State Building Code Council committee reviews short-session deadlines, most priority bills stalled
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Summary
At its Feb. 19 legislative committee meeting the State Building Code Council heard a week-7 update on the short session, learned several high- and medium-priority code bills have stalled or moved to 'dead' lists, and was told few near-term hearings affect the council’s priority agenda.
The State Building Code Council legislative committee met Feb. 19 and received a legislative update about week 7 of the short session, upcoming opposite-house cutoff dates and the status of code-related bills.
Patrick Hanks, who identified himself as representing the Building Industry Association of Washington, told the committee that the house-of-origin cutoff had passed and listed the next opposite-house deadlines: policy cutoff Feb. 25, fiscal cutoff March 2 and final opposite-house cutoff March 6 (additional March 12 timing mentioned). He said the council currently has "no high-priority or even medium-priority bills going up for public hearings in the next week," but that several items remain on monitoring lists and some bills have moved to a dead list.
Why it matters: the council’s priorities affect proposed changes to building-code language and to tag assignments that can alter compliance costs for builders and property owners. Hanks highlighted that two items previously on the council’s high-priority list (referenced in the meeting as HB 1254, a wildland-urban interface bill, and a low-rise residential buildings bill) had been removed from the priority list and that about eight bills had moved to the dead section.
The committee also noted several monitoring bills with upcoming hearings, including a bill listed in the meeting as 1859 (housing and development / religious organizations) and measures tied to wildfire risk or insurance that could have indirect implications for code work; members said they were tracking these to identify any downstream code impacts.
The meeting concluded with committee members agreeing to monitor hearings closely and to communicate quickly if calendar changes create a need for immediate input from the council.
Votes at a glance: the committee approved the meeting agenda (motion moved and seconded; chair called for the vote and the motion carried) and approved the Feb. 12 minutes (moved by Todd Behruder, seconded by Angela Haught; vote recorded as 'ayes' and motion carried).