Lawmakers consider adding $2M/year for recovery planning and to raise disaster spending cap

Representative Brad Barker outlined House Bill 334, which would expand the statutory uses of emergency service funding to cover pre‑disaster planning and post‑disaster recovery activities and raise the biennial emergency spending cap from $16 million to $20 million. Barker said the bill grew out of experience with flooding and wildfire recovery and the difficulty communities face navigating permitting, debris removal and compliance for rebuilding.

Brigadier General Renee Dorval (Deputy Director, Department of Military Affairs) and Delilah Bruno (Administrator, Disaster and Emergency Services) described how the bill would provide surge capacity for recovery—allowing short‑term contract staff, technical expertise for inventory and permitting, and training to increase local capacity to manage recovery. Bruno said the bill is focused on recovery (not mitigation) and explained the funding purpose: roughly $2 million per year of the biennium for surge capacity, planning, training and administrative recovery tasks, with unspent funds rolling into the disaster appropriation and fire fund at the end of the biennium.

Committee members asked whether this would duplicate current DES budgets (DES general biennial all‑funds budget cited at about $38 million) and whether the money would be used only after a governor's declaration; witnesses answered that HB 334 would allow recovery spending without an active governor's disaster declaration and that the request is intended to supplement existing federal and state response funding for recovery. The sponsor said she expects the appropriation to be a flexible, not permanent ongoing, program and that the request represents a reduced estimate after interim study work.

What happens next: The committee closed the HB 334 hearing after extensive questioning; DES and DMA staff remain available for technical follow‑up and fiscal details as the bill proceeds.