Ecology is leading an expedited rulemaking to reflect a 2024 amendment to the state’s floodplain management law (RCW 86.16) that occurred with the passage of Senate Bill 5649. Through this rulemaking, Ecology will make minor changes to Chapter 173-158 WAC. The new rule will make it possible for Ecology to issue a waiver that would allow some lower-risk homes located in FEMA-designated “floodways” to be structurally altered (for example, through home elevation) to make the homes safer from future flood events, as long as other requirements of the local land use authority (county, city, or town) are met. The current rules only allow Ecology to issue such a waiver to make these structural changes after a home has been damaged by flooding, not beforehand. Under the state floodplain management law, owners of homes that are located fully or partially in a floodway are allowed to make structural changes to their home without seeking permission from Ecology, as long as the cost of those changes does not equal 50% or more of the home’s value. This impacts homes with different values in different ways. For example, if the average cost to elevate a home is $110,000, the owner of a $500,000 home would be able to elevate their home without triggering the 50% threshold; but the owner of a $200,000 home would have to seek a waiver from Ecology to take the exact same action. The change made to the law in 2024 was intended to address this, and the new rule is expected to make it more likely that lower value homes would be eligible for the waiver. The current rule applies statewide but only affects areas that currently have mapped FEMA floodways, and/or any future FEMA-mapped floodway. The new rule would apply to the same areas.