The House has voted 69-1, with just Majority Leader Mike Moyle dissenting, to approve HB 636, setting aside $34.5 million toward the costs of next year’s wildfire season. “There’s a reason for this one, it’s fire insurance,” JFAC Co-Chair Maxine Bell told the House. “We think we’re paying a premium on something that has become a tremendous burden on this state.”

Bell said, “About 2009, when the economy was going under, we were running $3 million a year in fire suppression. It was one of those items that we pushed aside and paid later, and we ran a debt on it, and it didn’t seem to be a problem at that time. So it was an after-the-fact basis. And as the economy has come back, the fire seasons have become longer and more extreme, and we have no control over that. But we can control the resources they need to help contain those fires. … So now we’re back to the game of being ahead, and this is our effort.” This year’s fire season cost the state $60 million, she noted.

Bell said the $34.5 million figure is the state’s three-year average cost for fighting wildfires. “It’s one-time money,” she said. “But it will be there when we’re gone in May or June, when those fires begin again. So I would ask your support.”

Moyle didn’t say why he voted “no.” HB 637 now moves to the Senate.