House Bill 1969 — Law Enforcement Aviation Support Grant Program, Washington (2025 Regular Session)

Summary

House Bill 1969, version H-1250.1, of the State of Washington 69th Legislature, 2025 Regular Session, by Representatives Burnett, Low, Griffey, among others, read first time February 13, 2025 and referred to the Committee on Technology, Economic Development, & Veterans. The act relates to the law enforcement aviation support grant program. Section 1 provides that, subject to the amounts appropriated, the department shall develop and implement the grant program to provide financial assistance to law enforcement aviation support units. It provides for reimbursement of search and rescue mission costs from the amounts remaining each fiscal year, with any amounts left at the end of the year awarded to the aviation section of the Washington state patrol.

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Full text

     H-1250.1

                                HOUSE BILL 1969


     State of Washington        69th Legislature         2025 Regular Session

     By Representatives Burnett, Low, Griffey, Graham, Dent, Ley, Volz,
     Schmidt, Berg, Schmick, Leavitt, Klicker, Keaton, Eslick, and Barkis

     Read first time 02/13/25.      Referred   to   Committee   on   Technology,
     Economic Development, & Veterans.




1        AN ACT Relating to the law enforcement aviation support grant
2    program; amending RCW 76.04.194 and 76.04.192; amending 2023 c 457 s
3    1 (uncodified); adding a new section to chapter 38.52 RCW; and
4    providing expiration dates.


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


 6       NEW SECTION.   Sec. 1.    A new section is added to chapter 38.52
 7   RCW to read as follows:
 8       (1) Subject to the amounts appropriated for this specific
 9   purpose, the department shall develop and implement a law enforcement
10   aviation support grant program for the purpose of providing financial
11   assistance to law enforcement aviation support units.
12       (2) The department shall utilize a statewide association of law
13   enforcement   executives   to   identify  and   recognize  local  law
14   enforcement rotary wing aviation support units that offer aviation
15   support to any jurisdiction in the state reachable by their aviation
16   support unit whenever an aircraft is available, without any financial
17   obligation on behalf of the requesting jurisdiction. For purposes of
18   this section, refueling is not considered a financial obligation.
19       (3) The department shall equally distribute 50 percent of the
20   amounts appropriated for this program each fiscal year to local law
21   enforcement rotary wing aviation support units recognized pursuant to
                                      p. 1                               HB 1969
 1   subsection (2) of this section. Funding provided pursuant to this
 2   subsection must be used to maintain and operate rotary wing aviation
 3   support units including, but not limited to, pilot and crew costs,
 4   aircraft   maintenance,   upgrades,  acquisition,   insurance, fuel,
 5   training, and any other reasonable and necessary expense associated
 6   with operating an aviation support unit.
 7       (4) Of the amounts remaining each fiscal year, the department
 8   must make available for local law enforcement rotary wing aviation
 9   support units recognized pursuant to subsection (2) of this section
10   to submit and be reimbursed for all costs associated with search and
11   rescue missions or search and rescue training missions conducted by
12   the unit, regardless of where the search and rescue mission took
13   place. Reimbursable costs include, but are not limited to, fuel
14   costs, maintenance costs, and pilot and crew costs. Depreciation
15   costs are not reimbursable expenses under this subsection.
16       (5) Any amounts remaining at the conclusion of each fiscal year,
17   after local law enforcement rotary wing aviation support units
18   recognized pursuant to subsection (2) of this section have had
19   reasonable opportunity to submit any allowable unreimbursed search
20   and rescue mission costs, must be awarded to the aviation section of
21   the Washington state patrol.
22       (6) Funds awarded pursuant to this section must be used to
23   supplement, not supplant, existing local funding for aviation support
24   units.


25       Sec. 2.   RCW 76.04.194 and 2023 c 457 s 3 are each amended to
26   read as follows:
27       (1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
28   specific purpose, the department must use suppression funding to
29   assist local fire departments and sheriff's offices with aerial fire
30   response capabilities during the critical initial attack phase of
31   fighting a wildland fire.
32       (2) The department must use suppression funding to assist local
33   fire departments and sheriff's offices with initial attacks that meet
34   the following requirements:
35       (a) The local fire department or sheriff's office must have
36   entered into a response agreement with the department;
37       (b) The local fire department or sheriff's office must provide
38   documentation to the department that personnel have received training


                                     p. 2                          HB 1969
 1   regarding the use of aviation assets in initial attack and criteria
 2   to use for determining when to call for aviation assets;
 3       (c) The aviation assets used in initial attack must:
 4       (i) In the case of local fire departments, come from a list of
 5   private contractors approved by the department on exclusive use or
 6   call-when-needed agreements based upon the annual review of aviation
 7   response and aviation needs required in RCW 76.04.192(2); and
 8       (ii) In the case of sheriff's offices, be owned or leased by the
 9   sheriff's office;
10       (d) Local fire departments and sheriff's offices must make direct
11   requests to the appropriate coordination center, including the
12   central Washington interagency coordination center, the northeast
13   Washington interagency coordination center, the Blue Mountain
14   interagency coordination center, or the department of natural
15   resources coordination center, in order to ensure the safe
16   coordination of all aircraft; and
17       (e) Upon receiving a request for aviation assets under this
18   section, the coordinating agency must notify the director of fire
19   protection or that individual's designee to ensure operational
20   knowledge of a potential future request to invoke the fire service
21   mobilization plan under RCW 43.43.960.
22       (3) This section expires July 1, 2027.


23       Sec. 3.   RCW 76.04.192 and 2023 c 457 s 2 are each amended to
24   read as follows:
25       (1) The department shall prepare and submit, consistent with RCW
26   43.01.036, an appendix on aviation usage by local fire departments
27   and sheriff's offices for initial attack as a part of its annual
28   wildfire report to the standing committees of the legislature with
29   jurisdiction over wildland firefighting. The department shall submit
30   the report by December 1st of each year. The report must address, at
31   a minimum, the following topics:
32       (a) The dollar value of funding utilized by local fire
33   departments and sheriff's offices for initial attack aviation during
34   the year;
35       (b) The specific local fire departments and sheriff's offices
36   that utilized this funding during the year;
37       (c) The wildland fires on which suppression funding was utilized
38   to provide local fire departments and sheriff's offices initial
39   attack   aviation  resources   during  the  year,  including  names,
                                     p. 3                          HB 1969
 1   locations, and sizes of fires, and amount of funding utilized on each
 2   of the fires; and
 3       (d) A review of lessons learned related to aviation use by local
 4   fire departments and sheriff's offices for initial attack based on
 5   the preceding fire season, along with recommendations for future
 6   improvements to the wildland fire response process based on the
 7   lessons learned.
 8       (2) The department shall consult with the state fire defense
 9   committee, fire service representatives, and the state fire marshal's
10   office annually to review aviation program performance and determine
11   aviation needs for the following fire year.
12       (3) This section expires July 1, 2027.

13       Sec. 4.   2023 c 457 s 1 (uncodified) is amended to read as
14   follows:
15       (1) Local and tribal fire departments and sheriff's offices in
16   the state of Washington serve as frontline responders to wildland
17   fires. The fire chief of each local fire department with jurisdiction
18   over wildland fires, and each sheriff's office, is tasked with making
19   rapid decisions, especially during the summer months when weather
20   conditions can cause fires to rapidly enlarge. Flashy fuels,
21   especially during times of low humidity, can be ignited by a single
22   spark and erupt into a rapidly moving incident that can quickly
23   destroy rangelands, ripe dryland crops, and timberlands.
24       (2) Local fire departments need immediate access to local
25   aviation resources that are certified to, and some sheriff's offices
26   have aircraft capable to, fly and drop fire retardants and water to
27   suppress or extinguish wildland fires quickly. The use of aviation
28   assets has proven to be a valuable tool to prevent many wildland
29   fires from growing large and requiring the response of state
30   mobilization and prevent the deployment of state and federal fire
31   agencies and their mobilization partner agencies.
32       (3) Further, the strategic use of aviation assets in initial
33   attack, or at times when conditions on the ground may warrant
34   additional   air   support,   can   prevent    fires   from  becoming
35   uncontrollable. Local fire departments and sheriff's offices that use
36   aviation assets on initial attack can prevent most fires from
37   requiring a state mobilization. Providing financial assurances for
38   local fire departments and sheriff's offices to deploy aviation


                                     p. 4                          HB 1969
 1   assets will provide greater protection to our state's natural
 2   resources, air quality, and communities.
 3       (4) The legislature intends to provide suppression funding to the
 4   department of natural resources to support local fire departments and
 5   sheriff's offices in the use of aviation resources certified and
 6   trained to operate in wildland fires and drop fire retardant or water
 7   to suppress or extinguish fires as an initial attack strategy.
 8   Deployment and air operations command will be conducted at the
 9   direction of trained air operations commanders.
10       (5) The legislature intends to authorize the department of
11   natural resources to provide aviation resources to local fire
12   departments and sheriff's offices statewide for use during the
13   initial attack of wildland fires in order to provide assurance that
14   local fire departments and sheriff's offices will have sufficient
15   financial capacity to effectively control wildland fires throughout
16   the length of the fire season. Having assurance that local fire
17   departments and sheriff's offices can afford to use aircraft under
18   conditions that would warrant their use and at the discretion of the
19   local fire department chief or sheriff will incentivize the use of
20   aircraft more quickly in order to rapidly suppress the fire and
21   minimize damage to lands, resources, and structures, while protecting
22   regional air quality.

                                  --- END ---




                                     p. 5                          HB 1969


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