Now, Pedersen is sponsoring another piece of legislation that aims to, once again, ensure that owners of Chaney’s specific type of houseboat can continue their legacy on the lake.

Pedersen, a lawyer who chairs the Senate Law & Justice Committee, said the city of Seattle’s decision to change the definition of “vessel” last year has created new hurdles for houseboat owners like Chaney.

Pedersen’s previous legislation, from 2014, gave special protections to Chaney’s class of houseboat, which is officially known as a “floating on-water residence.” The bill established that local regulators must accommodate such residences through “reasonable” shoreline regulations, and that local regulators couldn’t “effectively preclude” longtime owners of such residences from replacing, repairing or renovating their homes.

But Pedersen said Seattle’s 2019 change to what constitutes a “vessel” has deprived the houseboat owners of some of those intended protections. The wording change has “created a lot of uncertainty for folks” who have floating on-water residences that are, in fact, vessels, Pedersen said — something he claims his bill will resolve.

“For the most part, my interest is I want people to be left alone,” Pedersen said. “These communities have existed for 100 years in my district — they’re beautiful.”

He said if the city is worried about a specific issue, such as the houseboats properly managing their gray water, then the city should regulate that specifically. “Don’t just try to regulate them out of existence,” Pedersen said.

Because Pedersen’s 2014 legislation capped the overall number of floating on-water residences allowed in the state, their numbers aren’t growing, he said, which he thinks should help quell regulators’ environmental concerns. Officials estimate there are only a few hundred such residences statewide; the bulk of them, more than 200, are in Seattle.

For its part, the city of Seattle disputes that its recent tweak to the definition of “vessel” has changed the permitting regulations for floating on-water residences. “Those are two separate issues,” wrote Bryan Stevens, a spokesperson for the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, in an email.

Stevens said “normal maintenance and repair” of such homes are exempt from the city’s shoreline permitting process. But certain fixes — such as replacing a hull — are considered so extensive that they would, in fact, require a more involved permit, he said.

Although Pedersen's new legislation was drafted with Seattle officials in mind, Stevens declined to comment directly on the proposal.

The measure, Senate Bill 6027, passed the state Senate last week 46-0. It is scheduled for a hearing next week before the House Committee on Environment and Energy.

Republicans, too, spoke in support of the bill when it came up on the Senate floor. Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said she shares Pedersen’s desire to help his constituents “get out from underneath the bureaucratic nightmare” being imposed by the city of Seattle.

“People want to live ... the way they’ve lived,” agreed state Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, in urging his colleagues to support the measure. “... It should apply to a lot of people in this state.”