This bill adds new sections to chapter 36.70A RCW and chapter 43.330 RCW and amends RCW 35.21.683 and RCW 35A.21.430. It prohibits local comprehensive plans or development regulations from denying or otherwise precluding permit applications for permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, indoor emergency housing, or indoor emergency shelters, requires counties and cities to process and approve permits for those uses through an administrative process only, and establishes a formal applicant waiver process for when local rules have a "preclusive effect." The bill exempts sites located in critical areas, natural hazard areas that generally prohibit residential development, or on agricultural, forest, or mineral lands of long-term commercial significance. The bill creates procedural enforcement and dispute-resolution powers for an unspecified department under chapter 43.330 RCW: the department must provide facilitation and dispute resolution between jurisdictions and applicants, may require submission of permit files if facilitation fails, and may reverse or vacate noncompliant portions of final decisions and order corrective administrative action within 60 days. The department may also issue determinations that zoning ordinances or development regulations are noncompliant and return them for corrective legislative action within 60 days, and those final department decisions and required corrective actions are exempt from appeal under chapters 36.70A or 43.21C RCW. If a jurisdiction does not take required corrective action within 60 days, the department must notify the state treasurer, who is directed to withhold specified state revenues (citing several revenue statutes) until compliance. The department is authorized to adopt implementing rules, and applicants may submit materials to the department requesting review of denials, rescissions, or conditions. The bill also amends city statutes to bar cities and code cities from prohibiting transitional housing or permanent supportive housing in zones allowing residential dwelling units or hotels, to address indoor emergency shelters and indoor emergency housing in hotel zones (a provision tied to a September 30, 2021 date in the text), allow reasonable occupancy/spacing/intensity requirements that do not prevent siting sufficient to meet projected need, and require permit processing pursuant to administrative design review as defined in RCW 36.70A.030. The extract does not identify the specific "department" named in chapter 43.330, does not provide statutory definitions for the housing terms used, and includes an unclear or inconsistent statement about the September 30, 2021 effective action, so those points are uncertain based on the provided text.

If enacted, cities and counties would generally have to stop using their comprehensive plans or development rules to effectively block permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, indoor emergency housing, or indoor emergency shelters where residential or hotel uses are allowed, and they would have to process those permits through an administrative review rather than discretionary hearings. Local governments could still refuse permits in mapped critical areas, lands normally barred from residential use, or designated agricultural, forest, or mineral lands. Applicants who say a local rule “precludes” siting must explain exactly which standards block them and the minimum change needed, and they can seek state review when local facilitation fails. The biggest impacts fall on local governments, which will need to change permitting practices, respond to state dispute resolution, and make corrective legislative or administrative changes within 60 days or face the state department reversing decisions and the state treasurer withholding certain state revenues until compliance. The unnamed state department gains new authority to mediate, review, and overturn noncompliant local actions and to adopt implementing rules, while developers and service providers gain a clearer path to get these housing projects approved but must provide detailed waiver documentation. It is unclear from the text which state department is assigned these duties and how the housing types are formally defined.