HB 1529 Washington House · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Increasing opportunities for cities to utilize county resources for road construction and maintenance.

HB 1529 allows cities to contract with counties for road construction and maintenance work without counting that work toward the city's 10% limit on using city employees for public works projects. The bill specifically exempts county-performed road striping and paving from the 10% cap, making it easier for cities - especially rural ones - to access county resources. It also sets dollar limits ($150,000 for multi-trade projects, $75,500 for single-trade) on city employees performing road work and requires cities to report spending to the state auditor. First-class cities must follow these rules when using county crews or city staff for road projects.

Issues: ✓ Transportation

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 12, 2026 Last action Feb 4, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Bill → Substitute Bill · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was renumbered from H-0675.1 to H-1379.1 and the reading date was updated to February 14, 2025. The most significant substantive change is in the calculation of the 10% public works limit for first-class cities: the version of the bill that was removed excluded all county-performed work from this limit, whereas the new version included all county work except for specific road striping and paving projects. This change expands the scope of work subject to the 10% cap, potentially limiting how much a city can use its own employees for general county-assisted projects.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding the 10% public works limit for first-class cities was expanded to include most county-performed work, whereas the previous version excluded it entirely.

REQUIREMENT

The 10% limit on public works performed by city employees now includes most work done by counties under RCW 35.77.020, whereas the previous version excluded all such work from the calculation.

The exemption from the 10% limit was narrowed to apply only to 'roadway striping and paving' projects performed by counties, rather than all public works projects.

TECHNICAL

The bill number was changed from H-0675.1 to H-1379.1.

TIMELINE

The reading date was updated from January 23, 2025 to February 14, 2025.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Minority; without recommendation.

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

LG - Majority; do pass.

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Local Government at 10:30 AM.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

Executive session scheduled, but no action was taken in the House Committee on Local Government at 10:30 AM.

lower

Jan 21, 2026

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Local Government at 8:00 AM.

lower

Jan 12, 2026

Committee

Referred to Local Government.

lower

Jan 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

Rules Committee relieved of further consideration.

lower

Jan 12, 2026

Introduced

By resolution, reintroduced and retained in present status.

lower

Feb 19, 2025

Committee

Referred to Rules 2 Review.

lower

Feb 19, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee relieved of further consideration.

lower

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

Referred to Transportation.

lower

Feb 12, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive action taken in the House Committee on Local Government at 8:00 AM.

lower

Feb 7, 2025

Lower · Passed

Executive session scheduled, but no action was taken in the House Committee on Local Government at 10:30 AM.

lower

Feb 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Public hearing in the House Committee on Local Government at 10:30 AM.

lower

1 primary · 3 co-sponsors