State lawmakers report 2025 session wins to Anacortes; city staff outlines local outcomes

Senator Liz Lovelett and Representative Alex Ramel of Washington’s 40th Legislative District visited the Anacortes City Council on June 2 to summarize the 2025 legislative session and to discuss how several bills and budget decisions could affect Anacortes.

City staff then reviewed the city’s 2025 legislative priorities and which items received state or federal support this year.

The briefings mattered because the session produced new statewide rules and funding decisions that affect local planning, transportation and recycling costs, and because the city requested grants and policy changes aimed at roads, shoreline restoration and behavioral-health facilities.

Senator Liz Lovelett, who represented the district’s work on climate and housing, told the council “the governor has signed everything that he's going to sign into law,” and highlighted a package of bills she said will affect local planning and waste management. Representative Alex Ramel called housing “a top priority” and described state investments in the housing trust fund and new rent‑stabilization limits.

Among the state measures discussed, speakers described a new recycling bill — cited in the meeting as Senate Bill 5284 — that creates an extended producer responsibility structure to shift much of recycling costs from cities and residents to producers and that will be implemented under Department of Ecology oversight. Lovelett said the law intends to “make it so that we have a robust recycling system … and that that cost, up to 90 percent of that cost, will be removed from the ledgers of the city and also from our residents.”

Ramel said the Legislature enacted a rent‑stabilization rule that, as discussed at the meeting, generally disallows rent increases above 10 percent in most cases statewide. He also noted bills to allow unit lot subdivisions for some middle‑housing developments and a new optional self‑certification program for accessory dwelling unit (ADU) permits, which the Legislature made optional for cities to adopt.

City staff member Miss Hsu presented the city’s legislative outcomes. Key funding and program items the staff reported to council included: - $3.9 million placed in a small‑city pavement and sidewalk account (no project‑specific line item for Anacortes was included in the state budget); - $549,000 allocated to the Skagit stabilization center; staff said that allocation was close to the amount the county and city requested; - $472,000 for Hart Lake shoreline restoration from the Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account (ALIA); - $133 million in the capital budget for community behavioral health grants statewide, which the presenter tied to local co‑responder and stabilization projects; - continued appropriations and protections for ferry workforce investments and funds set aside to build additional vessels (presenters said the state expects to be able to fund at least three new ferries under current appropriations, with future bids running higher than initial estimates); - changes allowing more flexibility in the real estate excise tax (REET) uses, including limited use for operations and maintenance and broader eligible uses across REET categories; and - a federal capital request (a $3 million request for the Anacortes Community Event Center) that staff reported had advanced to Representative Rick Larsen’s shortlist for federal appropriations consideration.

Councilmembers asked for clarification on several items, including how some statewide programs would translate into local funds and which projects remain unfunded. Hsu said the city will continue to track grant opportunities and report back to council when specific application or match decisions are needed.

Councilmember Walters and others emphasized communicating state policy changes to the public and to city departments so implementation and regulatory changes (for example, the new climate element requirement in the comprehensive plan and the recycling producer‑responsibility rollout) can be coordinated.

The meeting record shows the delegation’s presentation was intended as informational only; no formal council action followed the updates. Staff and the legislative delegation encouraged continued contact between city officials and legislative offices as the fall and next session approach.