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Conference committee narrows HB1064 to focus on State Fire Marshal operations, strips proposed special fund
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Summary
Conference managers discussed placement of the State Fire Marshal, moved wildfire mapping to a discretionary task, and proposed removing a special fund from HB1064, with appropriation language adjusted to general funds for the office's operations. The bill was rolled to 04/24/2025 for further review.
The joint House and Senate conference committee reviewed House Bill 1064 on April 23, 2025, focusing on where the State Fire Marshal would be placed and on eliminating a proposed special fund tied to community fuels projects.
Representative Iwamoto, the House manager, said the current conference draft leaves the marshal’s placement blank and presents three options: the Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Defense or the governor’s office. He told the committee the draft “adopts some of [the Attorney General’s] language” on transition and retention so employees hired under prior law can remain during the changeover. Representative Iwamoto also said the draft moves state wildfire mapping from a required duty to a discretionary task.
“What I would propose is that we strip the special fund out of this,” Representative Iwamoto said, referring to language in the draft modeled on Senate Bill 223’s Community Fuels Reduction Project. He added that, after removing the special fund and associated program language, he cleaned up the appropriation section so general funds would support the State Fire Marshal and office operations.
Senator Elefante, speaking for the Senate managers, said the Senate’s position is to place the State Fire Marshal under the Department of Law Enforcement to ensure enforcement support for the office. “That would just give enforcement powers to DLE to be able to support and assist the office of the fire marshal,” he said, and he urged continued negotiation to reach a compromise.
Committee members agreed to review the proposed conference draft (CD) and to reconvene on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. in Conference Room 16 for further deliberations; no final vote on HB1064 was taken on April 23.
Next steps: managers will exchange digital copies of the CD for review and prepare any required WAM/FIN memos if the CD is acceptable at the next meeting.
