Showdown between WA House, Senate on rent cap bill

Rent cap bill goes back to WA House with changes

A showdown between both chambers of the legislature is set, as the Senate made major changes to legislation passed by the House to put a limit on rent increases.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A showdown between both chambers of the legislature is set, as the Senate made major changes to legislation passed by the House to put a limit on rent increases.

After a lengthy debate Thursday evening, the Senate amended and passed House Bill 1217 on a 29-20 vote, with one Democratic senator joining all Republicans in opposition.

The hotly debated legislation left the House back in March with a 7% cap on rent increases. But that cap was increased to 10% plus inflation by the Senate through a narrow, bipartisan vote.

A Democratic senator proposed the amendment, concerned rent caps could reduce housing supply.

"Research as it stands suggests that 7% is risky," said Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham. "And so I'm asking for a 10% cap with a CPI adjustment, because that might be risky too, but it’s less risky."

Other changes made in the Senate include sunsetting the rent caps after 15 years and exempting single-family homes not owned by real estate development companies.

Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-West Seattle, sponsored the bill in the house before being appointed to the Senate at the beginning of the 2025 session.

"I’m disappointed at this point of where we are of the changes that were made here, that I think strip far too many people of the protections that we could have afforded them," she said after the legislation passed.

"But still this bill is important," she added.

Back in the House, Housing Committee Chair Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, said he knew some changes would come, but nothing like this.

"Part of me is not terribly surprised, but very disappointed," he said in an interview Friday. "They basically doubled the rent cap that we sent off the floor of the House, and I think working families across Washington just can't afford that now."

Rally against rent gouging in WA

Washington rents are some of the highest in the United States. Now, a policy that would prohibit rent increases of more than 7% passed in the house this week and now heads to the senate.

As discussions begin on how to come together and move the bill forward, Peterson said he would want the Senate to concede to the House position. Though he assumed the two chambers will go into the conference process, where a handful of members will negotiate a compromise.

"I plan on working as hard as I can over the next couple of weeks to make sure that we do get this to the governor’s desk in a form that, again, really helps Washingtonians," Peterson said. "Whether it's at 7%, which I think is very reasonable, or maybe a little bit higher than that, is to be seen. But again, I think the House position is strong. And I think it makes economic sense and I think it makes sense for families."

Republican Housing Committee member Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, said he is pleased with the changes from the Senate, but would still vote against the bill as it is "bad policy."

He argued more housing supply and other reforms are needed to keep people in homes, and rent caps have not worked in other places across the country.

"We’ve seen a decline in building and we’ve seen a decline in supply. And we’ve seen this be a problem where we’ll have to come back and fix it again, right," Barkis said. "And I just think, again, the best possible outcome would not have this policy in the state of Washington."

Both chambers would have to agree on one version by the time session ends on April 27 in order to get the bill to the governor.

The Source: Information in this story is from Albert James, a television reporter covering state government as part of the Murrow News Fellowship program – a collaborative effort between news outlets statewide and Washington State University.