NAIOPWA Legislative Session Report - Week 3

Krystelle Purkey and Ehren Flygare, State Lobbyists

We are now three weeks into the 2025 session, 1,442 bills have been introduced, and legislative business is moving quickly. At the same time, Majority Democrats are forging a path with the new governor, Bob Ferguson (D) as well as their Republican colleagues, and drawing firm lines with the new Trump Administration. 

House Democrats in Washington state have made significant changes to a longstanding rule that restricted access to the wings of the House chamber. The new policy now allows access only for the governor, excluding the governor’s staff unless specifically invited by a House member. The rule adjustment was part of a broader overhaul of legislative procedures, which included reducing the threshold to end debate, allowing a simple majority vote instead of a two-thirds majority.

NAIOPWA is a member of the Partnership for Affordable Housing. We are committed to policies that increase housing creation, access, and affordability. Legislators are considering a rent control bill that would have grave consequences for housing creation and long-term access to affordable housing. SB 5139 would impose the strictest rent control in the nation.

What does it mean to go first? In celebration of NAIOPWA’s Night of the Stars inaugural “Sustainable Development of the Year” category, here is a closer look at the two nominees, each of whom elected to be on the front edge of sustainable real estate development. Read below to learn more about these two industry-leading endeavors.

What is the first thing many developers or investors think when they hear the words “sustainable” or “green” as their architects describe their building design? For decades the common perception has been that it is difficult (if not impossible) to make a deeply green building pencil financially. However, by definition “sustainability” is the nexus of environmental, social and economic progress. We interviewed key participants representing both Watershed and Inspire at the Russell W. Young Building to learn how they overcame perception to create these very special properties.

NAIOP, along with AGC, requested clarification on Governor Inslee's recent “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order as it relates to construction activities. The newly released Construction Guidance Memo is online.

One critical aspect of sustainability is resiliency, or how we bounce back from natural disasters. A little preparation can go a long way—but a lack of forethought can quickly lead to very difficult situations throughout a city or region. Remember the 2015 New Yorker article about the next big Cascadia earthquake? When the article was published, it prompted seemingly endless, yet interesting, discussions about the inevitability of a very large earthquake in the region, as well as dozens of follow-up stories giving advice on how to prepare. 

Fast-forward four years to Seattle Snowmaggedon 2019. Did you have a week’s supply of food and water in your home when the snow fell last February? Conditions weren’t anywhere near as bad as the name suggests, but empty grocery store shelves made a deep impression, whether you saw them in person like I did or on social media or the news. Those empty-shelf encounters were a fairly common experience. The takeaway is that there is only a few days’ food supply in our grocery stores, which is quickly exacerbated by disaster-inspired hoarding behavior and the breakdown of efficient but lean supply chains.

A “battle royale” was held at the NAIOP Breakfast Meeting on March 21, also known as a lively and illuminating discussion with two premier economists from our area.

President Tony Toppenberg began the meeting by showing even more features from the NAIOP WA app. It really does have some great features including the presenters’ slides for each breakfast meeting, downloadable for one month after each event. New members were introduced and we heard the sad news that Sharlyn Turner of Peterson and Sullivan passed away.

This was a tough one! We have participated in and to a large extent driven the tremendous real estate expansion in Seattle and that’s a good thing! However, there can be unintended consequences and in our May Breakfast we explored one of those consequences: Homelessness. The Breakfast was sponsored by Lake Union Partners, Runberg Architecture Group, and Rushing. We sincerely thank them for their continued support.

President Kristin Jensen related information about the annual NAIOP Washington State PAC fundraiser on June 28. She also welcomed our new members. We heard about the Summer Social on August 14 at The Golf Club at Newcastle and received a presentation on the 2017 Real Estate Challenge, which was held in British Columbia.

Richard Kendall, General Manager, Allison+Partners moderated our panel which included:

In a very highly attended event, the annual Broker’s Forecast was presented to our Breakfast attendees on April 26. The breakfast was sponsored by Rushing, LBA Realty, O’Keefe Development and Sellen Construction - we sincerely thank them for their continued support. President Kristin Jensen began the meeting and gave the assembly an update on new members and introduced Kris Beason who gave some background on Sellen. John Swanson from Umpqua Bank also made a short presentation. We heard about the Community Enhancement Project which will be on September 30 at Farmer Frog in Woodinville.

Rob Swartz, Senior VP of Kilroy Realty, moderated our panel and introduced our esteemed panelists:

On Wednesday, March 15, breakfast meeting attendees were treated to a lively discussion of the Seattle residential real estate market. The breakfast was sponsored by Moss Adams and Pyatt/Broadmark Management - we sincerely thank them for their continued support. President Kristin Jensen gave the assembly an update on the latest economic impact numbers from the commercial real estate industry in Washington State and across the country, and we also met new members. Additionally, we heard an update on the national board of directors from our local liaisons to that board.