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Bill seeks state civil remedy over federal reimbursement for wildfire costs; committee introduces RS 32603
Summary
Representative Judy Boyle introduced RS 32603 to create civil remedies related to wildfires on federal land and to address reimbursement arrears; sponsors said the measure responds to recurring large fires and delayed federal reimbursements to the state.
Representative Judy Boyle (Representative, District 9) introduced RS 32603, a measure described by the sponsor as a response to repeated large wildfires that began on federal lands and to long delays in federal reimbursement to the state for firefighting costs.
Boyle told the committee several fires in her district started small on U.S. Forest Service land and escalated because the Forest Service did not allow state or local rural fire protection fighters to engage in suppression under the same master agreement that Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) uses with other federal agencies. "The Forest Service has never recognized them. They will not allow them on the forest like BLM does," Boyle said.
Lawmakers questioned language in the draft that, as read in committee, would remove statutes of limitations on certain civil claims tied to reimbursement. "Is there a reason we shouldn't have a statute of limitations on civil actions?" Representative Deggar asked. Boyle said the provision reflected a desire to address cases where the federal government was "in arrears 4 years to the state of Idaho for paying for fires" under the master agreement.
Representative Skog and others urged adding a time limit (for example, 10 years) to avoid open-ended liability; Boyle said the bill had been reviewed by the Attorney General's office and the Department of Lands and reflected their recommendation. Representative Barbieri suggested the committee could later consider narrower language to target actions against the United States or specific agencies.
Representative Scogg asked to think about a substitute motion and took a short recess to consider statutory-limit language. The committee later returned and introduced RS 32603 by motion; the motion to introduce carried.
