this chapter;
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 1 (b) Address environmental impacts and consequences, alternatives,
2 and mitigation measures in sufficient detail to allow the analysis to
3 be adopted in whole or in part by applicants for development permits
4 within the geographic area analyzed in the plan;
5 (c) Demonstrate that procedures for review of development permit
6 applications will be based on the integrated plans and environmental
7 analysis;
8 (d) Include mechanisms to monitor the consequences of growth as
9 it occurs in the plan area and to use the resulting data to update
10 the plan, policy, or implementing mechanisms and associated
11 environmental analysis;
12 (e) Demonstrate substantial progress towards compliance with the
13 requirements of this chapter. A county or city that is more than six
14 months out of compliance with a requirement of this chapter is deemed
15 not to be making substantial progress towards compliance; and
16 (f) Provide local funding, which may include financial
17 participation by the private sector.
18 (4) In awarding grants or loans, the department shall give
19 preference to proposals that include one or more of the following
20 elements:
21 (a) Financial participation by the private sector, or a public/
22 private partnering approach;
23 (b) Identification and monitoring of system capacities for
24 elements of the built environment, and to the extent appropriate, of
25 the natural environment;
26 (c) Coordination with state, federal, and tribal governments in
27 project review;
28 (d) Furtherance of important state objectives related to economic
29 development, protection of areas of statewide significance, and
30 siting of essential public facilities;
31 (e) Programs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the
32 permitting process by greater reliance on integrated plans and
33 prospective environmental analysis;
34 (f) Programs for effective citizen and neighborhood involvement
35 that contribute to greater likelihood that planning decisions can be
36 implemented with community support;
37 (g) Programs to identify environmental impacts and establish
38 mitigation measures that provide effective means to satisfy
39 concurrency requirements and establish project consistency with the
40 plans; or
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 1 (h) Environmental review that addresses the impacts of increased
2 density or intensity of comprehensive plans, subarea plans, or
3 receiving areas designated by a city or town under the regional
4 transfer of development rights program in chapter 43.362 RCW.
5 (5) If the local funding includes funding provided by other state
6 functional planning programs, including open space planning and
7 watershed or basin planning, the functional plan shall be integrated
8 into and be consistent with the comprehensive plan.
9 (6) State agencies shall work with grant or loan recipients to
10 facilitate state and local project review processes that will
11 implement the projects receiving grants or loans under this section.
12 (7) The departme