The Local Project Review Act was established in 1995 as the statewide framework for local government land use planning review and development permitting. This page provides guidance for local governments in Washington on how to comply with the law.
Commerce developed the Local Project Review guidebook to help jurisdictions interpret and follow the law. The guidebook provides the most up to date information for understanding and implementing the requirements of RCW 36.70B.
HB 2418: New requirements since 2026
Passed during the 2025-26 legislative session, Chapter 235, Laws of 2026 (HB 2418) further clarified and amended the Local Project Review Act to add new permit process requirements. Commerce developed a fact sheet to provide a summary of the new provisions.
Commerce is currently analyzing the bill’s applicability to the state’s health districts. We will update the fact sheet with new information as it becomes available.
SB 5290: New requirements since 2023
Major changes were made to the Local Project Review Act with Chapter 338, Laws of 2023 (SB 5290) (PDF). Updates to the act streamlined the local permit review processes for improved outcomes.
Commerce prepared a fact sheet and FAQ resources to summarize the changes to state law while the guidebook was in development. They remain useful for quick reference.
Resources
Commerce has offered several grant programs to assist cities in streamlining residential building permit review and modernizing permitting processes.
Permit Review Process Grants will provide of up to $75,000 to local governments to help reduce permit review timelines. A total of $475,000 is available.
Consolidated Permit Review Grants provided funding to cities and counties that committed to issuing a final decision on permit applications within 45 business days or 90 calendar days.
Paper to Digital Grants assisted cities and counties in transitioning from paper filing systems to digital systems capable of processing permit applications.
Additional rounds of these grant programs may become available if additional funding is allocated by the Legislature.
Counties subject to the Review and Evaluation Program (often referred to as the Buildable Lands Program), RCW 36.70A.215, and cities within those counties with a population over 20,000, must publish an annual report with data on permit volumes and timelines. Annual permit data must be sent to Commerce by March 1 each year and posted on the jurisdiction’s website to increase public accessibility of permit data. Counties required to produce an annual report include Clark, King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston and Whatcom (RCW 36.70B.080).
Annual reports
Commerce was tasked with facilitating a study to examine the benefits and drawbacks of implementing a statewide permit process system and tracking software capable of virtual inspections, electronic review and with capacity for video storage. Specifically, the study will address the following:
- Evaluate existing needs for digital permitting systems, including impacts on existing digital permitting systems already in place.
- Review barriers preventing local jurisdictions from accessing or adopting digital permitting systems.
- Evaluate the benefits and costs associated with a statewide permitting software system.
- Provide budgetary, administrative policy and legislative recommendations to increase the adoption of or establish a statewide system of digital permit review.
Commerce formed a digital permitting work group to recommend an approach for modernizing local government permit systems supported by extensive fact finding and barrier identification. The digital permitting work group is made up of a wide array of stakeholders including planning directors, administrators, building officials, state and local government organizations and information technology professionals.
The Digital Permitting, Implementing Chapter 338, Laws of 2023 final report (PDF) was released to the legislature in the fall of 2024.
Commerce provides technical assistance and guidance to counties and cities to ensure permit review fees are reasonable and sufficient to recover true costs associated with permit review. Guidance includes the different ways permit fees are established, the methodology for establishing fee structures, and instruction on tracking and analysis jurisdictions can do based on an understanding of the time it takes to review a permit and the true costs to the jurisdiction for that respective review (RCW 36.70B.245).
Please refer to Navigating Permit Fees: Guidance on Cost Recovery (PDF) for the latest guidance.
In 2023, the Legislature directed Commerce to develop a plan for communities to secure technical support staff needed to review residential housing permits so that they may meet permit review timelines.
A resource list of trained staff that can provide temporary support for timely processing of residential housing permit applications will be made available on the Local Project Review webpage soon.