Governance & Records

Legislative Committee

Andrew Schaffran Legislative Chair NVFC Representative	Ed Mund NVFC EMS/Rescue Section Director-at-Large	Larry Creekmore NVFC Representative Board Member	Tamara Rancore Lobbyist Government Affair Consultant

 

 

 

WSFFA Legislation of Interest

Volunteer FF's / First Responders

Bill #	Abbrev. Title	Short Description	Status	Sponsor	Position	Activity
HB 1156	Volunteer firefighters/DCP	Volunteer firefighters whose firefighter agency has joined the Washington State Deferred Compensation Program (DCP) may choose to participate in the DCP. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 52 L 25	Steele	Support	Passed House: 98-0 Passed Senate: 49-0 Gov Signed 4/16/25
SHB 1811	Crisis co- response	Includes: "Co-response" means a multidisciplinary partnership between first responders and human services professionals that responds to emergency situations involving behavioral health crises and people experiencing complex medical needs. First responders participating in co- response include public safety telecommunicators, law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 346 L 25	Salahuddin	Monitoring	Passed House: 92-3-3 Passed Senate: 49-0 Senate amended; House concurred Passed House: 59-38 Gov Signed 5/19/25
SSB 5323	Theft from first responders	Concerning the penalties for theft and possession of stolen property from first responders. Summary: The crimes of first-degree theft and first-degree possession of stolen property are expanded to include stealing or possessing stolen property that is critical to the work of firefighters or emergency medical service providers in emergency settings, is stolen from a fire station, fire department vehicle, emergency medical service facility or emergency medical service vehicle, and the loss of that property significantly hinders or delays an emergency response, or the property exceeds $1,000 in value. Effective date: 7/27/25	C 286 L 25	Warnick	Support	Passed Senate: 47-2 Passed House: 96-0 Gov Signed 5/15/25

Fire Service-Related Legislation

Bill #	Abbrev. Title	Short Description	Status	Sponsor	Position	Activity
HB 1172	Fire district civil service	Summary of Bill: A District that has adopted civil service in its fire department may dissolve its civil service system if: the Board adopts a resolution to dissolve the civil service system; and a majority of the civil service employees employed by the District vote to dissolve the civil service within 60 calendar days of the adoption of the resolution by the Board. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 38 L 25	Schmidt	Monitoring	Passed House: 94-1-3 Passed Senate: 48-1 Gov Signed 4/11/25
2SHB 1183	Building codes	Requires cities and counties planning under the GMA to modify setback, height limit, and gross floor area requirements for specified types of developments. Modifies off-street parking requirements and unit size requirements for specified affordable housing projects. Directs the Building Council to develop specified standards. Standards for cities and counties allow passenger elevators no larger than those that accommodate a wheelchair for apartment buildings with at most six stories and at most 24 units in total. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 139 L 25	Duerr	Monitoring	Passed House: 56-39 Passed Senate: 28-21 Gov Signed 4/22/25.
ESHB 1258	Regional 911 funding	Brief Summary of Engrossed Substitute Bill: Requires certain counties operating regional 911 emergency communications systems that collect an excise tax on phone lines to transfer a portion of the excise tax revenue to local governments operating municipal 911 emergency communications systems if the county transfers emergency calls to the local government for dispatch. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 280 L 25	Ormsby	Monitoring	Passed House: 94-1-3 Passed Senate: 48-1 Gov Signed 5/15/25
SHB 1271	State fire service deploy	The Chief of the Washington State Patrol may mobilize jurisdictions under the Washington State Fire Services Mobilization Plan to prepare for an emergency or disaster situation or when an emergency or disaster situation is predicted to exceed the local resource capabilities. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 239 L 25	Nance	Support	Passed House: 96-0 Passed Senate: 48-0 Senate amended; House concurred Passed House: 96-0 Gov Signed 5/12/25
ESHB 1522 (SSB 5430)	Utility wildfire mitigation	Brief Summary of Substitute Bill: Provides that an investor-owned electrical utility may file the company's wildfire mitigation plan with the UTC and the UTC must approve or reject the plan or plan update within a specified time. Requires the UTC to approve an electrical utility's plan if the UTC finds that the plan meets certain requirements. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 156 L 25	Dent	Monitoring	Passed House: 97-0-1 Passed Senate: 48-0 Gov Signed 4/24/25
SHB 1539	Wildfire protection	Brief Summary of Substitute Bill: Establishes the Wildfire Mitigation and Resiliency Standards Work Group. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 324 L 25	Reeves	Monitoring	Passed House: 96-0 Passed Senate: 49-0 Senate amended; House concurred House passed 94-1-3 Gov Signed 5/17/25
EHB 1628	Fire service policy board	Brief Summary of Bill: Establishes the Washington State Fire Policy Board to advise the Director of Fire Protection on the State Fire Marshal's Office. Encourages the Fire Service Policy Board to seek input from certain entities. Permits the Fire Service Policy Board to create voluntary advisory committees. Specifies that members of an advisory committee and individuals serving in an advisory capacity may not receive any compensation or reimbursements. Effective date: 7/27/25.	C 193 L 25	Bronoske	Support	Passed House: 97-0 Passed Senate: 48-0 Senate amended; House concurred House passed: 95-0 Gov Signed 5/2/25
SSB 5444 (SHB 1368)	Special license plates	Brief Summary of First Substitute Bill: Authorizes potentially up to 13 new special license plates. Establishes a moratorium on any additional license special license plates, beyond the ones authorized in the legislation Including the remaining six special license plates authorized will only be implemented if they submit 3500 signatures in support of the special license. The order of implementation of the special license plates is based on the 3500 signature submission date and DOL's ability to implement additional special license plates including the Firefighter Memorial with proceeds going to the Washington State Council of Firefighters to be used to benefit firefighters and their families in need, until January 1, 2029. Requires the DOL to establish a workgroup to conduct a comprehensive review of current provisions associated with special license plates. Effective Date: The bill contains several effective dates. Please refer to the bill.	C 385 L 25	Cortes	Monitoring	Passed Senate: 45-3 Passed House: 96-2 House amended; Senate concurred Passed Senate: 47-1 Gov Signed 5/20/25

 

Operating & Capital Budgets

Bill #	Abbrev. Title	Short Description	Status	Sponsor	Position	Activity
ESSB 5167	Operating budget	Making 2025-2027 fiscal biennium operating appropriations and 2023-2025 fiscal biennium second supplemental operating appropriations.	C 424 L 25	Robinson	Support WSFFA’s budget proviso for occupational disease presumption study for volunteers	Governor Ferguson vetoed, referring to veto message below.
SSB 5195	Capital budget	Concerning the capital budget.	C 414 L 25	Trudeau	Monitoring

Gov's veto message to WSFFA’s proviso included in SB 5167 Operation Budget:

Section 152, page 95, lines 15-25, Board for Volunteer Firefighters, Study of Volunteer Firefighter Occupational Disease. This section directs the Board for Volunteer Firefighters to contract with the Department of Commerce to study the extension of duty-related occupational disease presumptions in volunteer firefighters. The Advisory Committee on Occupational Disease Presumptions, housed in the Department of Labor and Industries, was established in 2019 to specifically review scientific evidence regarding occupational diseases for first responders. This study is duplicative of those efforts. For this reason, I am vetoing Section 152, page 95, lines 15-25.