There’s plenty of bad news out there, so here’s some good news.
I was looking through recent legislation and noticed that Washington’s legislators have passed several bills that are anti-car and pro-housing! These bills target removing minimum parking and building housing that doesn’t force suburban sprawl.
SB 5184 - Concerning minimum parking requirements.
HB 1491 - Promoting transit-oriented housing development.
HB 1096 - Increasing housing options through lot splitting.
Here’s some news articles about them if reading legislation isn’t your jam:
WA legislature passes nation-leading parking reform bill
Washington Legislature Sets it Sights on Transit-Oriented Development…Again
Housing bills to watch as the Washington legislative session enters its final weeks
Sorry, but these bills are basically useless. The parking “reform” doesn’t eliminate parking mandates, just puts a very large cap on how much cities can still require. Calling SB5184 a “nation-leading” bill is ridiculous when other cities, such as San Jose and Austin, did away with parking minimums altogether. And the TOD bill merely requires some very minor upzoning in the next general plan update – which will not be for decades for many cities.