wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > SB 6015 > Substitute 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 design standards and permitting processes can 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. Factory built housing can further reduce time and cost to build and should be supported through a consistent statewide framework so that plans can be more easily used across jurisdictions. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to facilitate increased housing production and predictability by creating a state-approved program for permit-ready factory built housing and exempting qualifying projects from local architectural and aesthetic design requirements unrelated to health and safety.
The department shall establish a process to solicit and publicize permit-ready plans that:
Includes 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;
Allows for 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;
Creates and maintains a public-facing website for permit-ready plans approved by the department;
Develops a memorandum of agreement to be signed by the department and the creator of each permit-ready plan, such that:
The creator of the plan expressly allows use of the plan in the permit-ready program;
The creator of the plan retains ownership and copyright of the permit-ready plan;
The creator releases state and local governments from claims relating to their participation in the permit-ready program and any subsequent licensing of their permit-ready plans;
The department has the right and license to use and copy the plan as necessary to carry out this program;
Other terms deemed necessary by the department, including confidentiality, copyright protection, licensing, liability, indemnification, and insurance;
Determines maximum licensing fees that may be charged to license a permit-ready plan, and update these maximums at each state code cycle change; and
Includes coordination with the department of commerce and the state building code council as necessary.
Each permit-ready plan published under this section must:
Have received design plan approval from the department under RCW 43.22.470 through 43.22.485 and associated rule making;
Indicate the climate zones, as created in RCW 19.27A.020, for which it meets all applicable requirements;
Indicate the dated version of the applicable codes with which the permit-ready plan is compliant;
Indicate the wildfire hazard level, as established under RCW 43.30.580, for which it meets the wildlife urban interface code requirements under RCW 19.27.560;
Include a signed memorandum of agreement between the department and the building plan's creator; and
Allow county and city building departments to review proposed permit-ready plans for a period of no less than 60 days prior to publication. Based on this feedback, the department may designate specific cities, counties, or other geographic areas in which the specific 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 RCW 43.22.460, except upon proof of bad faith or willful misconduct.
Permit-ready plans must be approved for a specific edition of the state building code and expire upon the beginning of a new state building code cycle change.
The department may adopt rules necessary to implement this section.
For the purposes of this section, "permit-ready plan" means a set of drawings and specifications for factory built housing that are available to license and have been determined by the department to meet the requirements for factory built housing or factory built commercial structures adopted by the department under RCW 43.22.480.
Local land use requirements, building setbacks, side and rear yard requirements, site development and property line requirements, and review and regulation of zoning requirements are specifically reserved to local jurisdictions notwithstanding anything contained in RCW 43.22.450 through 43.22.490.
Factory built housing using permit-ready plans shall be exempted from local zoning design standards and review related to aesthetics and architectural features, including, but not limited to, fenestration, entrances, rooflines, materials, articulation, and façades, unless those standards are part of a wildlife urban interface code or are expressly related to health and safety.
Beginning January 1, 2027, each county and city that is required or chooses to plan under this chapter may not deny land use applications for factory built housing using permit-ready plans solely on the basis of noncompliance with local architectural design and aesthetic standards.
Subsection (1) of this section does not apply within locally designated historic districts.
Cities and counties may review applications for permit-ready plans for factory built housing to verify that:
The permit-ready plan is a state-approved plan approved by the department of labor and industries for the current state building code cycle;
As determined by the department of labor and industries, the permit-ready plan is valid in the city or county, rated for the applicable climate zone, and rated for the applicable wildfire hazard zone; and
The site plan complies with all relevant requirements related to site conditions, density, dimensional standards, building setbacks, fire separation distances, right-of-way dedications, stormwater, access and circulation, tree retention, landscaping, steep slopes, hazard areas, and any other local land use or zoning requirements not specified in subsection (1) of this section.
Cities and counties may assess plan review fees on applications for factory built homes using permit-ready plans provided that:
The fees are calculated based on actual staff time and a reasonable estimate of direct and indirect resources expended; and
The fees do not exceed standard plan review fees for a comparable application not using a permit-ready plan.
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 permit-ready plans for factory built homes.
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:
"Local architectural design and aesthetic standards" means any standards, requirements, or regulations that govern building appearance, including façade composition, exterior architectural features, roof forms, openings, materials, colors, articulation, visual character, or architectural compatibility, but does not include design standards that are part of a wildlife urban interface code or are expressly related to health and safety.
"Permit-ready plan" means a set of drawings and specifications for factory built housing that have been approved by the department of labor and industries to meet the requirements for factory built housing or factory built commercial structures adopted by the department of labor and industries under chapter 43.22 RCW and for the current state building code cycle.
Sections 2 through 4 of this act take effect July 1, 2028.