Advocacy Update - July 2025

BOMA Working with Coalition Partners – 2025 State Legislative Successes

July 8, 2025: State Government Affairs Update

1. BOMA successfully advocated against a proposed bill that would have tripled the annual property tax limit increases from 1% to 3% 
2. BOMA supported HB 1543 which has passed the legislature that increases compliance pathways and options for compliance with the State’s clean buildings performance standard
3. BOMA defeated consideration of adding sales tax on janitorial services.
4. BOMA defeated consideration of adding sales tax on rents and leases (Self Storage facilities). However, a B & O tax on self-storage rentals was passed and set to begin October 1, 2025. In 1959, the legislature passes a B & O tax on rents. It was later overturned by the court.  Commercial real estate in general, is the ultimate goal or proponents of a B & O tax on rental income.
5. BOMA worked tirelessly to defeated a bill that would have imposed unnecessary and significant new boiler certification and licensing greater than Seattle’s requirements statewide.  BOMA will work with interested parties before the next legislative session in 2026 to seek a better legislative bill.

Sales Tax on Security Services set to begin October 1, 2025: 

Investigation, security services, security monitoring services, and armored car services including, but not limited to, background checks, security guard and patrol services, personal and event security, armored car transportation of cash and valuables, and security system services

Some believe the new tax will only be the State portion at 6.5%. BOMA has been told by the state legislative staff in charge of this new tax that the amount of the tax is the full sales tax collection plus the city and county where sales taxes are currently being collected of other items.  

City + District Rates: These vary widely depending on the specific city or district within King County. For example:

• Seattle's combined rate can be up to 10.40%
• Mercer Island's combined rate is 10.20%
• Kent's combined rate is 10.2%

Therefore, the combined sales tax rate in King County can range from 8.80% to 10.50%


Emerging State Legislation of Concern in 2026:

1.  Tax increases to compensate for projected cut in state Medicaid from the federal government. The recently passed and signed bill sponsored by the President could mean cuts of $13 billion dollars in federal Medicaid support of Washington State.
   (See below)
2. Proposed sales taxes on the collection of rents in CRE 
3. Statewide rent control and commercial real estate 
4. New attempts to triple the annual property tax limit increase from 1% to 3% 
5. Statewide vacancy tax on commercial real estate, imposing a $5 per square foot tax on properties deemed "vacant" for 182 days in a year. 
6. Attempts to impose sales tax on janitorial services
7. Legislation that would limit janitorial workloads – significantly increasing cleaning cost and cost and therefore the elimination of janitorial jobs. 
8. “Homeless Bill of Rights” 

“Washington spends $21 billion on Medicaid annually, $13 billion of which is paid by the federal government. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) estimates Washington will lose between $31 billion and $51 billion in federal Medicaid dollars over the next 10 years, or at least $3 billion per year.”

Key BOMA Federal Legislation Engagement:

Environment
BOMA International continues to be a leader on the sustainability front by advocating for incentives to help the commercial real estate industry reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Some of our most recent initiatives include:

• SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
• Hydrogen as the Future of Energy
• H.R. 1491 Small Business Energy Loan Enhancement Act
• BOMA Electrification Study 2023
• Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations
• Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act

Energy Star Program
July 22nd the House Appropriations Committee marked up the Interior & Environment spending bill.  During the mark-up, the Subcommittee chair, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), introduced an amendment that was approved by voice vote to include the following language in the committee report that accompanied the legislative text -

On page 59 of the report, before the paragraph titled “Compliance” insert the following new paragraph:
Clean Air.—Within the funds provided, at least $32,000,000 is for the Energy Star program as described in Section 131 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15941).

This is good news, BOMA’s efforts have been rewarded. This is exactly what we asked for. While we have made progress, there is a long way to go, and things can be derailed. So, we will keep up our work here in Washington D.C., but we need local BOMA members to send a letter supporting the Energy Star program to their Representative and Senators through the BOMA portal - https://boma.quorum.us/takeaction/  The letter is pre-loaded and all they have to do is enter their info and hit send.

Tax & Finance
The BOMA Advocacy Team is addressing a number of critical tax issues that affect the commercial real estate industry, including:

• Parking Taxation

Workforce Development
BOMA International’s Workforce Advocacy Committee is proud to introduce its State Workforce Development Toolkits, available to BOMA International members. Each toolkit provides an industry-specific, state-by-state outline of workforce development programs, grants, education, training and certification courses available within commercial real estate. These resources help employers within the industry to fill labor shortages with qualified talent as well as provide current and prospective employees with access to career advancement opportunities. Recent advocacy in this area includes:

• H.R. 2621 Honoring Vocational Education Act

BOMA International proudly advocates on behalf of the commercial real estate industry in states across the country, on Capitol Hill, and in federal agencies.
BOMA’s mission furthers the industry’s legislative and regulatory agendas by actively working with lawmakers and government officials to advance issues most important to its members. The scope of BOMA’s federal work primarily focuses on supporting local associations by lobbying Congress about issues related to sustainability, tax and finance, and workforce development.

If you have any questions about resources or lobbying for the commercial real estate industry, please reach out to govt@boma.org.