Like Oregon, Washington has a lands use regime stricter than most states (in a whole different world from, say, Idaho). But it isn’t exactly the same. One of the key elements in Oregon’s is the policy of protecting farmland. Development can, and often has been, blocked if it means changing the use of farm land to something else.

Washington may be moving that way. Senate Bill 6082 has a bipartisan list of sponsors, most of them rural, who don’t seem to be local advocates of increased land use regulation. And the bill really isn’t. But it does make a telling addition to the 1971 State Environmental Policy Act.

From the bill report:

The Department of Ecology must add the following questions to the SEPA environmental checklist, and the checklist form must be updated in the administrative rules at the next update of those rules.
Is there any agricultural land affected by the proposal?
How much agricultural land will be converted to non-agricultural use as a result of the proposal?
Would the proposal affect the ability of adjacent agricultural landowners to continue farming?
Would the proposal affect existing agricultural drainage?
Would the proposal affect or interfere with normal agricultural operations?
Would the proposal result in placing or removing agricultural soils from the site?
Describe any proposed measures to preserve or enhance agricultural resource lands.
Lead agencies must evaluate the checklist to determine whether a proposal will affect or be located on agricultural land.

The bill’s title is, “An act relating to the preservation and conservation of agricultural resource lands,” and just adding the questions could well do that.

The bill is on track for passage. It cleared the Senate (unanimously) and is moving speedily through the House.