Three housing payments are on account of be heard within the Washington state Senate this week, Northwest Regional Information

Washington state lawmakers begin their session in 2021 Monday, and three housing bills are due to be heard on the Senate’s Housing and Local Government Committee, including those that would allow cities to tax short-term rent taxes to regulate the closure of cell phones and produce home parks and limit property tax exemptions for home improvement.

SB 5012 – Short-term rental tax to finance affordable housing

SB 5012 was introduced by Senator Liz Lovelett, a Democrat from Anacortes, and would allow local authorities to impose a special excise tax of up to 10 percent on short-term rentals made possible through an “internet-based platform” such as AirBnb or VRBO. Cities with more than 400,000 inhabitants are allowed to set the tax at 12 percent. The proceeds must be used to fund the capital and operating costs of affordable housing programs.

The hearing of the Housing and Local Government Committee on the bill will take place on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

SB 5033 – Restriction of home tax exemption for home improvement to ADUs only

SB 5033 was introduced by Democratic Sens. Patty Kuderer of Bellevue and Rebecca Saldaña of Seattle and would change the property tax exemption for improvements to single family homes. Currently, any home improvement construction project can be exempt from property tax for three years if the project is less than 30% of the total home value. SB 5033 would only limit the exemption to the construction of additional housing units.

This hearing will take place right after the hearing for SB 5012 on Wednesday.

SB 5079 – Owners must give tenants three years notice before closing or converting mobile and manufactured residential parks

SB 5079 was introduced by Kuderer and Sen. Mona Das, a Kent Democrat, and would increase the amount of time that mobile and prefabricated park owners are required to tell residents before they close the park or convert it for other uses. Current law requires a notice period of one year. The bill would extend it to three years.

There are several exceptions if the owner sells the park to a nonprofit, housing authority, local government, or tenant organization for maintenance purposes. The owner can also rightly compensate tenants for the market value of their homes. In this case, a notice period of 180 days is required after receipt of payment.

The Housing and Local Government Committee will hear statements on this bill at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday.

You can access committee schedules at https://app.leg.wa.gov/committeeschedules, register at https://app.leg.wa.gov/CSIRemote/Senate to testify, and watch the hearings live Follow TVW.

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