# The Washington State Legislature approved a 7% to 10% cap on rent hikes Sunday, after the proposal faced a rollercoaster of obstacles over the course of the 105-day session.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Three years in the making, HB 1491 would require Washington cities to zone for apartment buildings near rail stations and rapid bus stops. A compromise around housing affordability mandates finally paved the way for the bill's passage in both chambers.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The state's 60-day legislative session wrapped on March 7 with only a few housing bills headed to Governor Inslee's desk. Rent stabilization, transit-oriented development, lot-splitting, and a builder's remedy all failed to pass.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# More than one-third of WSDOT's two-year budget is set to go toward highway widenings and extensions, in the face of a significant maintenance backlog impacting Washington's state and local roads.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# In Seattle, any person can nominate just about any building for historic landmark status — even without the consent of the building owner — which can delay or upend housing projects. The Washington State Legislature is advancing legislation that would place guardrails on historic landmark programs.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The bill could result in a builder's remedy to force resistant jurisdictions to allow apartment construction. Representative Jessica Bateman (D-22, Olympia) has filed a brand new bill that seeks to push local governments to increase housing production, especially those that have set up a regulatory gauntlet to restrict homebuilding. Dubbed Washington's Housing Accountability Act, House| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# The final state budget approved by the legislature left many lawmakers disappointed, and eager to start to work on ways to restore painful cuts and reform the state's broken tax code.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
# Though it was amended to exclude cities with less than 20,000 residents, Senate Bill 5184 still represents one of the most robust statewide parking reform packages to move forward in any state. It now must pass the House.| The Urbanist » Advocacy journalism for better cities.
Constantine Defends Bus Electrification Focus as King County Metro Service Lags| The Urbanist