NAIOPWA Legislative Session Report - Week 9

Krystelle Purkey and Ehren Flygare, State Lobbyists

Wednesday, March 12, marked the critical deadline for bills to advance out of their chambers of origin. With this milestone passed, legislative focus now shifts to the next phase: bills making their way across the rotunda to be considered by policy committees in the opposite chamber. 

Each floor cutoff day brings anticipation with one recurring question—what will be the “5 p.m. bill?” According to legislative rules, so long as the bill’s process begins before the 5 p.m. deadline, discussions can continue well into the evening. So sometimes, the bill was brought up the day prior or earlier in the day, only to be finished later, even brought up again at 4:59pm or later. This final bill of the day often carries symbolic weight. Sometimes, it's a contentious measure that sparks extended debate, stretching late into the night. Other times, it's a broadly supported, feel-good proposal—perhaps a resolution honoring a local hero, commemorating an historic event, or recognizing a cause that garners bipartisan backing. This year, we witnessed both types of bills.

NAIOPWA Legislative Session Report - Week 8

Krystelle Purkey and Ehren Flygare, State Lobbyists

The Washington State Legislature has reached the midpoint of its 2025 session, with members working long hours on the floor and in caucus as they approach the March 12 deadline for bills to pass out of their chambers of origin. As of this week, 1051 House Bills have been introduced, and 519 have made it to the Rules Committee for further consideration. Over in the Senate, 805 bills have been introduced, with 271 entering the Senate Rules process. Bills that do not clear this stage of Rules committee pulls and floor action — unless deemed "necessary to implement the budget" (NTIB) — are generally considered dead for the session. However, it’s worth noting that no bill is entirely off the table until the biennium ends.

To read the full legislative update using your NAIOPWA member profile, click here. 

NAIOPWA Legislative Session Report - Week 7

Krystelle Purkey and Ehren Flygare, State Lobbyists

The most significant development of the week besides fiscal committee actions prior to the February 28 Fiscal Committee cutoff was Governor Bob Ferguson’s news conference, where he outlined approximately $4 billion in additional budget cuts for the legislature to consider. These cuts, on top of those in Governor Inslee’s proposed budget, could cover nearly half of the state’s projected shortfall.

Currently, the state operates on a balanced budget that extends through June 30, 2025. However, the primary focus of the 2025 legislative session is crafting a new operating budget for the following years. A significant challenge looms: a projected $15 billion gap between expected tax revenue over the next four years and the state’s existing financial commitments, including funding for education, healthcare, corrections, and human services.

NAIOPWA Legislative Session Report - Week 5

Krystelle Purkey and Ehren Flygare, State Lobbyists

This week saw several supply-side bills work their way through committee. Bills have until Friday of next week to pass out of their original Policy Committee in the chamber where they were introduced. 

Senator Liias introduced SB 5604 which would establish a new 20-year MFTE program in TOD station areas while also reducing certain impact fees by 50% and instituting a sales and use tax deferral.

NAIOPWA Legislative Session Report - Week 4

Krystelle Purkey and Ehren Flygare, State Lobbyists

With only two more weeks until the February 21 policy committee cutoff, Washington State legislators have been busy introducing, hearing, and passing broadly consequential bills out of committee and sending them to the Rules committee for further consideration in the coming weeks.  

We are beginning to see revenue bills introduced in the House and Senate. HB 1785 (Doglio, D-22) imposes a tax where CEO pay in publicly traded companies vastly exceeds median worker pay. 

NAIOPWA Legislative Session Report - Week 3

Krystelle Purkey and Ehren Flygare, State Lobbyists

We are now three weeks into the 2025 session, 1,442 bills have been introduced, and legislative business is moving quickly. At the same time, Majority Democrats are forging a path with the new governor, Bob Ferguson (D) as well as their Republican colleagues, and drawing firm lines with the new Trump Administration. 

House Democrats in Washington state have made significant changes to a longstanding rule that restricted access to the wings of the House chamber. The new policy now allows access only for the governor, excluding the governor’s staff unless specifically invited by a House member. The rule adjustment was part of a broader overhaul of legislative procedures, which included reducing the threshold to end debate, allowing a simple majority vote instead of a two-thirds majority.

In 2023, NAIOP Washington State successfully defeated a bill during the legislative session that would have increased the real estate excise tax (REET). We anticipate similar legislation during the 2024 Washington State Legislative Session. During this session, REET may be rebranded as a “transfer tax.”  While we were previously successful in our efforts to stop a REET increase from moving forward, NAIOPWA’s Government Affairs team is actively engaged to defeat its passage once again.

Today, February 24, 2023, is the final day for consideration of bills in the fiscal committees (unless necessary to implement the budget). Starting Monday and until March 8, legislators will be focused on floor debate in each chamber. By March 8, bills from the original chamber need to be passed to the other chamber.

To view NAIOP's bill tracking report and the full legislative update, log in to your NAIOPWA member profile by clicking below. 

Read the full report

For more information about becoming a member, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Friday, February 17 is policy committee cutoff, meaning all bills need to be out of their policy committee or they will not advance.  The fiscal committees will meet next week and have until February 24 to act on bills. Today’s report still shows bills that may be voted on in today’s hearings.

To view NAIOP's bill tracking report and the full legislative update, log in to your NAIOPWA member profile by clicking below. 

Read the full report

For more information about becoming a member, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

The week of February 6 is week five.  The focus will be on policy committee activity on hundreds of bills.  We have two weeks to go prior to the February 17 cut off. You can find next week’s hearings in the upcoming events section by logging in to your NAIOPWA member profile below.   Also, the bill status section of the bill tracking overview will illustrate where the bill is at in the process as of Friday, February 3.

I will provide a more detailed update of which priority bills have moved out of committee after February 17. 

Click here to read the full report

For more information about joining NAIOP and gaining access to exclusive legislative reports, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Week three was focused on committee hearings with hundreds of bills being considered by the various policy committees.  Next week will be the same.  You can review the new bill introductions as well as next week’s hearings using your member profile. For more information about becoming a member, contact Danielle Duvall, [email protected].

Click here to read the full report

NAIOP Washington State 2023 Legislative Report - Week 1

Greg Hanon, Communico

The 2023 session of the Washington State Legislature convened on January 9 for a 105-day legislative session. This is the first since 2020 to completely return to Olympia for both committee hearings as well as floor action.  One addition to the legislative process is the complete integration of hybrid legislative hearings allowing for both in person testimony as well as remote testimony allowing individuals who cannot make the trip to Olympia to participate in hearings from around the state.

Per tradition, the first few days were dedicated to the organization of the legislature, the swearing in of public officials, as well as a state of the state address from Governor Inslee in which he presented his priorities for the legislative session.  Governor Inslee outlined several policies including significant increases in spending on housing, homelessness, behavioral health, and education.  He also advanced policies on gun control and abortion rights.

Congratulations 2022 NAIOPWA Night of the Stars Winners!

John Pietromonaco inducted into NAIOPWA Hall of Fame  

Presented on Friday night at the NAIOPWA 2022 Night of the Stars Gala, the awards honored an impressive slate of commercial real estate projects that serve the community with innovations in retail, office, industrial and multi-family development.

The projects, and the developers who engaged them, demonstrate the flexibility and ingenuity of the CRE community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, NAIOPWA’s 2022 Night of the Stars finalists highlight the growth in transit-oriented development (TOD), multi-family housing from high-rise urban to supportive housing, and various programs that encourage development in underutilized regions such as Opportunity Zone funding.

2022 NAIOPWA Night of the Stars Finalists & First Winners Announced

John Pietromonaco to be inducted to NAIOPWA Hall of Fame | Annual People’s Choice Award with Daily Voting Runs Sept 21 – Oct 5

SEATTLE – Announced at NAIOP Washington State’s September Breakfast, the slate of competitors for the association’s annual Night of the Stars Awards once again showcases the best commercial real estate development projects across the state completed in the past year. With the announcement, People's Choice voting begins online and runs through Weds., Oct. 5. Also announced was NAIOPWA's 2022 Hall of Fame inductee, John Pietromonaco, who joins the ranks of leaders honored for their essential contributions to the built environment of the Puget Sound region and to the CRE community through their involvement in NAIOPWA and beyond. 

Vote for People's Choice!

The projects, and the developers who engaged them, demonstrate the flexibility and ingenuity of the CRE community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, NAIOPWA’s 2022 Night of the Stars finalists highlight the growth in transit-oriented development (TOD), multi-family housing from high-rise urban to supportive housing, and various programs that encourage development in underutilized regions such as Opportunity Zone funding.

With just 17 days left in the session, the legislature faces another deadline: Thursday, Feb. 24, is the deadline for bills to be advanced out of opposite-house policy committees. We expect to see supplemental budgets announced this week as well.

Click here for this week's update (members-only content; login required) including information on bills related to CRE with updates on key issues for NAIOPWA members this session. 

After five weeks in session, all bills that passed out of policy committees by the Feb. 15 deadline move to fiscal committees. The fiscal committees now have until February 22 to consider the proposals before sending them to the Rules committee, where they can be considered for floor action. Budget-related bills are exempt from these cut off-dates and can be considered at any time. The week ended with a flurry of committee votes ... 

Click here to continue reading this post (login required).

Washington is the #9 state in the U.S. for contributions to state GDP created by office real estate development. Overall, construction and development of office, industrial, warehouse and retail created and supported 54,983 related jobs and contributing $8.9 billion to the state’s economy in 2020 (the most recent data available).

The data is from “Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate, 2021 U.S. Edition,” published annually by the NAIOP Research Foundation. 

We're beginning the fifth week of the session, and bills must be passed out of policy committees in one week's time--Monday, Feb. 15, is the deadline.

The early action COVID relief package is expected to pass the Senate this week (HB 1368). Both chambers now have transportation packages in play and a capital gains bill has been introduced in the House. 

NAIOPWA's state lobbyist, Greg Hanon, sends weekly reports for NAIOPWA members during the legislative session. These include a brief overview of session activity and highlights of the most pertinent issues for our industry. Additionally, Greg includes a complete list of bills and hearings that inform how we do business in Washington State. You'll see a link to download that list at the end of each short weekly update.

After three complete weeks in session, two weeks of policy hearings are next. Bills need to be passed out of policy committee by February 15.