Wildfire protection

AN ACT Relating to wildfire risk; creating a new section; and 1
providing an expiration date. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) A work group to study and make 4
recommendations on wildfire mitigation and resiliency standards is 5
hereby created. The work group membership shall be composed of:6
(a) The insurance commissioner or his or her designee, who shall 7
serve as the cochair of the work group; 8
(b) The commissioner of public lands for the department of 9
natural resources or his or her designee, who shall serve as the 10
cochair of the work group; 11
(c) Four representatives from the property and casualty insurance 12
industry, to be selected by the insurance commissioner and 13
commissioner of public lands for the department of natural resources, 14
or their designees through an application process, which must be 15
completed by August 1, 2025; 16
(d) One representative from the insurance institute for business 17
and home safety; 18
(e) One representative from local emergency management as 19
nominated by the Washington state emergency management council;20
H-0051.2
HOUSE BILL 1539
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Reeves, Dent, Springer, Walen, Ryu, Ramel,
Bernbaum, and Salahuddin
Read first time 01/23/25. Referred to Committee on Agriculture &
Natural Resources.
p. 1 HB 1539
(f) One representative from the Washington fire chiefs 1
association; 2
(g) The following ex officio members: 3
(i) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house 4
of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of 5
representatives; and 6
(ii) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the 7
senate, appointed by the president of the senate; and8
(h) Other state agency representatives or stakeholder group 9
representatives, at the discretion of the work group, for the purpose 10
of participating in specific topic discussions or subcommittees.11
(2) Staff support for the work group must be provided by the 12
office of the insurance commissioner. 13
(3) The work group shall study and develop recommendations for 14
the following: 15
(a)(i) Coordinating the department of natural resources' existing 16
wildfire property mitigation standards, or development of standards, 17
with nationally recognized, science-based, wildfire mitigation 18
standards, and (ii) aligning state wildfire property mitigation 19
standards with nationally recognized, science-based, wildfire 20
mitigation standards; 21
(b) Enhancing wildfire mitigation at the community level;22
(c) Sharing of relevant data between appropriate state agencies 23
and the insurance industry with respect to successful implementation 24
of existing wildfire mitigation efforts, including the identification 25
of gaps in existing wildfire mitigation that may be addressed through 26
(a)(i) of this subsection (3) and wildfire risk assessment tools, 27
which must include coordination with the department of health 28
regarding its environmental health disparities map;29
(d) Increasing transparency with consumers regarding wildfire 30
hazard and risk, including through additional consumer disclosures 31
for insurance nonrenewals related to wildfire risk, which must focus 32
on decreasing nonrenewals and be informed by data obtained by the 33
insurance commissioner; and 34
(e) Establishing a grant program to provide grants to Washington 35
homeowners for purposes including, but not limited to, retrofitting 36
residential property to resist loss due to wildfire and evaluating 37
whether residential property meets nationally recognized, science-38
based, wildfire mitigation standards. The work group must include 39
recommendations for: 40
p. 2 HB 1539
(i) A grant program framework that will promote a decrease in the 1
number of nonrenewals of consumer general casualty insurance or 2
property insurance policies; and 3
(ii) Whether and how local fire protection districts may 4
collaborate with the grant program administrator. 5
(4) The work group shall submit, in compliance with RCW 6
43.01.036, a report of recommendations to the legislature, the 7
insurance commissioner, and the department of natural resources, by 8
December 1, 2025. 9
(5) This section expires December 31, 2025. 10
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p. 3 HB 1539