wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > SB 6272 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that Washington state is home to over 500 bird species that play a critical role in building and maintaining healthy ecosystems through pollination, predation, scavenging, seed dispersal, and habitat engineering. The legislature also finds that light pollution caused by the proliferation of artificial light disrupts natural systems and disorients birds resulting in collisions with buildings, especially during migration. Eliminating or reducing unnecessary lighting can save energy and reduce costs while simultaneously improving bird migration. The legislature further finds that buildings may be designed to incorporate eco-friendly practices such using bird-safe glass and reducing nighttime lighting to help prevent bird collisions. Therefore, the legislature intends that during peak migration in the months of April, May, September, and October, nonessential lighting should be turned off to reduce energy consumption and provide birds safer passage between their nesting and wintering grounds and that incentives should be established within Washington's LEED standard to promote eco-friendly building practices that reduce bird collisions.
(1) The following are state legal holidays:
All major facility projects of public agencies receiving any funding in a state capital budget, or projects financed through a financing contract as defined in RCW 39.94.020, must be designed, constructed, and certified to at least the LEED silver standard. This subsection applies to major facility projects that have not entered the design phase prior to July 24, 2005, and to the extent appropriate LEED silver standards exist for that type of building or facility.
All major facility projects of any entity other than a public agency or public school district receiving any funding in a state capital budget must be designed, constructed, and certified to at least the LEED silver standard. This subsection applies to major facility projects that have not entered the grant application process prior to July 24, 2005, and to the extent appropriate LEED silver standards exist for that type of building or facility.
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Public agencies, under this section, shall monitor and document ongoing operating savings resulting from major facility projects designed, constructed, and certified as required under this section.
Public agencies, under this section, shall report annually to the department on major facility projects and operating savings.
The department shall consolidate the reports required in subsection (3) of this section into one report and report to the governor and legislature by September 1st of each even-numbered year beginning in 2006 and ending in 2016. In its report, the department shall also report on the implementation of this chapter, including reasons why the LEED standard was not used as required by RCW 39.35D.020(5)(b). The department shall make recommendations regarding the ongoing implementation of this chapter, including a discussion of incentives and disincentives related to implementing this chapter.
For the purposes of determining compliance with the requirement for a project to be designed, constructed, and certified to at least the LEED silver standard, the department must credit one additional point for a project that uses wood products with a credible third-party sustainable forest certification or from forests regulated under chapter 76.09 RCW, the Washington forest practices act. For projects that qualify for this additional point, and for which an additional point would have resulted in formal certification under the LEED silver standard, the project must be deemed to meet the standard under this section.
For the purposes of determining compliance with the requirement for a project to be designed, constructed, and certified to at least the LEED silver standard, the department must credit one additional point for a project that uses bird-safe materials and one additional point for a project that employs strategies that reduce nighttime lighting to prevent disorienting migratory birds. For projects that qualify for these additional points, and for which additional points would have resulted in formal certification under the LEED silver standard, the project must be deemed to meet the standard under this section.
During the 2023-2025 and 2025-2027 fiscal biennia, an alternative high-performance building certification, as determined by the legislature, may be used instead of the LEED silver building design, construction, and certification standard required by this section.
The director of the department of enterprise services shall seek to further energy conservation objectives among other landscape objectives in planting and maintaining trees upon grounds administered by the department.
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The director of the department of enterprise services shall seek to further energy conservation objectives and promote bird collision deterrence at state facilities by turning off nonessential outdoor lighting at state facilities between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. and require the following measures in state buildings where new building construction, renovation, or maintenance activities are needed including: (i) Down-shield exterior lighting to eliminate horizontal glare and upward light; (ii) installing automatic motion sensors and controls when possible; and (iii) when converting to new lighting, assess quality and quantity of light needed to avoid over-lighting with newer, brighter, short wavelength technology.
For the purposes of this section, "nonessential outdoor lighting" means lighting that has not been deemed essential for either safety or functionality, as determined by a state agency head.