Background: 2017
When we began cataloging homes with bad Port Packages six years ago, we expected a heavy lift. Everyone with a Port Package signs an Avigation Easement which legally obligates you to allow aircraft to fly over your home in any manner they choose. But back then, that save easement prevented the Port of Seattle from providing anything beyond that initial install. Even if the install was bad. Even if it developed problems. Permanent benefit for airlines. One-time payment for you. That was the law.
In 2019, the State passed HB2315, which removed that ‘one time payment’ restriction. At that time we were optimistic for several reasons:
- The Port of Seattle supported the bill.
- The Commission immediately created an Accelerated Sound Insulation Irogram to complete a number of eligible buildings which were had been eligible since the 90’s but had never been sound insulated in the first place!
- They finally acknowledged that many of the single family systems installed before 2008 did have issues of some kind.
- At the same time San Francisco International Airport had developed a replacement initiative program for their homeowners with failed sound insulation systems, which was completely doable here.
So after HB2315 passed, and armed with our catalog of homes, we began meeting with the Port to develop a similar Port Package Update program.
But then COVID hit and the Port rapidly began cooling to the whole idea claiming financial hardship. First they said, “We will need to get an 80/20 match of Federal money to do anything.” Then they said, “Actually, we’re looking for 100% Federal funding.” Then they said, “Give us your list. We’ll look at it and get back to you. Eventually.” And then in 2023, after announcing record revenues, instead of re-visiting this issue, said that their intention now was to perform a completely new noise analysis before they would consider action. Timeline: 4-7 more years. We’d run out of patience.
Today: the bill and the challenge
On January 3, 2024 Senator Karen Keiser and Representative Tina Orwall sponsored matching Senate and House bills to compel the Port to fund and develop that second chance program, which we’ll refer to as HB2103. Read the bill.
Although HB2103 is only thirteen pages, it is dense and we don’t want to comment on specifics until we’ve had a few days to do a deep dive. However our first impression of the text is extremely positive. In fact, it is so good, we expect opposition.
You’ll have questions, and we’ll have that analysis soon. But we’re writing today because we will need people to commit to help now because time is so short. The current session in Olympia is only sixty days and there will be hundreds of bills competing for billions of dollars and most of the legislature has no idea what is going on near Sea-Tac Airport.
On the plus side, Senator Keiser and Representative Orwall are at the absolute top of state leadership and have just about the best track record for getting legislation passed. They would not propose it if it were not doable and they know what they need to get it done.
Action Items
They have asked us to have people ready to support the bill because your support will make the difference between success and failure. We will need you, every one of you, from six years of site visits, to show up. To testify. To provide written testimony. To make your home and documentation available to staff and electeds. We’ll do what we can to support you with the paperwork we have on file, by organizing trips to Olympia if necessary.
Your job? Check in and let us know you’re willing to help pass HB2103.
Some final thoughts: getting it right
The Port has always tried to minimize and slow walk this issue in two ways:
- They would be skeptical because we did not want to simply give them your names and wait to hear back. They would imply to electeds that this meant there aren’t that many of you. Actually, it’s not that there are too few, it is that there are too many! Since we’ve been at this so long, we’ve started to lose track of people’s situations. So if we have not heard from you in a while, please get back in touch now, regardless of your status.
This a social media post from Rep. Orwall announcing the bill. The great thing about this picture with Sen. Keiser is that the homeowner’s issue is so visible. The Port often dismisses problems that are not as visually compelling as nothing more than ‘foggy windows’. But with Port Packages, appearances can be deceiving. So many of you have even worse issues; problems that do not look as obvious in a photograph, or to the untrained eye. Many are structural–hidden behind walls and in ceilings. We not only need to get a lot of you to testify, we need to make sure we get testimony from homeowners experiencing the full range of issues.
We went through all that background because we’ve learned a few things since 2017. When HB2315 passed we (perhaps naively) thought the hardest part was over. It turns out that you can go to all the trouble of passing a state law and still not accomplish anything.
This time, we not only want to pass a bill, we need to make sure that it has what it takes to create a working program. In short: This is the chance we’ve been waiting for. Let’s not blow it.
Next step? Check in and let us know you’re willing to help pass HB2103.
I am a Burien resident, City Council member and proud owner of a failed port package. A couple of our windows have condensation, but the bigger problem is they are no longer hanging straight in their frames, and they don’t close properly or in one case, at all.