Tri-Cities Legislative Council sets 2025 Priorities

​Tri-Cities Legislative Council sets 2025 Priorities

The Tri-Cities Legislative Council, comprised of the Pasco Chamber of Commerce, Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC), Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, Visit Tri-Cities, and West Richland Chamber of Commerce, recently completed its 2025 Legislative Priorities screening process. These legislative priorities represent inputs solicited from cities, counties, ports, community and not-for-profit organizations, public utilities, businesses, educational institutions, and other members of the community.

In addition to the five priorities outlined below, the Tri-Cities Legislative Council (TCLC) also supports the priorities of the community at large, as we continue working together to enhance regional collaboration for our collective benefit. We support our partners in their priority focuses, including agriculture and conservation, childcare, clean energy and transmission, economic development, education – early learning, K-12 and higher education – hospitality and tourism, housing, law enforcement and public safety, manufacturing and permitting reform, and transportation and infrastructure.

Priority #1: Battelle’s Energy Resources Testbed

The electricity demand in the Pacific Northwest is expected to grow by 30% over the next decade, requiring Washington State to expand power generation and transmission while transitioning to zero-carbon resources. With constrained transmission infrastructure limiting state-wide economic development, solutions such as energy storage, distributed energy resource management, and improved coordination of regional systems can optimize existing assets. Leveraging local resources, such as rooftop solar, can reduce transmission congestion; however, no unified pathway currently exists for grid-scale coordination. Battelle, operator of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), proposes a $4 million testbed to enhance the integration of distributed energy resources, leveraging PNNL’s state-supported facilities to ensure grid resilience and resource adequacy during this transition.

The Tri-Cities Legislative Council strongly supports $4 million for Battelle to develop a testbed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to advance planning and operation capabilities to utilize distributed energy resources to provide grid services to ensure resource adequacy.

Priority #2: HB 1210 – Amending Targeted Urban Area Exemptions for Clean Energy Transformation Businesses

The Targeted Urban Areas (TUA) program authorized by the legislature in 2022 provides tax exemptions for qualifying manufacturing businesses that create new jobs. Richland established Washington's first TUA in 2023 with ATI Inc., a material company that serves the aerospace and defense industries. This success has spurred additional TUA projects, including Framatome, a clean energy supply chain manufacturer expanding advanced nuclear fuel production in collaboration with washington-based companies such as Terrapower. However, the current TUA construction timeline of up to five years is insufficient for heavily regulated or complex projects such as nuclear and hydrogen energy development. Extending this timeline aligns with Richland’s strategic plan to advance clean energy innovation in the Northwest Advanced Clean Energy Park.

The Tri-Cities Legislative Council strongly supports HB 1210 in amending the Targeted Urban Area (TUA) tax exemption to ensure that complex and highly regulated clean energy projects can access and fully utilize the legislative intent of the original TUA designation.

Priority #3: Tri-Cities Regional Transportation Feasibility Study

The Tri-Cities region has experienced rapid growth, adding 130,000 residents over the past 25 years, and projecting an additional 145,000 residents and 44,000 households by 2040. With 22,000 more vehicles expected on local roadways in the next two decades, the region’s infrastructure is at risk of being overwhelmed, as the average commute times are already increasing. To address this, local governments aim to proactively plan future road and freight infrastructure needs. The Benton-Franklin Council of Governments proposes a study to prioritize large-scale investments to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow. However, transportation funding processes often prioritize immediate crises, necessitating alternative funding to ensure that Tri-Cities remains ahead of rapid growth.

The Tri-Cities Legislative Council strongly supports one-time funding for a feasibility study to identify top priorities for large-scale regional transportation infrastructure investments.

Priority #4: The Mid-Columbia Children’s Museum

The Mid-Columbia Children's Museum (MCCM) is a grassroots initiative to create a children’s museum serving families in Tri-Cities and the surrounding regions of Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon. Its mission is to provide an inclusive, engaging space that promotes STEAM learning, family interaction, and the development of lifelong learners. Since early 2023, the MCCM Founding Task Force has collaborated with the community to plan a museum that reflects local industries and offers hands-on career exploration opportunities. A privately funded feasibility study set for completion in early 2025 will guide decisions on the museum’s size, location, and operational plans. Following this, the project will move into the pre-concept and schematic design phases, which will solidify the vision for the museum and enable a building capital campaign, expediting the timeline to bring this valuable resource to the community.

The Tri-Cities Legislative Council supports $1.3 million for pre-concept and schematic design for the Mid-Columbia Children’s Museum.

Priority #5: Establishing a Tri-Cities Veterans Cemetery

Establishing a veteran cemetery in Tri-Cities is essential to providing a dignified final resting place for 46,000 veterans within a 75-mile radius, as identified by a 2017 feasibility study and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Currently, veterans in Southeastern Washington must choose between private or civilian cemeteries or travel to veteran cemeteries in Medical Lake or Kent. A Tri-Cities veterans cemetery, estimated to support 400 interments annually, would address this gap. Initial state funding would qualify the project for federal VA funding, covering up to 100% of the construction and ongoing operational costs. While the Governor’s proposed 2025-2027 budget includes $500,000 for pre-design work, it omits funding for property procurement, which is critical to moving the project forward. This cemetery honors veterans’ sacrifices and improves their families’ quality of life by addressing a pressing regional and statewide need.

The Tri-Cities Legislative Council strongly supports robust funding – including for pre-design work and property procurement – for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs and its State Veteran Cemetery Program to continue its pursuit of a future Tri-Cities Veterans Cemetery.

You can view the complete Tri-Cities Legislative Council 2025 Legislative Priorities HERE