HB1728 – Creating a statewide resiliency program.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Donaghy (D; 44th District; Snohomish County) (Co-Sponsors Rule, Reeves, Morgan, Ramel, Reed, and Leavitt – Ds)
Current status – Had a hearing in the Senate Committee on State Government & Elections March 14th and passed out of committee March 24th. Had a hearing in Ways and Means March 31st, and passed out of committee April 3rd. Referred to Rules, and passed by the Senate April 10th.
Next step would be – To the Governor.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

In the House – Passed
Scheduled for a hearing in the House Committee on Innovation, Community & Economic Development, & Veterans at 8:00 AM on Wednesday February 8th. Replaced by a substitute, amended, and passed out of committee February 15th. Referred to Appropriations and had a hearing there on February 22nd. Replaced by a second substitute focusing the program on disaster resilience, and eliminating the repeating reporting. Referred to Rules and passed by the House March 4th.

Substitute –
This removed the provision about having the Department provide support to agencies, departments, tribes, and other stakeholders, and made some other minor changes that are summarized by staff at the beginning of it.

Summary –
The bill would have the State Military Department’s Emergency Management Division develop and administer a statewide resiliency program. The program would be supposed to include methods for ensuring ongoing coordination of state and local resiliency and response activities, including developing, administering, tracking, and communicating progress of resiliency efforts. It would coordinate funding to maximize investments from various public and private sources; serving as a public and private resiliency resource center; and enhance interagency collaboration, education, and outreach programs.

The Division would also create a coordinated long-term resiliency strategy for addressing the impacts of natural and human-caused hazards, including developing, coordinating, and communicating resiliency initiatives and projects across state agencies and local governments; conduct policy research and make recommendations on enhancing resiliency; coordinate research, data collection, and analysis; research economic tools to address resiliency; and recommend investments to mitigate risks from all hazards.

It would support agencies, departments, tribes, and other stakeholders in developing solutions that improve the resiliency of the state’s waters, forests, and other vital ecosystems to the impacts of climate change, and increase their carbon pollution reduction capacity through sequestration, storage, and overall ecosystem integrity.