HB1168 – Expands wildfire response, forest restoration, forest sector workforce development, and community resilience programs with $25 million in required funding this biennium.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Springer (D; 45th District; East King County) (Co-sponsors Kretz-R, Fitzgibbon-D, Griffey-R, Riccelli-D, Lekanoff-D, Ramos-D, Callan-D, Harris-Talley-D, Dent-R, and Klicker-R)
Current status –
In the House – Passed
Had a hearing in the House Committee on Rural Development, Agriculture & Natural Resources. Replaced by a substitute and passed out of committee January 29th. Referred to Appropriations; had a hearing there February 16th; amended and passed out of committee February 17th. Referred to Rules, and passed unanimously by the House March 9th. House concurred in the Senate’s changes April 22nd.
In the Senate – Passed
Referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources and Parks. Had a hearing March 23rd; replaced by a striker, amended, and passed out of committee March 25th. Referred to Ways and Means; had a hearing March 30th; amended and passed out of committee April 2nd; referred to Rules. Amended on the floor and passed by the Senate April 9th. Returned to the House for consideration of concurrence.
Next step would be – To the Governor.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
Summary –
Senate floor amendment –
This requires the Department of Natural Resources to hire an independent contractor to increase the intensity of its sampling for the forest inventory over the next four years, and to hire a contractor to review, analyze, and advise on its forest growth and yield modeling for the calculation of the sustainable harvest level. DNR’s sustainable harvest calculation technical advisory committee would be required to be involved in the inventory update and the growth and yield modeling, and to create recommendations for regular maintenance and ten year updates to the inventory. The amendment restored the JLARC review of the sustainable harvest calculation dropped in Ways and Means; JLARC and one of the contractors for its review would be added to the advisory committee; and JLARC would submit a report with findings and recommendations to the Legislature and to the Board of Natural Resources. It would be required to determine whether modifications to the sustainable harvest calculation are necessary before approving the harvest level for 2025-2034.
Ways and Means amendment –
This removed requiring the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to oversee an independent review of the sustainable harvest calculation.
Senate striker –
The striker adds legislative intent to provide a total of $500 million over eight years for forest health and reduction of wildlife dangers, and makes some other minor changes which are summarized at the end of it. The amendments direct DNR and Commerce to work to expand markets for biomass, biochar, and other material produced as a result of forest health treatments; have DNR report on its progress; and require inmate forest fire suppression and support crews to receive at least the minimum wage.
Substitute –
There’s a staff summary of the many small changes it makes at the beginning of the substitute. It replaces the $25 million in required funding with provisions specifying that at least 25% of any appropriated funding is to go to forest health activities, and at least 15% is to go to community resilience. (The amendment makes the bill null and void if specific funding isn’t appropriated for it.)
Original bill –
Creates the wildfire response, forest restoration, and community resilience account, and requires funding it with at least $25 million this biennium, which may not be shifted to emergency fire or suppression costs. The Department of Natural Resources is to request funding for the program each biennium, accompanied by a report on completed and planned work to Legislative committees and the Office of Fiscal Management. The money may only be used, if appropriated, for:
1. Fire preparedness activities consistent with the goals of the State’s wildland fire protection 10-year strategic plan, including firefighting capacity, investments in resources, equipment, and technology; and the development and implementation of a wildland fire aviation support plan;
2. Fire prevention activities to restore and improve forest health and reduce vulnerability to drought, insect infestation, disease, and other threats to healthy forests, including silvicultural treatments, seedling development, thinning forests and prescribed fire, and postfire recovery activities to prevent unacceptable degradation to natural and cultural resources and minimize threats to life and property resulting from a wildfire. Priority for these activities must be given to programs, activities, or projects aligned with three specified State forest plans, and any forest health treatments on Federal lands have to be in addition to what’s outlined in Federal agencies’ work plans.)
3. Fire protection activities for homes, properties, communities, and values at risk including potential control lines or strategic fuel breaks in forests, rangelands and communities; improved warning and communications systems; increased engagement with non-English speaking communities in their home language for community preparedness; and the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA and Fire-adapted Communities Network programs.
Every other year, the Department of Natural Resources must report to the Governor and the Legislature on the type and amounts of expenditures for the program; the unexpended and unobligated funds in the account; recommendations for disbursements to local districts; progress on implementation of the wildland fire protection 10-year strategic plan and the 20-year forest health strategic plan, including assessment of lands and communities that need forest health treatments; treatments prioritized and conducted by landowner type, geography, and risk level; the estimated value of any merchantable materials from treatments; and the number of acres treated by type, including the use of prescribed fire. It’s to recommend necessary or advisable adjustments to the bill’s funding arrangements.
The bill expands the requirements for development of the Department’s forest health assessment and treatment framework, adding that it must:
1. Partner with federally recognized tribes where possible to expand use of the Tribal Forest Protection Act on Forest Service and BLM lands;
2. Prioritize forest health treatments adjacent to or near state lands when entering into good neighbor agreements with those agencies to increase the treatments’ speed, efficiency, and impact on the landscape; and
3. Work with stakeholders to develop an integrated small forestland owner assistance program for forest health activities that integrates existing programs to more efficiently and effectively reach and motivate these diverse audiences; identifies and removes barriers to technical assistance, funding, and planning; increases education and outreach to these owners; and distributes funding effectively in order to lower risk in high risk areas. (It’s to develop a mapping tool to identify small forestland owners within wildfire risk areas and use that to evaluate and optimize forest health work at a landscape scale, and to manage the programs for small forestland owner and landowner assistance to have the greatest impact on wildfire prevention, preparedness, and response.)
The Department and the Department of Commerce are to develop a plan for tracking, maintaining, and publicly reporting on a working definition of the forest sector workforce, including the job skills, certifications, and experience required; recommendations for training, recruiting, and retaining the forest sector workforce needed to implement the bill’s goals; gaps and barriers to a full workforce pool, including estimates of jobs created and retained as well as any reductions in the workforce; an estimate of the number of private contractors needed; an inventory of local and regional contractors trained to carry out wildfire response and forest health work, and of local contractors used for those each year; an inventory of existing training facilities and programs; and recommendations for addressing identified barriers or other needs to continue the development of the needed workforce.
The agencies are to develop and implement a workforce development program in consultation with higher education, centers of excellence, and workforce development centers. It’s to include making new or existing competitive grant programs available to a variety of organizations with qualifications and experience in developing training programs relevant to the needs of the sector. Priority funding’s to go to programs meeting urgent forest health and wildfire suppression skills gaps and demonstrating a lack of available workforce in underserved communities. Grants awarded may be used for a variety of activities providing on the job training; hard and soft skills development; test preparation for trade apprenticeships; and advanced training relating to an expansive list of jobs in the sector from hand crews to ecologists, and including mill workers and technicians. They may be used in developing education programs for students that inform them about forestry, fire, vegetation management, and ecological restoration; increase awareness of opportunities for careers in the sector and expose students to them through work-based learning opportunities; connect students in pathways to careers in the sector; and incorporate opportunities for secondary students to earn industry recognized credentials and dual credit in career and technical education courses. They can also be used in developing regional education, industry, and workforce collaborations, including recruiting and building industry awareness and coordinating candidate development, creating a statewide recruiting and outreach program to encourage people to volunteer with local fire departments, or training local building and construction trade members to be deployed during periods requiring surge capacity for wildland fire suppression, including as firefighters or heavy equipment operators who meet the department’s requirements. The Department’s to use existing programs such as the Washington Conservation Corps and customized on-the-job training to expand opportunities and promote family wage careers in the sector, and look for opportunities to expand them including a postrelease program to help formerly incarcerated individuals who served on fire response crews get jobs in wildfire suppression and forest management.
The bill adds meeting regularly and coordinating with the regional leadership of the Forest Service to the responsibilities of the Commissioner of Public Lands. The Commissioner’s to identify strategies to improve delivery and increase the pace and scale of forest health, resiliency, and fuels mitigation treatments on federal lands; document the resources needed to increase the capacity available to the Forest Service on Washington’s national forests; identify ways to add to planning and implementation support to the Service through the use of cooperative and good neighbor agreements; and maximize the utilization of available efficiencies for complying with the national environmental policy act, as it applies to the Service’s activities in the state, such as using tools to increase the pace and scale of forest health treatments including categorical exclusions, shared stewardship, and use of the Tribal Forest Protection Act for forest health, fuels mitigation, and restoration activities. The goals of these meetings also include accelerating completion of the National Environmental Policy Act’s requirements for forest health and resiliency projects, including through increased staffing and the use of partners, contractors, and department expertise to complete analyses; and pursuing agreements with federal agencies in the service of the forest biomass energy partnerships and cooperatives State law currently authorizes. Every two years, the Commissioner’s to report to the chairs of the appropriate legislative standing committees on progress, including identifying any needed state or federal statutory changes, policy issues, or funding needs; and estimating the acres of at-risk forests on each national forest and the number of acres treated.