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Committee hears testimony backing scissor‑stair study to ease housing constraints
Summary
The Local Government Committee heard support for HB 2228, which would direct the State Building Code Council to convene a technical advisory group to recommend allowing scissor stairs in multi‑unit buildings. Architects and housing advocates said the change could increase housing supply without reducing egress capacity; some details remain for the advisory group.
Vice Chair Zahn introduced House Bill 2,228, saying the measure would modernize Washington’s building code by directing the State Building Code Council to convene a technical advisory group to study allowing scissor stairs in occupancies of more than two dwelling units.
"I think it's a really important bill as we think about making sure that we continue to lift up public safety and at the same time modernize our code," Vice Chair Zahn said, describing scissor stairs as a way to meet ingress and egress requirements while enabling more units within the same floor plate.
Calvin Wright, staff to the committee, told members the bill would require the council to convene a group of subject‑matter experts to consider public health, safety, welfare and construction costs and to report in time for the next substantive code update cycle. Wright said the State Building Code Council follows a three‑year model code adoption cycle and that the advisory group would need majority approval to send items to council consideration.
Multiple architects and housing advocates testified in support. Ian Mackenzie (TVA Architects) and Matt Roey described how scissor stairs are used in parts of Canada and elsewhere to allow narrower, taller towers and to avoid long double‑loaded corridors; they said scissor stairs can yield modest floor‑plan efficiency gains that improve financing feasibility for some projects. Marcus Johnson (testifying as an individual) and others said scissor stairs reduce stair and corridor footprint, allow more units windows and diversity of unit sizes, and can improve housing affordability by reducing land and construction costs.
Supporters repeatedly emphasized that the bill itself does not change the code but directs creation of a technical advisory group to develop recommendations. Vice Chair Zahn acknowledged concerns about queuing and circulation in interlocking stair configurations and said those operational details were precisely the sort of issues a technical advisory group would be charged to resolve.
The committee closed the public hearing on HB 2228 after receiving the testimony and did not take a floor vote during this session. The next concrete step is the advisory process if the bill advances through the Legislature.
