Wednesday, February 1, 2017

2017 legislative session

There are several bills currently in the Washington legislature that would have impacts on sustainable design and structural engineers. There are (at least) two versions of a carbon tax, following last year's Initiative 732. One comes from the governor's office as SB 5127 while the other has been sponsored by Joe Fitzgibbon as HB 1646.

There is also a bill (SB 5379) to require use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) to the "maximum extent possible" in public buildings under 12 stories.

Update 2/23:
A second CLT bill has been introduced, (SB 5450) with a much more general directive to the building code council to address CLT in Washington codes. 

SEAW does not endorse specific positions on specific legislation, but I encourage members and firms to consider their positions on these bills and contact their legislators as appropriate.