OLYMPIA — At a moment when wildfire risk is rising and prevention funding has been slashed, the House Finance Committee voted to advance HB 2089, sponsored by Rep. Shaun Scott (D–Seattle), to redirect a misused tax break into wildfire preparedness, forest restoration, and community resilience.
HB 2089, known as the Wildfire Alleviation Support Act, takes a targeted approach to rebuilding Washington’s wildfire response capacity by aligning state tax law with federal standards for community banks and directing new revenue into the Wildfire Response, Forest Restoration, and Community Resilience Account.
“When this Legislature created the wildfire response account in 2021, we made a clear commitment to protect communities before disaster strikes, but the Legislature failed to give that commitment a dedicated funding source,” said Rep. Scott. “HB 2089 restores that promise by ensuring wildfire preparedness is funded consistently and fairly, without asking working families to shoulder the burden.”
In 2021, lawmakers committed to a $125 million biennial investment in wildfire preparedness. That funding was cut in half at the start of the 2025–27 biennium, even as wildfire seasons have grown longer, more destructive, and more costly.
The bill responds directly to findings from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee and the Department of Revenue, which show that a tax preference originally intended to support local community banks now disproportionately benefits large, “placeless” financial institutions. In 2023 alone, nearly two-thirds of the tax savings flowed to large institutions that were never the intended beneficiaries of the preference.
“Wildfires aren’t just natural disasters. The severity of their impact is the result of policy choices,” Scott said. “Right now, Washington is subsidizing financial institutions that benefit from extractive infrastructure while underfunding the very systems meant to protect people, forests, and frontline communities. This bill corrects that imbalance.”
HB 2089 ensures that truly local lenders continue to receive support, while larger institutions contribute their fair share. Revenue generated by the change will be transferred annually into the wildfire response account to fund prevention, forest health, and workforce development for wildfire mitigation.
Legislative findings underscore that investing in preparedness saves the state far more than it costs, reducing long-term expenses tied to infrastructure damage, lost housing value, insurance claims, and public health impacts, particularly in overburdened and rural communities.
“Wildfire preparedness is climate policy, economic policy, and public safety policy all at once,” Scott said. “HB 2089 is about making sure our tax code reflects our values, and that we’re investing upstream instead of paying the price later.”
HB 2089 now moves forward in the legislative process for further consideration.