Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5374 amends existing state planning and transportation statutes and adds a new section to chapter 43.59 RCW. The bill revises RCW 36.70A.070 to update and add required elements of local comprehensive plans, including detailed land use, housing, capital facilities, utilities, rural, transportation, economic development, parks and recreation, and a climate change and resiliency element with mandatory greenhouse gas reduction and resiliency subelements for many jurisdictions. It specifies content requirements (for example, housing inventories and antidisplacement policies, six‑year capital financing plans, utility inventories, measures to reduce wildfire risk, and multimodal transportation forecasting), defines a minimum “good faith effort” when collecting data from other public entities, and makes certain housing capacity and anti‑displacement ordinances not subject to appeal under chapter 43.21C RCW unless they likely have a significant adverse impact on fish habitat. The bill makes procedural changes to transportation planning and county programs. It adds limits and conditions for rural development (including retail and food service footprint limits and requirements that development be principally designed to serve the rural population and be approved only after providers confirm service capacity), requires transportation elements to address coordination with adjacent jurisdictions and affected tribal areas and to include active transportation components, establishes concurrency rules tied to levels of service and allowable mitigation strategies, and aligns local six‑year street/road/active transportation or transit programs with the jurisdiction’s transportation element and the state’s 10‑year investment program. RCW 36.81.121 is amended to require county legislative authorities to prepare six‑year comprehensive transportation programs consistent with adopted comprehensive plans, to include bicycle/pedestrian and ferry capital sections where applicable, to file copies with the county road administration board and the state secretary of transportation, and to maintain advanced six‑year transportation plans subject to public hearing before revision. The bill requires counties to offer early, meaningful, individual tribal consultation—independent of other public participation—for affected federally recognized tribes. The bill creates a new tribal traffic safety coordinator program in chapter 43.59 RCW, to be established by the identified commission subject to available appropriations. The program authorizes grants and program support to tribes for culturally tailored traffic safety programs, data processes, outreach and road safety audits, dual‑language education, ADA/pedestrian and other safety surveys, performance metrics and reporting, and to match federal funds. Context gaps in the provided text include missing portions of subsection (5)(d), incomplete language surrounding some cross‑references, and the specific identities of the referenced “secretary” and “commission.” The header references “including tribal representation in certain transportation activities,” but the extracted facts do not include substantive text describing how tribal representation is to be included in those transportation activities.

If enacted, counties and cities that plan under state law will need to expand and deepen their comprehensive plans and six-year transportation programs: they will have to produce more detailed housing, land use, capital facilities, utilities, rural development, multimodal transportation, parks, economic development, and climate resiliency analyses and policies, confirm utility and service capacity before permitting certain rural development, adopt antidisplacement measures, and coordinate early and individually with affected tribal governments on county transportation programs. Those local governments will face more upfront work and likely higher planning costs to do the required inventories, capacity confirmations, climate and housing analyses, public and tribal consultations, and hearings; some housing ordinances that increase capacity or affordability will be shielded from appeals except where they significantly harm fish habitat, reducing legal risk for those actions. Counties must also keep six-year transportation plans that show nonmotorized spending, preserve rail right-of-way, list regional projects, file copies with state boards, and offer tribal consultation regardless of tribal request, and counties that operate ferries must itemize ferry capital needs. The law creates a tribal traffic safety coordinator grant program to help tribes run culturally tailored safety work if money is appropriated; because several definitions, the identities of the named “secretary” and “commission,” and some related sections are not included in the extracted text, there is uncertainty about implementation details, funding availability, and how some coordination and appeal provisions will be applied in practice.