How WA cities’ lobbying muscle shapes housing, public records bills

The Seattle-based Sightline Institute has been working on housing policy since 2019, according to Dan Bertolet, and in that time the Association has blocked policies that would remove local zoning obstacles, even as home prices and rents have risen across Washington.

“They have been opposing the housing bills since we started this work,” said Bertolet, director of housing and urbanism at the Institute.

Both Bertolet and Barkis said they believe HB 1245 was sacrificed to get the other housing bills passed.

By that point, a full slate of bills – which included others that streamlined permitting and the transit-oriented development bill – passed one chamber of the Legislature and moved

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