Relating to fire protection; and declaring an emergency.
Summary
HB 3349 expands and clarifies the Oregon State Forestry Department’s authority to work with rangeland protection associations on wildfire prevention and suppression. The bill allows the department to control and regulate the disposal and access to department motor vehicles and equipment, and specifically authorizes the State Forester to transfer depreciated firefighting vehicles, supplies, and related equipment to rangeland protection associations by sale or donation on mutually agreed terms.
The bill also authorizes the department to provide funding to rangeland protection associations for firefighting and rangeland fire readiness, and requires the department to assist those associations in pursuing federal grants for volunteer firefighting and rural fire readiness. To support these activities, HB 3349 creates the Rangeland Protection Association Fund in the State Treasury and continuously appropriates money in the fund to the department for the bill’s purposes. It also amends existing statutes governing cooperative agreements and fire protection contracts to expressly include assistance with equipment acquisition, liability insurance, and administrative expenses, while limiting insurance and administrative payments to no more than 50 percent of a rangeland protection association’s budgeted operating costs and in-kind contributions.
The bill’s impact on state law is to broaden the statutory framework for state support of local rangeland and forest fire protection organizations, while carving out a specific funding mechanism and procurement/disposition authority for depreciated firefighting assets. It also makes a $1 million General Fund appropriation for the 2025-27 biennium and sets that amount as the expenditure limit from the new fund. The bill declares an emergency, so it takes effect immediately upon passage.
The overall sentiment around HB 3349 appears strongly supportive and noncontroversial. It advanced through committee and both chambers with unanimous recorded votes, indicating broad bipartisan agreement on the need to strengthen rural and rangeland fire readiness. The emergency clause and direct funding suggest lawmakers viewed the measure as time-sensitive and practical.
The main policy focus is on how best to support rangeland protection associations and ensure accountability in the use of state resources. The bill preserves a cap on state assistance for insurance and administrative costs and prohibits those payments from being made from forestland-owner assessments under ORS 477.230, which may reflect concern about protecting those dedicated funds. Another point of interest is the new authority to transfer depreciated state firefighting equipment to local associations, which expands access to resources but also requires negotiated terms between the department and the receiving association.
Impact
HB 3349 amends ORS 477.317 and ORS 477.406 and adds new provisions to ORS chapter 477 to expand the Oregon State Forestry Department’s authority to support rangeland protection associations. It creates the Rangeland Protection Association Fund, appropriates $1 million from the General Fund to that fund for the 2025-27 biennium, and makes those moneys continuously appropriated to the department for equipment transfers, funding, and grant assistance. The bill also authorizes the department to manage and dispose of its firefighting vehicles and equipment and to transfer depreciated assets to rangeland protection associations, while setting limits on certain administrative and insurance payments and excluding those costs from forestland-owner assessment funds.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been received very positively. It passed the House committee stages and both chamber floor votes unanimously, with no recorded opposition in the available voting history. That pattern suggests broad agreement that improving rural fire readiness and supporting rangeland protection associations is a worthwhile and urgent public safety measure.
Contention
There is little visible controversy in the available record, but the bill does contain a few policy guardrails that likely reflect underlying concerns. The cap limiting insurance and administrative assistance to 50 percent of a rangeland protection association’s budgeted operating costs and in-kind contributions suggests lawmakers wanted to prevent open-ended state support. The prohibition on using forestland-owner assessment funds for those payments also indicates sensitivity to how fire-protection revenues are used. Otherwise, the measure appears to have been broadly accepted as a practical wildfire preparedness bill.
Urging The State To Consider The Importance Of Rangelands And Pastoralists And Adopt Policies That Further Sustain Rangeland Health And Pastoralist Livelihoods.