Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official page posted by the Washington Legislature, fetched 2026-08-29. This is the chaptered version. The official bill page.
CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1539 Chapter 324, Laws of 2025 69TH LEGISLATURE 2025 REGULAR SESSION WILDFIRE MITIGATION AND RESILIENCY STANDARDS WORK GROUP EFFECTIVE DATE: July 27, 2025 Passed by the House April 18, 2025 Yeas 94 Nays 1 LAURIE JINKINS Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 2, 2025 Yeas 49 Nays 0 JOHN LOVICK President of the Senate CERTIFICATE I, Bernard Dean, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1539 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. BERNARD DEAN Chief Clerk Chief Clerk Approved May 17, 2025 2:13 PM FILED May 19, 2025 BOB FERGUSON Governor of the State of Washington Secretary of State State of Washington SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1539 AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE Passed Legislature - 2025 Regular Session State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session By House Agriculture & Natural Resources (originally sponsored by Representatives Reeves, Dent, Springer, Walen, Ryu, Ramel, Bernbaum, and Salahuddin) READ FIRST TIME 02/18/25. AN ACT Relating to wildfire risk; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON: NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) A work group to study and make recommendations on wildfire mitigation and resiliency standards is hereby created. The work group membership shall be composed of: (a) The insurance commissioner or his or her designee, who shall serve as the cochair of the work group; (b) The commissioner of public lands for the department of natural resources or his or her designee, who shall serve as the cochair of the work group; (c) Four representatives from the property and casualty insurance industry, to be selected by the insurance commissioner and commissioner of public lands for the department of natural resources, or their designees through an application process, which must be completed by August 1, 2025; (d) One representative from the insurance institute for business and home safety; (e) One representative from local emergency management as nominated by the Washington state emergency management council; (f) One representative from the Washington fire chiefs association; (g) The following ex officio members: (i) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives; and (ii) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the senate, appointed by the president of the senate; (h) Other state agency representatives or stakeholder group representatives, at the discretion of the work group, for the purpose of participating in specific topic discussions or subcommittees; (i) One representative of small forest landowners; (j) One representative of rural landowners; (k) One representative of the real estate industry; (l) One representative of consumer-owned electric utilities; and (m) One representative of investor-owned electric utilities. (2) Staff support for the work group must be provided by the office of the insurance commissioner. (3) The work group shall study and develop recommendations for the following: (a)(i) Coordinating the department of natural resources' existing wildfire property mitigation standards, or development of standards, with nationally recognized, science-based, wildfire mitigation standards, and (ii) aligning state wildfire property mitigation standards with nationally recognized, science-based, wildfire mitigation standards; (b) Enhancing wildfire mitigation at the community level; (c) Sharing of relevant data between appropriate state agencies and the insurance industry with respect to successful implementation of existing wildfire mitigation efforts, including the identification of gaps in existing wildfire mitigation that may be addressed through (a)(i) of this subsection (3) and wildfire risk assessment tools, which must include coordination with the department of health regarding its environmental health disparities map; (d) Improving transparency for consumers regarding wildfire hazard and risk, including through disclosures to policyholders for insurance policy nonrenewals primarily related to wildfire risk, with the intent of increasing the availability of insurance, decreasing nonrenewals, and enhancing market stability that is informed by industry and consumer data; and (e) Establishing a grant program to provide grants to Washington homeowners for purposes including, but not limited to, retrofitting residential property to resist loss due to wildfire and evaluating whether residential property meets nationally recognized, science-based, wildfire mitigation standards. The work group must include recommendations for: (i) A grant program framework that will promote a decrease in the number of nonrenewals of consumer general casualty insurance or property insurance policies; and (ii) Whether and how local fire protection districts may collaborate with the grant program administrator. (4) The work group shall submit, in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, a report of recommendations to the legislature, the insurance commissioner, and the department of natural resources, by December 1, 2025. (5) This section expires December 31, 2025. Passed by the House April 18, 2025. Passed by the Senate April 2, 2025. Approved by the Governor May 17, 2025. Filed in Office of Secretary of State May 19, 2025.
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