wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > SB 6015 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that Washington continues to face a housing shortage at all income levels. According to the department of commerce, the state must add more than 1,000,000 homes by 2044 to meet projected population growth and housing needs. Local permitting activity for both single-family and multifamily housing has declined in recent years, and permitting timelines frequently exceed state standards, adding cost and uncertainty for builders and homebuyers alike.
The legislature further finds that complex and inconsistent local permitting processes add substantial cost and delay to new housing development, particularly for small builders and for missing-middle housing types such as duplexes, triplexes, stacked flats, and townhomes. The legislature finds that providing preapproved permit-ready residential building plans and model ordinances can shorten permitting timelines, increase predictability, and support local implementation of state housing goals. Modular and factory built housing can further reduce time and cost to build and should be supported through a consistent statewide framework. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to facilitate increased housing production and predictability by creating a state-approved program for permit-ready residential building and exempting qualifying projects from duplicative requirements.
The department shall, with advice and input from the department of commerce and the state building code council:
Establish a process to solicit and publish permit-ready plans for factory built housing for each of the following housing types:
Single-family detached;
Detached accessory dwelling units; and
Units with no less than two or more than eight attached, stacked, or clustered homes including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, fiveplexes, sixplexes, sevenplexes, and eightplexes; and
Create and maintain a public-facing website for permit-ready plans approved by the department.
The plans published under this section must:
Meet all applicable state building code and state energy code requirements;
Indicate the climate zones, as created in RCW 19.27A.020, for which they meet all applicable requirements;
Indicate the dated version of the applicable codes with which the factory built residential building plans are compliant;
Include a waiver signed by the building plan's creator that waives confidentiality and expressly allows use of the plan in the permit-ready program; and
Allow county and city building departments to review proposed permit-ready plans for a period of no less than 30 days prior to publication. Based on this feedback, the department may designate specific geographic areas where a permit-ready plan is not available.
No civil liability may be imposed by any court on the state or its officers and employees, or on any creator of a residential building plan for the purposes of this section and section 3 of this act, except upon proof of bad faith or willful misconduct.
For the purposes of this section, "permit-ready plan" means a set of drawings and specifications that are available for use and have been determined by the department of labor and industries to meet the requirements of the state building code, state energy code, and fire code.
Beginning January 1, 2027, each county and city that is required or chooses to plan under this chapter must, notwithstanding any comprehensive plan or land-use regulations, approve land-use applications that use permit-ready plans published by the department of labor and industries under section 2 of this act on lots that meet the following conditions:
Are lawfully established units of land;
Are within an urban growth area;
Are zoned to allow residential use;
Are at least 1,500 square feet;
Are not covered by slopes averaging more than 15 percent;
Are not within an area identified in an inventory or map that is part of the local government's comprehensive plan as:
Environmentally sensitive or containing significant natural resources;
Open space or scenic areas; or
A natural hazard area, including floodplains, river greenways, landslide zones, or wildfire risk areas; and
Are not designated as a critical area under this chapter.
Cities and counties planning under this chapter shall exempt permit-ready plans from local plan review for code compliance on all elements addressed by, and included as part of, the permit-ready plan.
Cities and counties may review applications for permit-ready plans to verify that the plan is a state-approved plan and for specific local site conditions such as soils, slopes, location on property, fire separation distances, flood hazard areas, and applicability of the geographic and climatic design criteria used in the permit-ready plan design.
Cities and counties may assess plan review fees on applications using permit-ready plans provided that:
The fees are calculated based on actual staff time and resources expended; and
The fees do not equal or exceed standard plan review fees.
The department must develop and publish model ordinances that may be readily adopted by a local government in order to streamline local implementation of the plans published under this section including, but not limited to, ordinances that create a process for approving residential developments utilizing plans published under this section, subject to local zoning requirements.
Each county and city that is required or chooses to plan under this chapter must adopt the model ordinances developed and published by the department under subsection (5) of this section. A county or city may adopt an ordinance that is substantially similar to one published by the department under subsection (5) of this section upon written approval from the department.
For the purposes of this section, "permit-ready plan" means a set of drawings and specifications that are available for use and have been determined by the department of labor and industries to meet the requirements of the state building code, state energy code, and fire code.