Governor Bob Ferguson’s Recent Executive Orders – A Positive Sign for Washington’s Construction Industry

By Ryan Sternoff and Trygve Groh

On January 15th, in his first act as Washington’s Governor, Bob Ferguson signed three executive orders, two of which may have a direct impact by removing some of the “red tape” that stifles Washington’s construction industry.  This appears to be a positive sign that the Governor’s office is focused on pragmatic action, rather than partisan politics. 

            Executive Order 25-02 is entitled “Assessing Regulatory Efficiency and Addressing Washington’s Affordable Housing Crisis” and directs all executive and small cabinet agencies (collectively, “State Agencies”) to review their rules and regulations and prepare a report for the Governor’s Office that identifies rules or regulations that impact the construction of new housing. The reports will also identify rules or regulations that are no longer necessary and can be rescinded, rules or regulations that can be amended to speed up housing construction. The reports will include descriptions of proposed amendments to such rules and regulations. The reports must be provided to the Governor’s Office within sixty days.

            Executive Order 25-03 is entitled “Improving Transparency and Building Efficiency in the State’s Permitting and Licensing Processes” and requires all State Agencies that issue permits, licenses, certifications, or identification cards (collectively, “Permits/Licenses”) to compile a catalog of the Permits/Licenses and submit that catalog to the Governor’s Office within sixty days. The catalogs will describe the types of Permits/Licenses and the method by which the agency receives applications for each. The catalogs will also include information on application fees charged by the agency and the speed with which the agency can process completed applications. Coupled with analysis of each agency’s current approval process, the catalogs will identify opportunities to speed up the approval process and eliminate obsolete or unnecessary approval processes. After completing the catalogs, each agency will establish efficient and appropriate application processing deadlines and make those deadlines public. If after publishing the application processing deadlines, an agency fails to process a complete application by the proper deadline, that agency will refund the application fee to the extent permitted by law. That refund will have no effect on the disposition of the underlying application.

            It is important to note that these executive orders apply to state agencies and do not appear to impact local jurisdictions that most in the construction industry likely view as the biggest impediment to streamlining Washington construction. Thus, while the overall impact of the orders is undetermined, it is possible the overall impact could be limited. Nevertheless, these orders indicate that Governor Ferguson will operate with common sense, which is a positive sign for Washington’s construction industry. Hopefully Washington’s local jurisdictions can follow Governor Ferguson’s cue. 

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