wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 1625 > Original Bill
As used in this chapter:
Because of the existing and increasing possibility of the occurrence of disasters of unprecedented size and destructiveness as defined in RCW 38.52.010(14), and in order to insure that preparations of this state will be adequate to deal with such disasters, to insure the administration of state and federal programs providing disaster relief to individuals, and further to insure adequate support for search and rescue operations, and generally to protect the public peace, health, and safety, and to preserve the lives and property of the people of the state, it is hereby found and declared to be necessary:
To provide for emergency management by the state, and to authorize the creation of local organizations for emergency management in the political subdivisions of the state;
To confer upon the governor and upon the executive heads of the political subdivisions of the state the emergency powers provided herein;
To provide for the rendering of mutual aid among the political subdivisions of the state and with other states and to cooperate with the federal government with respect to the carrying out of emergency management functions;
To provide a means of compensating emergency workers who may suffer any injury, as herein defined, or death; who suffer economic harm including personal property damage or loss; or who incur expenses for transportation, telephone or other methods of communication, and the use of personal supplies as a result of participation in emergency management or back country search and rescue activities;
To provide programs, with intergovernmental cooperation, to educate and train the public to be prepared for emergencies; and
To provide for the prioritization, development, and exercise of continuity of operations plans by the state.
It is further declared to be the purpose of this chapter and the policy of the state that all emergency management functions of this state and its political subdivisions be coordinated to the maximum extent with the comparable functions of the federal government including its various departments and agencies of other states and localities, and of private agencies of every type, to the end that the most effective preparation and use may be made of the nation's manpower, resources, and facilities for dealing with any disaster that may occur.
Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the back country search and rescue grant program is established. The department shall administer the program. The department may adopt rules, in consultation with the emergency management council, to administer the program.
The back country search and rescue account is created in the state treasury. All receipts from legislative appropriations, donations, gifts, grants, or funds directed to the account from other public or private sources must be deposited into the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may only be used by the department to provide grants to:
Search and rescue organizations for anticipated and incurred back country search and rescue costs by search and rescue volunteers, including planning, equipment, training, exercise, and operations; and
Political subdivisions which incur or budget for costs related to back country search and rescue operations that are not available for reimbursement through another mechanism.