Washington lawmakers have once again declined to legalize cafes and stores in residential neighborhoods across the state, allowing a key deadline to pass this week without advancing the proposal to override city regulations.
House Bill 1175 earned support from Republicans, Democrats, urbanists and business groups, while also brewing a bit of public buzz. But the idea, which encountered some pushback from cities in 2024, ran aground for a second straight year as other issues sucked up more attention.
Rep. Mark Klicker, R-Walla Walla, said Democratic leaders in the House didn't bring HB 1175 up for a vote, prioritizing other bills instead. Wednesday was the deadline to send bills from the House to the Senate, or vice versa.
"They just decided they didn't want to run it," said Klicker, who pointed to European neighborhoods when he started promoting coffee shops as a community-building strategy last year. "They didn't give me a reason."
House Speaker Laurie Jinkins said she had no arguments with the bill.
"As we get closer and closer to cutoff, we have a lot of bills," said Jinkins, D-Tacoma. "We just can't get them all across the floor."
HB 1175 would have required cities across Washington to allow small cafes and stores in all residential areas, superseding any local zoning restrictions.
Today, many cities prohibit such businesses from opening on blocks zoned exclusively for homes. That's the case in most Seattle neighborhoods, with rare exceptions in spots where commercial operations predate the zoning laws, like at Volunteer Park Café in the middle of residential Capitol Hill.
Supporters said HB 1175 could encourage more walking and biking, especially as neighborhoods throughout Washington add denser housing.
Klicker said the bill could give community members more places to bond.
"You go into a coffee shop a few days a week. You're seeing the same people and pretty soon you're saying hi to them, saying goodbye to them. You're starting a conversation and they become your coffee shop friend," he said.
Concerns from the Association of Washington Cities about parking, alcohol and local autonomy helped doom Klicker's 2024 proposal, which died in the Senate. But the association was less engaged this year, and its lobbyist actually praised the cafe concept during a January hearing. That suggested the 2025 version might stand a better chance of success — until Wednesday.
"We were neutral," despite constituent concerns about the possibility of something like a "malt liquor and kratom store" opening next to homes, said association lobbyist Carl Schroeder. "I think it was more the legislators themselves who decided they didn't think it was a good idea."
HB 1175 would have required neighborhood cafes selling alcohol to also sell food and would have barred neighborhood stores from selling nicotine.
The bill would have allowed cities to regulate signage, parking and operating hours and the size of the businesses. Klicker said those provisions were a compromise allowing cities to retain a decent amount of local control.
Some are already loosening regulations on their own. Shoreline moved in January to legalize cafes, markets, hardware stores and brewpubs in residential zones, except on dead-end streets and cul-de-sacs. A growth plan proposed in Seattle could allow corner stores.
Certain Washington bills have struggled to advance this legislative session because state lawmakers are grappling with a multibillion-dollar budget gap. HB 1175 wouldn't have cost the state anything, however, Klicker noted.
The Republican was ready to accept an amendment by Rep. Amy Walen, D-Kirkland, to exempt some small, affluent Eastside cities from the bill, he said. Klicker said he saw excitement about HB 1175 building on social media, and the bill cleared multiple House committees before losing steam.
"The sad thing is that this was a positive bill," not a hyperpartisan lightning rod, he added. "It's disappointing. It makes you scratch your head."
Jinkins, the House speaker, said HB 1175's proponents could have pressed harder for the bill to get a vote. There are always lots of interesting bills with broad support — and only so much time, she said.
"I did not hear opposition from anybody" to HB 1175, said the Democratic leader. "I just didn't hear great emphasis from anybody, either."
Schroeder called HB 1175 an "interesting case study" in how a bill with substantial support and public attention can stumble anyway.
"Nothing is ever easy in Olympia," he said.
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