House Bill 1620 - Responding to Extreme Weather Events (Extreme Weather Protection Act)

Summary

House Bill 1620, State of Washington 67th Legislature, 2022 Regular Session, by Representatives Leavitt, Boehnke, Shewmake and others, prefiled December 9, 2021 and referred to the Committee on Community & Economic Development. The act relates to responding to extreme weather events and amends RCW 38.52.105. Section 1 gives it the short title extreme weather protection act. Section 3 directs the department, subject to appropriated amounts, to develop an extreme weather response grant program to assist political subdivisions and federally recognized tribes with costs of responding to community needs during extremely hot or cold weather, including warming and cooling centers.

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Full text

     H-1783.2

                                HOUSE BILL 1620


     State of Washington       67th Legislature       2022 Regular Session

     By Representatives Leavitt, Boehnke, Shewmake, Ryu, Robertson, Wicks,
     Duerr, Ramel, Valdez, Bronoske, Callan, Ramos, Rule, Santos, Simmons,
     Pollet, Hackney, and Taylor

     Prefiled 12/09/21. Read first time 01/10/22.    Referred to Committee
     on Community & Economic Development.




1        AN ACT Relating to responding to extreme weather events; amending
2    RCW 38.52.105; adding a new section to chapter 38.52 RCW; and
3    creating new sections.


4    BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:


 5       NEW SECTION.   Sec. 1.   This act may be known and cited as the
 6   extreme weather protection act.


 7       NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) The legislature finds that cold storm
 8   patterns in the winter months, dangerous heat waves in the summer,
 9   and other major weather events present severe public health
10   challenges for individuals and families in Washington.
11       (2) Moreover, the legislature finds that these challenges are not
12   experienced equally across the population. The elderly, people with
13   disabilities,   people   with   low   incomes,   farmworkers,  people
14   experiencing homelessness, and people who historically were zoned to
15   areas that faced increased environmental impacts during weather
16   events are the most at risk for losing their life or being severely
17   impacted by weather-related ailments.
18       (3) The legislature finds that during the record heatwave of
19   2021, the deadliest weather-related disaster in Washington on record,
20   over 100 people in Washington and nearly 800 people in the northwest
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 1   region lost their lives as a result of inability to access cooling
 2   centers or resources and hundreds more visited emergency rooms with
 3   heat-related illnesses.
 4       (4) The legislature acknowledges that according to scientists at
 5   the Pacific Northwest national laboratory, it is predicted that these
 6   severe weather events will happen more frequently because of the
 7   changing climate.
 8       (5) The legislature finds that the cost to local governments to
 9   provide heating and cooling centers are sometimes insurmountable and
10   intends to provide supplemental resources to local jurisdictions and
11   tribal partners where local resources are not available during
12   extreme weather events.

13       NEW SECTION.   Sec. 3.   A new section is added to chapter 38.52
14   RCW to read as follows:
15       (1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
16   specific purpose, the department shall develop and implement an
17   extreme weather response grant program for the purpose of assisting
18   political subdivisions and federally recognized tribes with the costs
19   of responding to community needs during periods of extremely hot or
20   cold weather. The department may adopt rules to administer the
21   extreme weather response grant program.
22       (2) The department may award grants to political subdivisions and
23   federally recognized tribes for reimbursement of costs in accordance
24   with subsection (3) of this section if the costs were incurred by
25   communities that have demonstrated a lack of local resources to
26   address community needs and were incurred for the benefit of socially
27   vulnerable populations. Social vulnerability refers to the resilience
28   of communities when confronted by external stresses on human health,
29   such as natural or human-caused disasters. Socially vulnerable
30   populations include, but are not limited to, individuals with
31   disabilities, individuals without vehicles, older adults, individuals
32   with low incomes or experiencing homelessness, and individuals with
33   limited English proficiency.
34       (3) The costs associated with the following activities are
35   eligible for reimbursement under the extreme weather response grant
36   program:
37       (a) Establishing and operating warming and cooling centers,
38   including rental of equipment, purchase of supplies and water,
39   staffing, and other associated costs;
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 1       (b) Transporting individuals to warming and cooling centers;
 2       (c) Purchasing fans or other supplies needed for cooling of
 3   congregate living settings;
 4       (d) Providing emergency temporary housing such as rental of a
 5   hotel or convention center; and
 6       (e) Other related activities necessary for life safety during a
 7   period of extremely hot or cold weather as determined by the
 8   department.
 9       (4) The department shall, upon request, provide information to
10   political subdivisions and federally recognized tribes regarding the
11   establishment and operation of warming and cooling centers.
12       (5) Grant funding awarded under this section must be used to
13   supplement, not supplant, other federal, state, and local funding for
14   emergency response.
15       (6) For purposes of this section, "political subdivision" means
16   any county, city, or town that has established a local organization
17   for emergency management or any joint local organization for
18   emergency management established pursuant to RCW 38.52.070.


19       Sec. 4. RCW 38.52.105 and 2021 c 334 s 963 are each amended to
20   read as follows:
21       The disaster response account is created in the state treasury.
22   Moneys may be placed in the account from legislative appropriations
23   and transfers, federal appropriations, or any other lawful source.
24   Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation.
25   Expenditures from the account may be used only for support of state
26   agency and local government disaster response and recovery efforts,
27   including the awarding of grants under section 3 of this act,
28   response by state and local government and federally recognized
29   tribes to the novel coronavirus pursuant to the gubernatorial
30   declaration of emergency of February 29, 2020, and to reimburse the
31   workers' compensation funds and self-insured employers under RCW
32   51.16.220. During the 2019-2021 and 2021-2023 fiscal biennia,
33   expenditures from the disaster response account may be used for
34   military   department  operations  and   to  support   wildland  fire
35   suppression preparedness, prevention, and restoration activities by
36   state agencies and local governments. During the 2017-2019 and
37   2019-2021 fiscal biennia, the legislature may direct the treasurer to
38   make transfers of moneys in the disaster response account to the


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1   state general fund. It is the intent of the legislature that these
2   policies will be continued in subsequent fiscal biennia.

                               --- END ---




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