Washington State RV Plan Approval Process Update

In late December, the Washington Department of Labor and Industries filed an emergency rule aimed at addressing deficiencies in the Factory Assembled Structure RV and Park Model RV plan approval program. As of the rule’s publication, the plan approval program had a backlog of over 2,000 floorplans and designs for RVs, Park Model RVs, and buildings. Approval of floorplans is legally required for an RV to be sold in the state of Washington. The new rule aims to reduce the burden on department employees by allowing floorplans to be reviewed by “Licensed Professionals” which are state-approved architects and engineers.

Although the new plan review and submittal guidelines for RVs and Park Model RVs were released in January, RV and Park Model RVs manufacturers were left with a number of question on the process. Since then, the RV Industry Association’s state government affairs and standards teams have been in contact with department to receive additional clarification on many of the questions RV and Park Model RVs manufacturers have regarding the new approval process.

The emergency rule did not specify which firms would be authorized to review and approve plans, but the department has followed up with the RV Industry Association team to provide more information, including a list of firms approved to complete plan approval. Some of these firms and individuals have familiarity with RV and Park Model RVs floorplans, but manufacturers should review the qualifications of these firms before selecting a firm to review floorplans.

Manufacturers who choose to submit their plans through a Licensed Professional will directly approach the firm for review of the plans. The manufacturer can then use the Licensed Professional as an “agent” to submit the plans on behalf of the manufacturer if the manufacturer choses to do so.

According to leaders of the plan approval program, at this point there is only one employee assigned to reviewing these types of floorplans, and the backlog is continuing to grow. The new process is aimed at reducing the overall backlog by decreasing the number of plans that require Department of Labor and Industries employees to review, but the effects of this approach remain to be seen.

The RV Industry Association’s state government affairs team continues to be engaged with the department over this backlog issue and will continue to monitor and update members on the changes to the Washington state RV and Park Model RVs approval process.

For more information on this issue, contact RV Industry Association Senior Manager of Government Affairs Nick Rudowich at nrudowich@rvia.org.