House Bill 2104 amends the uncodified 2023 c 457 section 1 and repeals uncodified section 5 of the same 2023 act. The amended uncodified section 1 contains legislative findings and intent that local and tribal fire departments are frontline wildland fire responders who need immediate access to certified aviation resources for retardant and water drops, that aviation use in initial attack can reduce larger state and federal mobilizations, that the 2023 pilot program for local aviation resources created valuable efficiencies and should have its expiration removed to make it permanent, and that the legislature intends to continue providing suppression funding to the Department of Natural Resources to support local departments’ use of certified aviation resources. The bill also states that deployment and air operations command are conducted at the direction of trained air operations commanders. Section 2 of the bill explicitly repeals 2023 c 457 s 5 (uncodified). This is a modification of existing uncodified law and a repeal of a prior uncodified section; the legal changes are a policy and procedural change making an existing pilot program permanent by removing its expiration and continuing state suppression funding through the Department of Natural Resources to support local aviation resource use. It does not create a criminal offense or alter penalties. The bill passed the House on February 13, 2026 (94-0) and the Senate on March 5, 2026 (47-0). Important details not present in the provided text include the prior language of 2023 c 457 sections 1 and 5, the original expiration date of the pilot program, any specific funding amounts or funding mechanisms, and any effective date for the amendments or repeal.

If enacted, the bill would make the 2023 pilot program that gives local and tribal fire departments ready access to certified aircraft a standing program and continue directing suppression funding to the Department of Natural Resources to support that access. In practice this means local and tribal departments are likely to keep quicker access to retardant and water drops for early wildfire attacks, which can reduce the frequency and scale of state or federal mobilizations when fires start small. The Department of Natural Resources is the main recipient of continued suppression funding and will remain the agency supporting aviation resources, while trained air operations commanders continue to direct deployments. Key practical uncertainties remain: the bill text here does not say how much funding will be provided, when the change takes effect, or what specific limits or duties were in the repealed section, so the actual level of resources and timing of benefits to local departments cannot be determined from these facts alone.