State natural-resources agencies outline 2025 priorities, budget asks at House Agriculture and Natural Resources hearing

The House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee convened an informational hearing Tuesday for agency introductions and briefings, where officials from the governor’s office and eight state agencies outlined top priorities for the 2025–27 budget cycle and previewed legislation they expect to sponsor or support.

The hearing, chaired by Representative Reeves, brought speakers from the governor’s executive policy team and agency leaders including Derek Sanderson, director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture; Laura Butler, WSDA legislative liaison; Dave Updegrove, commissioner of public lands; Pat Sullivan, director of government and external affairs for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR); Kelly Susowan, director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW); Megan Duffy, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO); James Thompson, executive director of the State Conservation Commission; Larry Epstein, deputy director of the Puget Sound Partnership; and Casey Sixkiller, director of the Department of Ecology.

The presentations emphasized a mix of long‑running programs and near‑term pressures: agricultural viability and pest surveillance at WSDA; wildfire response, recreation demand and land‑conservation requests at DNR; biodiversity and enforcement options at WDFW; grant programs and salmon recovery at RCO; voluntary, locally delivered conservation through conservation districts; monitoring and toxic‑runoff concerns in Puget Sound; and emerging toxics, recycling and certification work at Ecology.

"Our main function is to support agricultural viability," Derek Sanderson said in his agency overview, summarizing WSDA’s role in plant protection, commodity inspection, animal health and food safety. Sanderson told the committee WSDA employs about 950 year‑round staff and hires roughly 300 additional seasonal workers for planting‑season inspections and pest trapping. Laura Butler told the committee WSDA will publish an ag viability study by June 30 and flagged a proposed $93 million in the governor’s 2025–27 budget for food purchases to support food banks and other food‑security programs.

Butler also warned of federal funding uncertainty for delegated federal work: "We have seen proposed reductions of about 30% in those federal cooperative dollars," she said, and added the agency is "anticipating additional cuts to those programs up to 50%," referring to funds used for plant‑ and animal‑health work and FDA‑delegated food inspections.

DNR Commissioner Dave Updegrove described the agency’s footprint and budget requests tied to wildfire response and public‑land management. Updegrove said DNR manages uplands, aquatic lands and trust lands that fund public beneficiaries, and signaled agency requests that include a proposed new Omak Airport facility to improve wildfire response, post‑wildfire community support funding and capital for conservation acquisitions and trust land transfers. Pat Sullivan, presenting DNR’s legislative packet, listed four agency bills: a Smokey Bear specialty license plate, a new appeals process for burn‑permit decisions, lowering the forest land excise tax on larger purchases to facilitate tribal and local government acquisitions, and raising surface‑mine reclamation fees.

Kelly Susowan of WDFW said biodiversity and staff safety are top agency priorities. WDFW staff emphasized that enforcement officers operate across rural communities and that the agency will seek to convert some one‑time funding into ongoing budgets. WDFW also plans to revise personalized license‑plate fee structure to increase the renewal fee from $40 to $50 to access available expenditure authority and is backing House Bill 1325, a bill that would expand civil enforcement options for certain wildlife infractions.

Megan Duffy of RCO summarized the office’s role managing large state grant programs that fund recreation, farmland and habitat conservation and salmon recovery. She said RCO has managed more than 12,700 grants since 1966, totaling roughly $3.8 billion in state grant awards and leveraging about $1.8 billion in partner match. James Thompson of the State Conservation Commission and legislative director Danny Madrone described the 45 locally governed conservation districts across the state and requested more technical‑assistance funding, a tribal liaison and capital support for cost‑share programs that enable landowners to implement conservation practices.

Larry Epstein of the Puget Sound Partnership and legislative director Don Gorley stressed habitat protection, stormwater pollution controls and fish‑passage work. Gorley pointed to the recently identified stormwater toxic 6PPD‑quinone — produced as tire rubber breaks down on roadways — and the need for targeted stormwater management and safer consumer‑product alternatives.

Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller and Jennifer Hennessy, special assistant to the director, said Ecology’s 2025 priorities include addressing emerging toxics in drinking water (including PFAS), implementing climate and resilience programs, improving water supply and shorelands work and administering grants and loans. Ecology identified two agency bills: a delay to the solar‑panel producer responsibility ("solar take back") implementation timeline to allow further design work with industry, and legislation to permit Ecology to review and verify EPA certification tests for wood stoves.

Committee members asked technical and budgetary follow‑ups — including questions about Japanese beetle trapping and control, green crab and burrowing shrimp monitoring efforts; the Omak airport facility cost estimate (about $30 million for DNR’s request, per Sullivan); and how license‑plate revenues would be used to fund wildfire prevention messaging or enforcement programs. Committee members were told more detailed fiscal projections and project descriptions will be provided outside the hearing.

The session was informational; no formal votes or motions occurred. Multiple presenters said they would return to the committee later in session with specific budget proposals and bill details. The committee concluded after roughly 90 minutes of presentation and member Q&A.