Seattle, Washington - Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Monday signed a raft of bills to expand housing access, including a measure to address the state's history of racist redlining practices.

The legislation, HB 1474, calls for the establishment of an interest-free downpayment assistance program to go toward people and descendants of those impacted by racist practices that barred people of color from access to housing.

The new law will add a $100 recording fee to future real-estate transactions to help communities hurt by past racist covenants, or documents with legal clauses that excluded people who were not white from homeownership opportunities.

The University of Washington and Eastern Washington University's Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, which paved the way for HB 1474's passage, has identified more than 50,000 properties across the state that had such covenants.

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Researchers estimate the state government's new measures will generate around $100 million annually, which could fund 2,000-3,000 loans in the range of $30,000-$50,000 per year.

Though redlining was outlawed with enactment of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, proponents of HB 1474 have pointed out that the legacy of these policies can still be felt today in ongoing wealth and housing disparities.

The Racial Restrictive Covenants Project has found that in King County, Washington's most populous county and home to Seattle, 62% of white families are homeowners compared to only 27% of Black families, while the homes owned by whites are more valuable than those owned by Black, Indigenous, and Latinx families.

"This homeownership is one of the most visible manifestations of a blot on this state," Inslee said during the bill signing ceremony at the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle. "What we are doing today is bending the arc of the moral universe towards justice."

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HB 1474's lead sponsor, state Representative Jamila Taylor, said, "There is an attack on Black history across this nation, Florida leading the way. No, no, no, we are going the exact opposite in Washington state. We are going towards racial equity in our policymaking."

"You may not have heard, but this is the first-in-the-nation statewide reparations bill," she added.