With the 2026 legislative session on the horizon, BIAW leaders recently met with Gov. Bob Ferguson and Lt. Gov. Denny Heck to urge support for home building industry priorities.

“We want Washington to be a place where our children and grandchildren can own homes,” said BIAW 2026 President Aaron Marvin, a Vancouver home builder and father of three. “Home builders need access to more buildable land, expedited permitting and clear, consistent development standards across Washington if we’re going to meet that goal.”

According to the Washington Dept. of Commerce, the state needs 1.1 million more homes over the next 20 years. Yet, according to the state’s November economic forecast, housing permits were expected to decrease to 33,600 units in 2025, down from 37,800 units in 2024.

“Washington can’t afford to delay,” Marvin said. “Home building provides the housing our state desperately needs—and home ownership helps families build generational wealth for the future. While we support expanding all types of new housing, we know that home ownership truly changes lives.”

Moving the needle for new homes

Earlier this year, BIAW’s Legislative Policy Committee adopted the following legislative priorities for 2026.

Building code reforms

Builders support HB 2141, pausing new code updates for 10 years after the 2024 edition and then moving to a six-year code cycle. They also seek to reform the State Building Code Council membership and code adoption process.
Since 2009, code changes have added over $40,000 to the price of a new home. Now, more than 75% of Washington families are priced out of purchasing a home.

“The three-year code cycle in Washington creates a lot of confusion and instability,” Marvin said. “Washington needs a decade of code stability to build one million homes. Let’s focus on building, not rewriting rules.”

Impact fee uniformity for fair growth and planning

BIAW supports requiring local governments to cost-share by limiting the amount a local project can be paid for with collected impact fees to 50%. They would also like legislation to tie fee updates to comprehensive plan cycles to ensure consistency with capital facility plans and to replace lien-based impact-fee deferrals with promissory notes.

More access to buildable lands

Builders urge legislators to free up land supply by reforming the Growth Management Act and allowing diverse options, such as accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in rural areas.

“With only 3.7% of land open for housing, expanding growth areas (even to 10%) could dramatically improve affordability,” Marvin said.

Two bills before the Washington State Legislature would help achieve this goal:

• HB 1164 requires local governments to expand their urban growth area boundaries to include parcels that are adjacent to urban infrastructure and have adequate capacity to connect to service.
• HB 1345 would allow the construction of detached ADUs outside of the GMA’s Urban Growth Areas, if certain conditions (such as water adequacy) are met.

Real permit reform

While previous legislative sessions have produced moderate success in permit reform BIAW supports continued efforts to improve, including:

• Allowing licensed professionals to certify code compliance to fast-track project approvals.
• Encouraging the use of AI by permitting authorities to streamline permit intake.

SB 5729 limits the number of third-party reviews requested during the determination of completeness check of a permit application.

Builders visit the Capitol

BIAW members from across Washington will meet with legislators during BIAW’s Legislative Day on Feb. 25.

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