Substitute House Bill 2151 reenacts and amends RCW 43.22.450 and amends RCW 43.22.455, 43.22.470, and 43.22.480 to create a regulatory and procedural framework for factory built housing and factory built commercial structures. The bill requires the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries to adopt and enforce rules ensuring structural soundness and reasonable safety of systems, authorizes the department to approve units and require an insignia of approval, and prohibits installation of such units on a building site after the effective date of adopted regulations unless approved. Department approval is deemed to satisfy city or county manufacture and construction requirements, approved units may not be modified during installation without further approval, and an exception is provided for certain prefabricated enclosures owned and controlled exclusively by electric utilities. The department may delegate inspection duties to local enforcement agencies, may allow inspections by qualified inspection agencies that meet specified objectivity, competence, independence, disclosure, equipment, and personnel criteria (including recognition of International Code Council personnel certification), must set fees to cover administration and enforcement for RCW 43.22.450–43.22.490, may accept plans certified by out‑of‑state professionals whose standards meet or exceed Washington’s, and the governor may waive or suspend fee collection during a state of emergency declared under RCW 43.06.010(12). The bill passed the House on February 11, 2026 (95-0) and the Senate on February 28, 2026 (49-0). The extracted text does not state the effective date referenced for the prohibition on unapproved installations, does not include any provisions that may exist in RCW 43.22.485–43.22.490, and does not specify the department’s detailed approval process for qualified inspection agencies, the appearance or issuance process for the insignia of approval, the full content of the rules to be adopted, or any implementation timelines or transitional provisions.

If enacted, the department of Labor and Industries will require that most factory-built houses and factory-built commercial structures be approved and carry the department’s insignia before they can be installed, and it will set and collect fees to cover the cost of those approvals and inspections. That will likely increase upfront compliance steps and costs for manufacturers, builders, and installers who must get approval and avoid modifying units without permission; it will also create a predictable funding stream for the department’s rulemaking and enforcement work. Private “qualified inspection agencies” may get more business but must meet the department’s objectivity, equipment, personnel, and conflict-disclosure requirements, while electric utilities keep an explicit exception for certain secured prefabricated enclosures. The department can delegate inspections to local building enforcement agencies and may accept plans certified by out-of-state licensed professionals whose standards match Washington’s, which could speed approvals in some cases. Important details are missing from the extracted text: the bill does not state the effective date for the new requirement to have department approval before installation, it does not specify how the department will certify qualified inspection agencies or what the department’s insignia process will be, and it does not include implementation timelines or transitional rules.