Lessons and strategies for parking flexibility advocates elsewhere.
Last week, Governor Bob Ferguson's signature made it official: Washington has passed the strongest statewide rollback of costly parking mandates in the United States. The bill does many things, but put simply, it means that in most places across the state, onerous parking requirements will no longer limit the homes and businesses that Washingtonians need and want.
In most circumstances, the new law will restore the rights of property owners- not arbitrary, predetermined local quotas - to decide how many parking spaces they need for the homes or businesses they hope to build. This means more homes, in more shapes and sizes, to help address a deep housing shortage and help curb the resulting high home prices and rents. It means less red tape, lower costs, and less wasted space for housing and businesses in the kinds of historic main streets people love to stroll and shop and dine along. And it means undoing legal mandates that forced pollution, sprawl, and excess asphalt in cities and towns where land is scarce and opportunity costs are high.
The path to a win wasn't easy. But a few key champions, a broad coalition, and a powerful set of stories and data laid the way.
Building on years of housing conversations, Washington's parking bill enjoyed a two-year turnaround
For years, advocates in the Evergreen State have been pushing regulatory reform to tame housing costs, building relationships and growing awareness on how parking mandates contribute to the housing shortage. That said, passing such strong parking legislation was unthinkable even two years ago. A 2023 bill to end parking mandates in the tiny fraction of the state's land near transit stops squeaked through one committee but went no further.
Since then, though, advocates published more research and shared more stories on the real and present harms caused by excessive parking mandates - and the additional homes that can come from added parking flexibility: research suggests that building at reduced parking ratios, similar to the caps ultimately adopted in Washington, could make 40 percent more homes financially feasible to build over today's status quo. Alongside this growing narrative, a bigger-than-ever coalition was gathering together to elevate parking reform as a major housing priority for Washington Democrats this year.
Sponsored by superstar housing champion Senator Jessica Bateman (D, 22), the Parking Reform and Modernization Act (SB 5184) sets universal caps for both residential and commercial parking minimums and repeals them entirely for a set of key uses. It passed on strong bipartisan votes of 40-8 in the Senate and 64-31 in the House.
How did Washington move the needle in two years?

Redesigned the policy to target building types, not transit

Told real stories about why it matters

Activated a broad coalition

Leveraged local progress, garnering support from cities

Added guardrails and offramps

Consider the needs of disabled drivers

Had strong legislative champions
Washington's recipe for passing strong parking reform.
'Target sympathetic building types, not transit-limited geographies'
In the lead-up to Washington's 2023 legislative session, ending parking mandates near transit seemed to hold promise. The previous summer, Oregon adopted a suite of reforms eliminating parking mandates along transit routes and for a host of specified uses. A few months later, California passed AB-2097, which ended parking mandates within a half-mile of major transit stops.
Inspired by these wins, Washington legislators took up a bill replicating California's. Targeting reforms to places served by transit is relatively easy to justify because it gives more residents and workers the opportunity to use it, maximizing the public investment. It also neutralizes opposition from those who don't live near transit.
However, debate over the bill became overrun by concerns that transit service often isn't good e...

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