Public grocery stores

AN ACT Relating to publicly owned grocery stores; amending RCW 1
39.114.010; adding a new section to chapter 35.21 RCW; and adding a 2
new section to chapter 35A.21 RCW. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 35.21 5
RCW to read as follows: 6
(1) Cities are authorized to establish a publicly owned grocery 7
store in underserved areas with food access gaps. 8
(2) In establishing a publicly owned grocery store, a city may:9
(a) Acquire land and buildings; 10
(b) Construct or rehabilitate an existing building;11
(c) Lease buildings to private or nonprofit operators, including 12
long-term leases; 13
(d) Transfer property to a community redevelopment authority for 14
management and operation; and 15
(e) Take private property for public use through eminent domain.16
(3) A city establishing a publicly owned grocery store may:17
(a) Apply for capital grant from the department of commerce to 18
fund the publicly owned grocery store. Eligible uses of the capital 19
grant funds include: 20
(i) Property acquisition; 21
H-2716.2
HOUSE BILL 2313
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representatives Farivar, Parshley, Berry, Ryu, Tharinger, Reeves,
Scott, Mena, Reed, Ramel, Cortes, Zahn, Street, Kloba, Taylor,
Doglio, Morgan, Gregerson, Berg, Macri, Fosse, Hill, Pollet, and
Bernbaum
Prefiled 01/07/26. Read first time 01/12/26. Referred to Committee
on Local Government.
p. 1 HB 2313
(ii) Property rehabilitation or tenant improvements;1
(iii) Equipment and other operating costs; 2
(iv) Security and site infrastructure; and 3
(v) Establishing food locker systems in underserved areas. For 4
the purposes of this section, "food locker system" means a 5
refrigerated or climate-controlled, secure-locker based food 6
distribution system that allows for scheduled or on-demand food 7
pickup and operates on a 24-hours-a-day basis; 8
(b) Designate a tax increment financing area pursuant to chapter 9
39.114 RCW. Revenue collected may be used for: 10
(i) Property acquisition; 11
(ii) Redevelopment of existing grocery store sites; and12
(iii) Improving access to existing food resources.13
(4)(a) A publicly owned grocery store may: 14
(i) Be publicly owned and operated by city employees;15
(ii) Be publicly owned and operated by a third party, including a 16
private or nonprofit entity; 17
(iii) Be cooperatively owned and operated with land, property, 18
and operational support provided by the city and operations governed 19
by a nonprofit entity or a cooperative board. 20
(b) A contract between a city and nonprofit entity or cooperative 21
board must include: 22
(i) Hours of operation; and 23
(ii) Categories and types of products to be sold.24
(5) A city establishing a publicly owned grocery store may take 25
certain actions to facilitate the establishment of such grocery 26
stores, including: 27
(a) Identifying and rezoning targeted areas experiencing food 28
insecurity; 29
(b) Allowing increased residential density around the publicly 30
owned grocery stores; 31
(c) Modifying parking or mixed-use requirements; and32
(d) Conducting environmental reviews consistent with state and 33
local laws. 34
(6) A city that establishes a publicly owned grocery store shall 35
report annually to the department of commerce in accordance with RCW 36
43.01.036 on: 37
(a) The financial status of the grocery store;38
(b) Community access to food; 39
(c) The number of jobs created or retained; 40
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(d) For grocery stores funded through tax increment financing:1
(i) An annual fiscal report; and 2
(ii) An impact assessment on surrounding redevelopment; and3
(e) For publicly owned grocery stores operated by a third party:4
(i) Data on sales categories, provided by the grocery store 5
operator; and 6
(ii) Compliance with contractual requirements and benchmarks 7
established by the city, provided by the grocery store operator. 8
Benchmarks may include data on local produce that was sourced and 9
sold, the number of households served, and food waste.10
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 35A.21 11
RCW to read as follows: 12
(1) Code cities are authorized to establish a publicly owned 13
grocery store in underserved areas with food access gaps.14
(2) In establishing a publicly owned grocery store, a code city 15
may: 16
(a) Acquire land and buildings; 17
(b) Construct or rehabilitate an existing building;18
(c) Lease buildings to private or nonprofit operators, including 19
long-term leases; 20
(d) Transfer property to a community redevelopment authority for 21
management and operation; and 22
(e) Take private property for public use through eminent domain.23
(3) A code city establishing a publicly owned grocery store may:24
(a) Apply for a capital grant from the department of commerce to 25
fund the publicly owned grocery store. Eligible uses of the capital 26
grant funds include: 27
(i) Property acquisition; 28
(ii) Property rehabilitation or tenant improvements;29
(iii) Equipment and other operating costs; 30
(iv) Security and site infrastructure; and 31
(v) Establishing food locker systems in underserved areas. For 32
the purposes of this section, "food locker system" means a 33
refrigerated or climate-controlled, secure-locker based food 34
distribution system that allows for scheduled or on-demand food 35
pickup and operates on a 24-hours-a-day basis; 36
(b) Designate a tax increment financing area pursuant to chapter 37
39.114 RCW around areas experiencing a decline in food access. 38
Revenue collected may be used for: 39
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(i) Property acquisition; 1
(ii) Redevelopment of existing grocery store sites;2
(iii) Infrastructure supporting the viability of existing grocery 3
stores, including utilities, transportation access, and mixed-use 4
housing; 5
(d) Supporting the operations of a publicly owned or nonprofit 6
grocery store. 7
(4)(a) A publicly owned grocery store may: 8
(i) Be publicly owned and operated by code city employees;9
(ii) Be publicly owned and operated by a third party, including a 10
private or nonprofit entity; 11
(iii) Be cooperatively owned and operated with land, property, 12
and operational support provided by the code city and operations 13
governed by a nonprofit entity or a cooperative board.14
(b) A contract between a code city and nonprofit entity or 15
cooperative board must include: 16
(i) Hours of operation; and 17
(ii) Categories and types of products to be sold.18
(5) A code city establishing a publicly owned grocery store may 19
take certain actions to facilitate the establishment of such grocery 20
stores, including: 21
(a) Rezoning targeted areas; 22
(b) Allowing increased residential density around the publicly 23
owned grocery stores; 24
(c) Modifying parking or mixed-use requirements; and25
(d) Conducting environmental reviews consistent with state and 26
local laws. 27
(6) A code city that establishes a publicly owned grocery store 28
shall report annually to the department of commerce in accordance 29
with RCW 43.01.036 on: 30
(a) The financial status of the grocery store;31
(b) Community access to food; 32
(c) The number of jobs created or retained; 33
(d) For grocery stores funded through tax increment financing:34
(i) An annual fiscal report; and 35
(ii) An impact assessment on surrounding redevelopment; and36
(e) For publicly owned grocery stores operated by a third party:37
(i) Data on sales categories, provided by the grocery store 38
operator; and 39
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(ii) Compliance with contractual requirements and benchmarks, 1
provided by the grocery store operator. 2
Sec. 3. RCW 39.114.010 and 2024 c 236 s 1 are each amended to 3
read as follows: 4
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter 5
unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 6
(1) "Assessed value of real property" means the valuation of 7
taxable real property as placed on the last completed assessment roll 8
prepared pursuant to Title 84 RCW. 9
(2) "Increment area" means the geographic area within which 10
regular property tax revenues are to be apportioned to pay public 11
improvement costs, as authorized under this chapter.12
(3) "Increment value" means 100 percent of any increase in the 13
true and fair value of real property in an increment area that is 14
placed on the tax rolls after the increment area takes effect. The 15
increment value shall not be less than zero. 16
(4) "Local government" means any city, town, county, port 17
district, or any combination thereof. 18
(5) "Ordinance" means any appropriate method of taking 19
legislative action by a local government, including a resolution 20
adopted by a port district organized under Title 53 RCW.21
(6) "Public improvement costs" means the costs of:22
(a) Design, planning, acquisition, required permitting, required 23
environmental studies and mitigation, seismic studies or surveys, 24
archaeological studies or surveys, land surveying, site acquisition, 25
including appurtenant rights and site preparation, construction, 26
reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, expansion, and 27
installation of public improvements, and other directly related 28
costs; 29
(b) Relocating, maintaining, and operating property pending 30
construction of public improvements; 31
(c) Relocating utilities as a result of public improvements;32
(d) Financing public improvements, including capitalized interest 33
for up to six months following completion of construction, legal and 34
other professional services, taxes, insurance, principal and interest 35
costs on general indebtedness issued to finance public improvements, 36
and any necessary debt service reserves; 37
(e) Expenses incurred in revaluing real property for the purpose 38
of determining the tax allocation base value by a county assessor 39
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under chapter 84.41 RCW and expenses incurred by a county treasurer 1
under chapter 84.56 RCW in apportioning the taxes and complying with 2
this chapter and other applicable law. For purposes of this 3
subsection (6)(e), "expenses incurred" means actual staff and 4
software costs directly related to the implementation and ongoing 5
administration of increment areas under this chapter;6
(f) Administrative expenses and feasibility studies reasonably 7
necessary and related to these costs, including related costs that 8
may have been incurred before adoption of the ordinance authorizing 9
the public improvements and the use of tax increment financing to 10
fund the costs of the public improvements; and 11
(g) Funding for mitigation to impacted taxing districts as 12
allowed in RCW 39.114.020. 13
(7) "Public improvements" means: 14
(a) Infrastructure improvements owned by a state or local 15
government within or outside of and serving the increment area and 16
real property owned or acquired by a local government within the 17
increment area including: 18
(i) Street and road construction; 19
(ii) Water and sewer system construction, expansion, and 20
improvements; 21
(iii) Sidewalks and other nonmotorized transportation 22
improvements and streetlights; 23
(iv) Parking, terminal, and dock facilities; 24
(v) Park and ride facilities or other transit facilities;25
(vi) Park and community facilities and recreational areas;26
(vii) Stormwater and drainage management systems;27
(viii) Electric, broadband, or rail service; 28
(ix) Mitigation of brownfields; 29
(x) Publicly owned grocery stores; or 30
(b) Expenditures for any of the following purposes:31
(i) Purchasing, rehabilitating, retrofitting for energy 32
efficiency, and constructing housing for the purpose of creating or 33
preserving long-term affordable housing; 34
(ii) Purchasing, rehabilitating, retrofitting for energy 35
efficiency, and constructing child care facilities serving children 36
and youth that are low-income, homeless, or in foster care;37
(iii) Providing maintenance and security for the public 38
improvements; 39
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(iv) Historic preservation activities authorized under RCW 1
35.21.395; or 2
(v) Relocation and construction of a government-owned facility, 3
with written permission from the agency owning the facility and the 4
office of financial management. 5
(8) "Real property" means: 6
(a) Real property as defined in RCW 84.04.090; and7
(b) Privately owned or used improvements located on publicly 8
owned land that are subject to property taxation or leasehold excise 9
tax. 10
(9) "Regular property taxes" means regular property taxes as 11
defined in RCW 84.04.140, except: (a) Regular property taxes levied 12
by port districts or public utility districts to the extent necessary 13
for the payments of principal and interest on general obligation 14
debt; and (b) regular property taxes levied by the state for the 15
support of the common schools under RCW 84.52.065. Regular property 16
taxes do not include excess property tax levies that are exempt from 17
the aggregate limits for junior and senior taxing districts as 18
provided in RCW 84.52.043. "Regular property taxes" does not include 19
excess property taxes levied by local school districts.20
(10) "Tax allocation base value" means the assessed value of real 21
property located within an increment area for taxes imposed in the 22
year in which the increment area takes effect. 23
(11) "Tax allocation revenues" means those revenues derived from 24
the imposition of regular property taxes on the increment value.25
(12) "Taxing district" means a governmental entity that levies or 26
has levied for it regular property taxes upon real property located 27
within a proposed or approved increment area. 28
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