Legislative session has Jefferson County impacts

Published 1:30 am Saturday, May 2, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County elected officials and department directors presented to the board of commissioners on legislative changes from the past session.

Present for the discussion were Auditor Brenda Huntingford, Prosecuting Attorney James Kennedy, Sheriff Andy Pernsteiner, Assessor Jeff Chapman, Treasurer Stacie Prada, Clerk Amanda Hamilton, Department of Community Development Director Jeremy Williammee, County Administrator Josh Peters and the commissioners: Greg Brotherton, Heidi Eisenhour and Heather Dudley-Nollette.

House Bill 2543 passed in the recent session, adjusting court clerk fees for digital archives, Hamilton said.

“Digital copies are going from 25 cents to 50 cents,” she said. “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but we do a lot of business and every little bit helps. I’m always happy for revenue to go up.”

Senate Bill 6162 expands property tax exemptions for veterans and individuals with disabilities while lowering the eligibility age for senior citizens to 60.

“It’s going to add a lot of seniors who are applying for exemptions,” Chapman said.

“The limit went from (below $45,000 annual gross income) to $71,000 for qualifying.”

The expansion will increase the workload on the assessor’s office as Chapman expects the number of exemption applications to at least double.

“If you’re on an exemption, what you get off regular levies can go up,” he continued. “You can have a multi-million-dollar home and have most of it exempt from the regular levies.”

“It is also work for the treasurer’s office, in time to process the supplements,” Prada said. “After they change how much is owed, we have to process the tax statement. Most of them are done after we’ve already sent out statements. It does affect postage and our staff time. Everything costs money.”

HB 1345 is an optional bill allowing counties to permit accessory dwelling units (ADU) in rural residential areas. Jefferson County already has a code to permit ADU’s. If implemented, the policy would make permitting more strict.

“It involves siting the detached ADU within 150 feet of the main home,” Williammee said. “It has to share a driveway and it has to have its own water meter. Those are not requirements that we have in our code.”

While the county will not implement the policy in the short term, Williammee said the county could look into implementing it in the future.

“A lot of this comes down to how one might interpret appropriate rural development,” Williammee said.

As it exists, the county’s code would allow for a dispersed ADU on a rural property. The new bill would allow for clustered development to become policy.

“Given that we have large residential parcels in our rural areas, it really would just impact the flexibility that individual homeowners have for placement,” Williammee said.

HB 2269, a bill sponsored by State Rep. Adam Bernbaum, D-Port Angeles, allows for middle housing in limited areas of more intensive rural development (LAMIRDs). The bill was brought forth with LAMIRDs in Chimacum and Brinnon in mind, Eisenhour said.

Middle housing refers to duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes.

“(HB 2269 is) also about the provision of sewer to help middle housing in LAMIRDs,” Williammee said. “That is an option that is on the table.”

While there is now a legal channel for the infrastructure, there are still practical questions around funding, he added.

Brinnon’s potential for sewer development would still be constrained by its LAMIRD’s location, which is largely in a floodplain and floodway, Williammee said.

HB 2334, the penny bill, allows for rounding down and up to the nickel, Prada said.

“We do need to update our revenue handling,” Prada said. “The hardest part is addressing our software to allow it because our software doesn’t allow us to take a different amount for cash and not give the perfect change.”

Funding for public defense was included in SB 6346, known as the millionaire’s tax, but it was stripped from the bill at the last minute, Kennedy said.

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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.