Committee adopts substitute resolution urging wildfire preparedness, clarifies public education language

On April 8, 2025 the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee adopted a committee substitute for House Joint Resolution 15, a resolution urging statewide wildfire preparedness and public education.

Corbin Morrison, committee staff, walked the committee through edits in the CS that primarily reworded public‑outreach provisions and removed a hard May 1 deadline for multi‑agency tabletop exercises and live evacuation drills. Morrison said the CS added Southeast Alaska to the list of high‑risk places and replaced some language ("immediate and severe") with "increased" to moderate diction. The CS also expands the public‑education direction to ask public information offices and agencies to encourage residents to enroll in home‑defense and evacuation preparedness programs, citing Firewise USA and Ready, Set, Go as examples.

Representative Kai Holland, sponsor of the resolution, said she welcomed the collaborative work with other members and staff to reach the CS language. Committee members asked whether agencies have capacity to carry out drills; staff and the sponsor said some multi‑agency preparedness work is already underway and that the CS removes an unrealistic hard deadline while preserving the call for public education and multi‑agency planning.

Cochair Donna Mears moved the committee substitute with the attached fiscal note and individual recommendations; no roll‑call vote was recorded. The committee adopted the CS and moved it from committee with the fiscal note and recommendations attached.

Committee staff set an amendment deadline and said they will notify members about next steps.