The bill creates a new Washington division of the Civil Air Patrol as a state entity made up of the volunteer civilian members of the Washington wing of the federally chartered Civil Air Patrol and adds a new chapter to Title 38 RCW. It names the commanding officer of the Washington wing as the head of the new state division and allows the federally chartered Civil Air Patrol to designate an acting commanding officer with full authority when needed. The division is made available to serve at the governor’s call as active state service and is to consist of commissioned and warrant officers, enlisted persons, and cadets. The bill authorizes the division head to cooperate, on request, with state agencies, political subdivisions, and federally recognized tribes for activities including cadet training, communications, disaster relief, cybersecurity missions, and search and rescue; to enter agreements to perform those functions; and to accept reimbursement for related expenses. It permits the director of the Washington division of civil air patrol to employ personnel and make expenditures within available appropriations or other funds for agency operations. The bill also states it does not change the Washington wing’s existing rights or limit its cooperation with the U.S. government or federal agencies. This is a new law establishing a state division and setting procedural authorities for agreements, reimbursement, staffing, and expenditures; it does not create new crimes or change penalties. The text contains uncertainties: it uses both the titles “head” (commanding officer) and “director” without defining how those roles relate, it refers to actions “under the provisions of this title” without specifying which provisions, and it does not include an effective date, specific statutory section numbers within Title 38 RCW, or any appropriation amounts. The bill was prefiled 01/09/26, passed the Senate 02/10/26, and passed the House 03/03/26.

If enacted, the bill formally recognizes the volunteer Washington wing of the Civil Air Patrol as a Washington division that the governor can call into state service, and it lets that division enter agreements with state agencies, tribes, and local governments to provide cadet training, communications, disaster relief, cyber security work, and search-and-rescue assistance. The commanding officer of the Washington wing will serve as the state division’s head, the division may accept reimbursements for expenses, and its director may hire staff and spend money that is already appropriated or otherwise made available—so the Civil Air Patrol in Washington is likely to be used more often for state missions and can be paid back for costs, but there is no new, specified state funding in the text. This change mostly affects Civil Air Patrol volunteers and leadership, the Washington Military Department, the governor’s office, state and local agencies, and federally recognized tribes: the CAP could take on more state responsibilities and be reimbursed for them, while agencies gain an additional, formally authorized partner for emergency and support missions. Important implementation details are missing, though—the bill does not define the “director” role versus the “head,” does not specify any effective date or appropriation amounts, and does not assign exact statutory placement—so how quickly and at what scale the state will use and fund these services remains unclear.