The bill reenacts and amends the emergency management definitions in RCW 38.52.010, amends RCW 38.52.020, and adds a new section to chapter 38.52 RCW to create a back country search and rescue grant program. The program is to be administered by the Department (identified in the bill as the state military department) and the department may adopt rules to administer the program in consultation with the emergency management council. The bill also creates a back country search and rescue account in the state treasury to receive appropriations, donations, gifts, grants, or other directed funds; moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation and only to provide grants. Grant recipients may include search and rescue organizations (defined as Washington domestic nonprofits or locally recognized emergency worker groups) for anticipated and incurred volunteer back country search and rescue costs (including planning, equipment, training, exercises, and operations) and political subdivisions that incur or budget for back country search and rescue costs not eligible for reimbursement through another mechanism. The program is subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this purpose. The bill also adds and clarifies numerous related definitions and provisions concerning next generation 911 systems, ESInet, NG911 service, public safety answering points, telecommunications providers, and the definition of search and rescue and search and rescue organizations, and it updates the statutory findings and declarations in RCW 38.52.020. Important implementation details are not included in the provided text: the bill does not specify appropriation amounts, funding sources beyond general deposit authority, application or award procedures, or full text for a truncated definition, so those specifics are uncertain from the available excerpts.

If enacted, the law would create a state grant program and a dedicated account to provide money to volunteer back country search and rescue groups and to counties, cities, or towns for back country search and rescue costs like planning, equipment, training, exercises, and operations. This could reduce out‑of‑pocket expenses for volunteers and ease some local government budget pressure for rescue costs that are not reimbursable elsewhere, but any actual funding depends on legislative appropriations and donations being placed into the new account and then appropriated for spending. The State Military Department would run the program and may adopt rules in consultation with the emergency management council, so the department would take on new administrative responsibilities and related costs or risks of program management. Key details about who exactly qualifies, how to apply, award amounts, and timelines are not included in the provided text, so the timing and scale of any financial relief remain uncertain.