Video Hearing Testimony HB 1147
Legislative Session 2026 starts next week and will be a whirlwind short session!
Habitat Washington’s prime agenda will center on reintroducing HB1717 a bill that did not get through the House Finance Committee last year. It is a sales and use tax exemption that creates a local fund that incentivizes affordable homeownership. With a looming budget deficit, another state tax exemption is not a reasonable ask. So, we will amend the bill to include the local option only, and work hard with our prime sponsors Rep. Mari Leavitt and Sen. Jessica Bateman to see how far we can move this bill.
And as always, we are laser focused on the homeownership allocation in the capital budget to the Dept of Commerce’s Housing Trust Fund. The recent award announcement includes $63M to support 621 new homeownership units. However, there were a total of nearly $180M in requests. We have moved the dial forward to a dollar amount that is much better than before, but is still falling 50% short of the shovel ready units we could be building.
Special thanks to our Advocacy Committee and Co-Chairs, Colleen Robinson and Sherrana Kildun. House and Senate Capital Budget writers, Governor Ferguson and his housing policy leader David Frockt, and all other policy staff at the Governor’s office that are supporting affordable housing. Thanks to our amazing Lt. Governor Denny Heck who has long been a leader in affordable housing, and a supporter of Habitat for Humanity.
Finally, thanks to our legislative advocates at Surmonti Public Affairs…Adan Espino, Tony Sermonti and Chester Baldwin.
Buckle up for a quick 60-day session in Olympia.