This bill creates a new statutory authority (a new law) that allows a county to permit the division of land located outside urban growth areas so that lots can be transferred or sold to family members when specified requirements are met. It adds new sections to chapter 36.70A RCW and chapter 36.70 RCW, references relevant rural planning provisions (RCW 36.70A.070 and RCW 36.70A.090), and declares the act may be cited as the "family housing act." The new sections require subdivision applications to identify the family member each new lot is for, and they limit a receiving family member to one lot. The original parcel must have been owned by the grantor for more than five years, or transferred from a deceased family member with family ownership for more than five years. Lot sizes created under this authority must be large enough to accommodate a residence and necessary infrastructure (examples given include a well and an on-site sewage system) but need not meet local single-residence lot-size standards that apply to non-family transfers. Except for lot size and setbacks, development of lots created under these sections must conform to local regulations in effect when development permits are submitted. The bill also states that court or growth management hearings board decisions that require a specific lot size for rural character and conflict with the new 36.70A section are replaced by the new statutory provisions. Affected parties include counties, local governments that administer comprehensive plans and development regulations, the courts and the growth management hearings board, and families in rural areas. The text supplied does not specify numeric minimum lot sizes or setback dimensions, the procedural steps counties must take to implement these permissions, the detailed mechanism or scope for how court or hearings board decisions are "replaced," or how the new sections in the two chapters differ in effect.

If enacted, counties will be able to permit small subdivisions outside urban growth areas that let landowners split a parcel to transfer or sell individual lots to specific family members, as long as the original parcel has been in the family for more than five years (or was inherited with that prior ownership) and each identified recipient gets no more than one lot. Those new lots only have to be large enough for a residence and basic infrastructure (for example a well and septic), and while most local development rules still apply when permits are sought, local minimum lot-size rules and setbacks that normally apply to non-family transfers won’t block these family transfers, and past court or Growth Management Hearings Board orders imposing specific rural lot sizes would be displaced by this law. Counties and local permitting staff are most affected because they will receive and decide these named-family subdivision applications and must apply the new exceptions; rural families gain a clearer, likely easier route to move land among relatives but must meet the five-year ownership and one-lot-per-recipient limits. The bill leaves key implementation details unclear — it does not specify numeric lot sizes or setback dimensions, or exactly how counties must change procedures or local codes — so the real-world scope and costs will depend on how counties adopt and administer the new authority.