City reports legislative priorities: seeks resiliency battery funding and is monitoring multiple bills

Jared provided the City Council with a legislative update on Jan. 20 as the 2026 short session began. He said the city will pursue a local community project funding request submitted with the first district delegation for a roughly $500,000 backup battery to provide emergency power for the emergency operations center and the maintenance shop for up to two days as a phase‑1 resilience measure. "The battery that we've received quotes for, comes in right about $500,000 and can provide emergency power for the whole building for up to 2 days," Jared said.

Staff also said they are tracking several bills at the state level that could affect Woodinville. The transcript referenced bills as SB 6096 (which would allow residential uses in commercial zones with exemptions for cities under 30,000 residents), SB 5729 (permitting streamlining; staff noted potential unintended consequences such as creating 'approved but not issued' permits), a bill described in the transcript as HB 28 24 89 (referred to as a 'homeless bill of rights' in staff remarks), and a bill referred to in the transcript as HP 2209 regarding organized retail theft and enhanced penalties. Jared said staff would continue monitoring these measures and that the city will participate in AWC City Action Days in Olympia.

Council members asked staff to coordinate with public safety leadership on bills that affect enforcement and crime penalties; Council member Evans specifically asked whether the police chief had been asked to review HP 2209 for problematic language.

What happens next: staff will continue to monitor the short session, pursue the resiliency battery funding opportunity and report back as bills develop.