House committee hears divided testimony on HB 39 40 wildfire funding package

The House Climate, Energy and Environment Committee held a public hearing April 1 on House Bill 39 40 (dash 1), the omnibus wildfire funding proposal developed by the Fire 35 work group to supply an estimated $280 million per biennium for suppression and mitigation.

The bill’s sponsor and committee leadership presented the measure as the work group’s consensus package; Doug Graff, Wildfire Programs Director and military adviser to the governor, told the committee the work group’s funding “floor ask” is $280,000,000 per biennium, divided roughly into $150,000,000 for suppression and $130,000,000 for mitigation and readiness. “By every metric that we look at, wildfire conditions across the state and across the nation are on the rise,” Graff said, summarizing last year’s record acreage burned and historic suppression costs.

Why it matters: Committee members and witnesses framed the bill as an attempt to create durable revenue for both immediate wildfire suppression costs and longer‑term mitigation—fuel reduction, home hardening and community preparedness—rather than relying on repeated one‑time appropriations or emergency sessions.

The dash 1 amendment would: adjust several landowner assessment rates (including increases to the harvest tax portion that funds wildfire protection), reallocate landowner contributions to rural fire protection districts, modify rural fire protection district assessments, and direct new or reallocated state revenue (including a proposal to dedicate revenues…