Chair Nathanson, chair of the House Committee on Revenue, opened a June 19 work session on House Bill 3940 A and the committee voted to adopt amendment a-24 and move the bill to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation.

The amendment makes permanent a policy that was previously limited to the 2025–27 biennium: diversion of interest that would otherwise accrue to the state rainy day fund into two new wildfire-related accounts. Committee staff said the Legislative Revenue Office’s revenue impact statement projects about $14,100,000 into a landscape resiliency fund and about $29,200,000 into a community risk reduction fund under the bill’s assumptions.

Why this matters: supporters said the funding creates ongoing resources for wildfire mitigation and community protection, while opponents cautioned that implementation details remain to be resolved and some funding provisions were moved to other legislation.

Chris, committee staff, told members the amendment before them, labeled a-24, is “identical to the dash a-21” except for two changes: the a-24 makes the rainy-day diversion ongoing rather than limited to the 2025–27 biennium and restores a section 41 provision that addresses fire protection cost offsets. Chris said the separate appropriation that had appeared as section 42 — $1,500,000 in the earlier draft — was pulled out of this bill and, he was told, is being placed in House Bill 5006.

David Feng Yen, senior deputy at Legislative Counsel, answered a committee question about how difficult it would be for a future Legislature to reverse the permanent diversion. “The answer is a simple majority,” Yen said, adding that the measure is not treated as revenue-raising but as direction of revenue already in the Treasury.

On revenue details, Chris summarized the Legislative Revenue Office estimates posted in OLISS and noted a few timing and uncertainty points: the diversion of rainy-day interest would begin once the bill takes effect — which occurs 90 days after sine die — so the first transfers could land in September or October depending on the legislative calendar. The revenue statement also models a rise in the forest products harvest tax and includes nicotine-tax estimates that assume flavor bans are not in place; staff cautioned those bans in Washington state and Multnomah County could reduce the nicotine-tax revenue estimate by roughly a third.

Representative Marsh, a member of the committee, emphasized the risk the state faces from wildfires. “We as a state are at tremendous risk of wildfire,” Marsh said, describing recent fires in the district and noting losses from 2020. Marsh and other supporters said the bill helps create a continuing funding stream for mitigation and landscape resiliency even if it does not fund suppression.

Several members stressed that other implementing pieces and appropriation mechanics are being addressed in separate bills and processes. Chris and multiple representatives noted that some appropriation language was removed from HB 3940 A and would be handled through the ways-and-means/appropriations process or placed into companion legislation.

Procedure and outcome: Vice Chair Walters moved to adopt the a-24 amendment dated 06/19/25; the committee approved the amendment with no objections. Walters then moved HB 3940 A as amended to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation. The committee took a roll-call vote; recorded votes were Aye: Hudson, Tweedy, Marsh, Smith, Walters, Makinson; No: Reschke. The motion passed and Representative Levy was assigned as the bill’s carrier.

The work session closed after roughly 22 minutes of discussion. Committee staff and members said additional conversations and coordination with other legislation would continue as the bill proceeds to the floor.