ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2330
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By House Consumer Protection & Business (originally sponsored by
Representatives Reeves, Ryu, Timmons, Reed, Springer, and Ramel)
READ FIRST TIME 01/31/24.
1 AN ACT Relating to wildfire risk; creating a new section; and
2 providing an expiration date.
3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
4 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) A work group to study and make
5 recommendations on wildfire mitigation and resiliency standards is
6 hereby created. The work group membership shall be composed of:
7 (a) The insurance commissioner or his or her designee, who shall
8 serve as the cochair of the work group;
9 (b) The commissioner of public lands for the department of
10 natural resources or his or her designee, who shall serve as the
11 cochair of the work group;
12 (c) Four representatives from the property and casualty insurance
13 industry, to be selected by the insurance commissioner and
14 commissioner of public lands for the department of natural resources,
15 or their designees through an application process, which must be
16 completed by July 15, 2024;
17 (d) One representative from the insurance institute for business
18 and home safety;
19 (e) One representative from local emergency management as
20 nominated by the Washington state emergency management council;
21 (f) The following ex officio members:
p. 1 ESHB 2330
 1 (i) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the house
2 of representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house of
3 representatives; and
4 (ii) One member from each of the two largest caucuses of the
5 senate, appointed by the president of the senate; and
6 (g) Other state agency representatives or stakeholder group
7 representatives, at the discretion of the work group, for the purpose
8 of participating in specific topic discussions or subcommittees.
9 (2) Staff support for the work group must be provided by the
10 office of the insurance commissioner.
11 (3) The work group shall study and develop recommendations for
12 the following:
13 (a)(i) Coordinating the department of natural resources' existing
14 wildfire property mitigation standards, or development of standards,
15 with nationally recognized, science-based, wildfire mitigation
16 standards, and (ii) aligning state wildfire property mitigation
17 standards with nationally recognized, science-based, wildfire
18 mitigation standards;
19 (b) Enhancing wildfire mitigation at the community level;
20 (c) Sharing of relevant data between appropriate state agencies
21 and the insurance industry with respect to successful implementation
22 of existing wildfire mitigation efforts, including the identification
23 of gaps in existing wildfire mitigation that may be addressed through
24 (a)(i) of this subsection (3) and wildfire risk assessment tools,
25 which must include coordination with the department of health
26 regarding its environmental health disparities map;
27 (d) Increasing transparency with consumers regarding wildfire
28 hazard and risk, including through additional consumer disclosures
29 for insurance nonrenewals related to wildfire risk, which must focus
30 on decreasing nonrenewals and be informed by data obtained by the
31 insurance commissioner; and
32 (e) Establishing a grant program to provide grants to Washington
33 homeowners for purposes including, but not limited to, retrofitting
34 residential property to resist loss due to wildfire and evaluating
35 whether residential property meets nationally recognized, science-
36 based, wildfire mitigation standards. The work group must include
37 recommendations for:
38 (i) A grant program framework that will promote a decrease in the
39 number of nonrenewals of consumer general casualty insurance or
40 property insurance policies; and
p. 2 ESHB 2330
1 (ii) Whether and how local fire protection districts may
2 collaborate with the grant program administrator.
3 (4) The work group shall submit, in compliance with RCW
4 43.01.036, a report of recommendations to the legislature, the
5 insurance commissioner, and the department of natural resources, by
6 December 1, 2024.
7 (5) This section expires December 31, 2024.
--- END ---
p. 3 ESHB 2330


Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 48.14.020