H-2090.1                  _______________________________________________

                                             SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1874

                              _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By House Committee on State Government (originally sponsored by Representatives Anderson, Reams, R. Meyers, Jones, Sheldon, Hansen, Orr and Kessler)

Read first time 03/03/93. 

Creating the department of emergency services.

          AN ACT Relating to creating the department of emergency services; and creating new sections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that there has been a lack of state support for fire protection and emergency management services, best evidenced during recent arsons in the Puget Sound region.  The legislature further finds that mandated fire protection and emergency management services have not been provided through the department of community development, and that a study should be conducted as to whether those services should be transferred from the department of community development and whether a separate funding mechanism should be established to support those services.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  The house of representatives state government committee and the senate government operations committee shall conduct an interim study of the governance of fire protection services and emergency management services in the state.  This study may include an examination of whether the divisions of fire protection and emergency management within the department of community development should be merged to create a separate agency.  The study may also examine alternative sources of funding for these programs.  The committees may hold hearings and involve the affected stakeholders in the study.  The committees shall report on their recommendations to the legislature by January 1, 1994.

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