The Shoreline Management Act requires all counties, as well as most towns and cities, to develop and implement Shoreline Master Programs.  These programs are designed to help regulate and protect the shorelines of the state.  The Department of Ecology has adopted Shoreline Master Program Guidelines to provide standards for adopting and implementing shoreline programs. 
 
Counties and cities must review and revise their master programs every eight years.  The next round of revisions and reviews are due in the following years for the following groups of counties and the cities within them:

• June 30, 2028, for King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties;
• June 30, 2029, for Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom counties;
• June 30, 2030, for Benton, Chelan, Cowlitz, Douglas, Franklin, Kittitas, Skamania, Spokane, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties; and
• June 30, 2031, for Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman counties.

Shoreline Master Programs must be reviewed and revised every 10 years, rather than every eight years.  In addition, the next year by which Shoreline Master Programs must be reviewed and revised is moved back by one year, so that the next round of reviews and revisions are due in the following years for the following groups of counties and the cities within them:

• June 30, 2029, for King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties;
• June 30, 2030, for Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, San Juan, Skagit, Thurston, and Whatcom counties;
• June 30, 2031, for Benton, Chelan, Cowlitz, Douglas, Franklin, Kittitas, Skamania, Spokane, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties; and
• June 30, 2032, for Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Klickitat, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman counties. 

(In support) This bill concept came out of the recent Growth Management Act (GMA) roadmap stakeholder process; modifying the timing of updates to shoreline master programs under the Shoreline Management Act was one of the recommendations.  Updates to comprehensive plans under the GMA recently moved to a 10-year cycle, and this bill complements so that the two sets of plans are due on a staggered schedule every five years.

There are approximately 3,026 miles of shorelines along Puget Sound, and many thousands of miles more of shorelines across the entire state.  This bill passed the House of Representatives last year, it just ran out of time in the Senate.

(Opposed) The Department of Ecology has said they do not need to address ocean emissions.  There is not a single shoreline master program that addresses ocean emissions.  Nobody is tracking ocean emissions.