Rules will take effect Jan. 24, 2026



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Dec. 26, 2025

Rulemaking Notice: Commerce finalizes climate planning rules

Rules will take effect Jan. 24, 2026

The Department of Commerce has filed *_final rules (CR-103) [ [link removed] ]_* to conclude a multi-year effort to guide communities to establish the first Climate Element under the Growth Management Act (GMA). GMS began rulemaking in January 2024 and worked in partnership across the state to implement Chapter 228, Laws of 2023 (HB 1181), [ [link removed] ] which established the new climate change and resilience planning requirements.  

The final rules take effect Jan. 24, 2026 and include revisions to:


* Chapter 365-195 WAC, Best Available Science
* Chapter 365-196 WAC, Procedural Criteria for Adopting Comprehensive Plans and Development Regulations

With these rules finalized, Commerce can also finalize climate planning [ [link removed] ] guidance. This is critical for communities that must update their comprehensive plans to incorporate the new climate element, for fully planning cities and counties that must create a resilience sub-element, and for the communities that must or choose to pursue a greenhouse gas reduction sub-element.

Relevant documents:


* CR-101 (PDF) [ [link removed] ]
* CR-102 (PDF) [ [link removed] ]
* _CR-103 (PDF) [ [link removed] ]_
* Concise Explanatory Statement and Response to Comments (PDF) [ [link removed] ]
* Revisions to Chapter 365-195 (PDF) [ [link removed] ]
* Revisions to Chapter 365-196 (PDF) [ [link removed] ]
* SEPA Comments (PDF) [ [link removed] ]







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