OLYMPIA, WA – Funding for more police officers, parking requirements for new housing and penalties for littering.
These are just a few of the issues covered by 333 new Washington state laws set to take effect Sunday. July 27 marks 90 days since the end of the 2025 legislative session in Olympia, when most bills signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson go into force.
A handful of bills became law July 1. Some legislation can take years to go into effect.
Here’s a look at some of the laws on the books starting Sunday.
Clergy
Perhaps the most controversial legislation taking effect Sunday requires religious leaders to report child abuse or neglect, adding them to a list of mandatory reporters that includes school staff, psychologists and many more.
But a federal judge ruled last week that Catholic priests can’t be mandated to disclose this information if they learn of it in a confession. The ruling came in response to litigation brought by three Catholic bishops over this aspect of the law. The U.S. Justice Department has also waded into the case on the side of the bishops.
For now, the requirement for priests to report suspected abuse or neglect they learn of during confessions is temporarily blocked pending further court proceedings. The rest of the law will take effect.
Read more: Judge blocks WA requirement for priests to report child abuse disclosed in confession
Police funding
When Ferguson entered office in January, he vowed to only sign a state budget that included $100 million in grants to hire police officers, as Washington ranks last in the country in cops per capita.
House Bill 2015 delivers on that promise, creating the grant program. But a compromise with progressive Democrats will allow the funding to go to more than just bringing aboard more officers.
Peer counselors, behavioral health co-responders, training and other broader public safety efforts are among the other eligible options.
To access the grants, cities and counties need to either implement a new 0.1% sales tax for public safety or have already imposed a similar tax. They also need to follow state model policies as well as collect and report use-of-force data.
The state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission must award the money by June 30, 2028.
See also: Why police accountability efforts failed again in the Washington Legislature
Parking
Advocates believe one of the biggest obstacles to building much-needed housing in Washington is local parking requirements that drive up costs and take up valuable space.
A new state law is considered one of the strongest state-level efforts in the nation to relax parking requirements.
Now, cities and counties won’t be able to mandate more than one spot for every two units. They also can’t require builders to include more than one space per single-family home.
Jurisdictions also can’t force commercial developers to build more than two parking spots per 1,000 square feet.
No parking minimums are allowed for existing buildings converted from nonresidential to residential use, homes under 1,200 square feet, commercial spaces under 3,000 square feet, affordable housing, child care facilities or senior housing.
The rules don’t affect cities with under 30,000 residents.
Condos
Condominiums can serve as a path into homeownership for first-time buyers. But builders have long shied away from building out of fear of litigation due to the state’s liability laws, seen as overly protective of consumers.
A new bipartisan law looks to reduce liability risks for developers.
Transit-oriented development
Washington is looking to accelerate the construction of housing near transit, so-called “transit-oriented development.” A new law allows for more dense housing, which Washington desperately needs, while also potentially reducing pollution as more people use buses and rail to commute instead of driving.
The law requires Washington cities to allow housing development near transit.
It also requires 10% of units to be considered affordable and 20% set aside for workforce housing for the next 50 years. The legislation defines affordable as not costing more than 30% of the income for renters who make up 60% of the county’s median income or homeowners who make 80% of the median.
Developers who meet those requirements would get a 20-year multifamily property tax exemption. And they’d get half-off discounts on local impact fees meant to help pay for transportation projects to accommodate the population growth.
While the legislation takes effect Sunday, implementation of the new requirements could come as late as the end of 2029 for cities that updated their comprehensive plans last year. Cities that next revise their plans later than 2024 must follow the new rules within six months of updating.
Special education
Washington’s public school students will be offered special education services until the end of the school year in which they turn 22 or graduate high school, whichever comes first. The current age limit is 21.
Lawmakers made the change in response to a court ruling from last year that found Washington violated a federal law dealing with how long states must provide “free appropriate public education.”
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction estimates 300-1,200 students could benefit from the raised age limit. A fiscal analysis found serving them for an extra year will cost between $6.8 million and $27 million per school year.
Clean fuels
As the federal government steps back from reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Washington wants to double down.
The state is accelerating its limits on emissions from transportation. By 2038, the state needs to reduce transportation emissions 45% or 55% below 2017 levels. Each year, Washington’s Clean Fuel Standard will now aim for emission drops between 3% and 5%, up from 1% to 1.5%.
The legislation narrowly passed the Legislature amid concerns the change could raise gas prices.
Medical debt
Washingtonians don’t need to worry about medical debt appearing on their credit reports anymore.
That debt can stop people from getting approved for car or home loans or result in them being denied health care services due to the outstanding bills.
Then-President Joe Biden imposed a similar rule at the federal level, but the Trump administration paused that effort so it never took effect. This week, a federal judge in Texas struck down the federal proposal.
Diapers
One new law looks to increase diaper changing stations.
The statute now mandates baby diaper changing stations in women’s, men’s, or gender-neutral bathrooms in new public buildings or existing ones that undergo remodels costing $15,000 or more.
Littering
Washington faces 42% more litter along state roads than the national average, according to a state Department of Ecology report from 2023.
So the state is toughening its littering penalties. A new law raises the punishment from a class three to a class two civil infraction and fines from $50 to $125.
The littering fine applies to amounts up to one cubic foot, or roughly the size of a backpack.
The fine is in addition to a separate $93 traffic infraction for throwing garbage onto state highways.
Bail bonds
Lawmakers passed a number of measures this session aimed at protecting immigrants from deportation.
One stipulates that it is unprofessional conduct for bail bond agents to enforce a civil immigration warrant. The law also prevents agents from sharing immigration information with anyone outside their business.
Those who violate the law could face disciplinary action from the state Department of Licensing.
Antitrust
Washington will be the first state in the nation to require companies to notify the state attorney general of a business merger.
Businesses already have to file a premerger notification with the federal government. Attorney General Nick Brown hopes this change will give the state more time to analyze potential anticompetitive consequences from mergers.
The law covers companies based in Washington or that do a certain amount of business here.
“Washington is a trailblazer for the rest of the nation in adopting a premerger notification law,” Brown said in a statement. “This will allow state antitrust enforcers to protect consumer interests in an even more effective way.”
Eid
More than 100,000 Muslims across Washington celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Those celebrations are now on the list of the state’s unpaid holidays.
When he signed the bill, Ferguson, the first-term Democratic governor, said Washington is the first state in the country to designate Eid as a state-recognized holiday.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha the completion of the pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates the prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son at God’s request.
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