Commerce outlines Growth Management Act enforcement, warns litigation slows compliance; Futurewise urges legislative fix

Dave Anderson, managing director of the State Growth Management Program at the Washington State Department of Commerce, told the Local Government Committee that the Growth Management Act's periodic-review and appeals processes create an enforcement system that can take years to resolve and can leave jurisdictions ineligible for certain state funds.

"If a local government has not completed the update on time, they cannot receive funds from certain state infrastructure programs," Anderson said, citing the drinking water state revolving fund, Centennial Clean Water Fund, the clean water state revolving fund, the Public Works Trust Fund and the Recreation and Conservation Office. He added: "It's about $1,000,000,000 a year in funding that local governments lose access to when they fall out of compliance."

Anderson summarized the statutory enforcement ladder: an overdue periodic update makes a jurisdiction ineligible for…