Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wildfire Funding And Agency Authority topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State fire marshal outlines four agency bills to expand wildfire response authority and funding tools
Summary
The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire held a public hearing Feb. 4 on four agency bills introduced by the Oregon State Fire Marshal to update agency authorities, expand the state's mobilization funding tools and memorialize the ability to seek recovery from parties responsible for wildfires.
The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire held a public hearing Feb. 4 on four agency bills introduced by the Oregon State Fire Marshal to update agency authorities, expand the state's mobilization funding tools and memorialize the ability to seek recovery from parties responsible for wildfires. Committee members did not vote on the measures during the hearing.
The bills would: (1) clean up statutory language after the agency's transition from the Oregon State Police to the Oregon State Fire Marshal and add rulemaking authorities for routine items such as fleet management (SB 860); (2) broaden the state's mobilization fund to accept additional revenue sources, including federal reimbursements and judgments against parties found negligent in starting fires, and require the agency to report fire season costs to the legislature (SB 861); (3) update statutes governing rural fire protection districts largely dating back decades, with limited structural changes after a yearlong review (SB 862); and (4) memorialize the practice and authority for the state to seek cost recovery from parties found willful, malicious or negligent in causing wildfires and deposit recovered funds into the mobilization fund (SB 863).
Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Reese Temple summarized the package as a mix of a technical cleanup and a few substantive changes, saying the mobilization and cost-recovery bills "memorialize a practice that we have now" and allow the agency to put recovered funds into the mobilization fund. She told the committee the rural fire protection statute review focused on modernizing identification, chief selection and administrative details without a wholesale rewrite.
Brian Stewart, director with the Oregon Fire Chiefs Association, testified in support of SB 860 and SB 862 and praised the addition of two seats to the governor's fire service policy council: one tribal fire service representative and one representative from a rural fire protection district. Stewart said expanding the policy council would help "make sure that the collective fire service is heard" as the state develops fire initiatives.
Other stakeholders who spoke included Genoa Ingram of the Oregon Fire District Directors Association and the Oregon Volunteer Firefighters Association, who described the process that led to changes in SB 862 as "very detailed and collaborative," and Montella Lewellen of the Northwest Insurance Council, who said the council is reviewing SB 863 and has raised concerns that staff are negotiating with the department to resolve.
Temple told the committee that FEMA reimbursements typically replenish agency outlays after the fact and that any surplus reimbursement would be the subject of discussion with legislative fiscal analysts about whether money should seed the mobilization fund or revert to the general fund. She also said the department expects a small procedural amendment to SB 863 in consultation with the Department of Justice.
No formal action or votes were taken; the committee closed the public hearing on the four bills and moved to a separate hearing on Senate Bill 747.
The public record for each bill remains open per committee rules; members of the public and agencies provided written testimony and stakeholders indicated continued technical discussions on language and fiscal implementation.
