---
type: "Bill"
title: "Requiring a public hearing before a local government may remove a restrictive covenant from land owned by the local government."
description: "Requiring a public hearing before a local government may remove a restrictive covenant from land owned by the local government."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2017-2018"
identifier: "HB 1959"
citation: "Washington HB 1959 (2017-2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["NAMED ACTS", "PUBLIC LANDS", "LOCAL GOVERNMENT"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Harmsworth"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 20
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-02-06"
last_action: "2017-04-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b9ea253d-f733-4745-95e2-69a281fe0d67"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1959&year=2017"
source_hash: "cb3b6feece4c8074859bc0cbb6fcfb308a6b0719bd01ece1c9c26c224b3200fc"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wa"]
---

# Washington HB 1959 (2017-2018) — Requiring a public hearing before a local government may remove a restrictive covenant from land owned by the local government.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/House%20Bills/1959.htm)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#32) — **45–2** (pass) · upper
- Final Passage (#38) — **96–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Harmsworth — primary (person)
- Pollet — cosponsor (person)
- Van Werven — cosponsor (person)
- Young — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-06** First reading, referred to Local Government (Not Officially read and referred until adoption of Introduction report). `reading-1`
- **2017-02-15** LG - Majority; do pass.
- **2017-02-17** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2017-02-24** Rules Committee relieved of further consideration.
- **2017-02-24** Placed on second reading suspension calendar.
- **2017-02-27** Committee recommendations adopted.
- **2017-02-27** Placed on third reading.
- **2017-02-27** Third reading, passed; yeas, 96; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 2. `reading-3`
- **2017-03-01** First reading, referred to Local Government. `reading-1`
- **2017-03-16** LGOV - Majority; do pass.
- **2017-03-17** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2017-04-07** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-04-10** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2017-04-10** Third reading, passed; yeas, 45; nays, 2; absent, 0; excused, 2. `reading-3`
- **2017-04-14** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-17** President signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-18** Delivered to Governor.
- **2017-04-25** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2017-04-25** Chapter 119, 2017 Laws. `became-law`
- **2017-04-25** Effective date 7/23/2017. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b9ea253d-f733-4745-95e2-69a281fe0d67`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).