HB2413 – Funds DNR’s Forest Health plans through an annual surcharge of $5 on property and casualty insurance policies.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Fitzgibbon (D; 34th District; Vashon Island & NW Seattle)
Current status – Referred to the House Committee on Appropriations.
Next step would be – Scheduling a hearing.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.
Comments –
Senator Braun’s SB6195 is an alternative proposal, which would authorize $500 million in State bonds over the next eight biennia to fund forest health activities, and focuses more narrowly on actively managing working forests.
Summary –
In 2017, the Legislature passed SB5546 unanimously, directing the Department of Natural Resources to address wildfire risk by developing a forest health assessment and treatment framework, with the goal of assessing and treating 1.25 million acres by 2033.
DNR’s response, the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan, would approach the problem through active management, using strategies like thinning and prescribed burns. This bill would authorize funding the plan through an annual surcharge of $5 on property and casualty insurance policies, which companies could include in their rates or bill customers for directly. (Medical liability policies would be exempted.)
At least $25 million a biennium would be appropriated, and used for:
(a) Fire preparedness activities consistent with the goals of DNR’s “10-year wildland fire protection strategy” including funding for full-time firefighters, investments in firefighting equipment and in technology;
(b) Fire prevention activities consistent with all of DNR’s forest health plans, including the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA program and the fire-adapted communities network programs to help communities take action before, during, and after wildfires;
(c) Activities to restore and improve forest health and reduce vulnerability to drought, insect infestation, disease, and other threats, including forest management such as thinning and use of prescribed fire; postfire recovery activities, such as reforestation; and research and design related to cross-laminated timber, other emerging products, and markets for them. (Funding priority has to be given to programs, activities, or projects aligned with DNR’s plans , and prioritized according to some provisions in current law.);
(d) Funding of fire prevention, preparedness, or recovery activities for other state agencies consistent with DNR’s plans, and;
(e) Funding for developing and maintaining tracking and reporting systems to ensure accountability and transparency in wildfire prevention and preparedness activities and costs.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, in consultation with DNR and the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, would report to the legislature on the amount raised, the number and type of policies surcharge applies to, the effectiveness of the spending, and on recommendations about any necessary or advisable adjustments.
The bill says that the Legislature “may direct” DNR’s forest health advisory committee and its wildland fire advisory committee to provide recommendations for these investments. The committees would be required to identify highly impacted communities using environmental justice or equity focused tools, such as the Washington tracking network’s environmental health disparities tool, to identify highly impacted communities (as defined in RCW 19.405.020). If the committees were directed to provide recommendations, they would have to use analysis of how to benefit those communities as a factor in determining their recommendations.
Details –
The surcharge wouldn’t count in the calculations the Insurance Commissioner does about whether other states or countries are imposing more taxes , fees, or other charges on our insurers than we’re imposing on their insurers.