This bill creates a new Washington wildfire prevention and protection council and a wildfire prevention and protection fund as a new chapter in Title 76 RCW. It requires investor‑owned electrical companies to make a one‑time fund contribution set by the council and allows consumer‑owned utilities to opt in; participating utilities must also remit an annual contribution, maintain commercially reasonable wildfire insurance, comply with approved wildfire mitigation plans, and may recover annual contributions from customers through a surcharge with required low‑income discounts. The council oversees the fund, selects a fund administrator, sets initial and annual contributions and surcharges, directs the administrator to prepare an annual operations plan, and the Department of Natural Resources provides secretarial and custody services for the council. The bill creates a damages threshold that a participating utility must absorb before it may seek reimbursement from the fund for third‑party damages from a “covered wildfire” (defined as wildfires caused by a utility’s negligence). Eligible claims must exceed that threshold, arise after July 1, 2021, and meet other eligibility rules; payment is conditional on available funds and not an entitlement. The fund is held in a state treasury account administered by the fund administrator (a state employee whose salary the council sets); the administrator may approve claims, enter contracts, buy insurance, collect repayments, and require repayment of disbursed funds if a court later finds gross negligence, willfulness, or intentionality by the utility. The state is not liable for claims beyond amounts in the fund, and the council and related parties are granted immunity from liability for implementation of mitigation plans and actions under the chapter. The bill also amends and reenacts RCW 43.84.092 to establish a treasury income account to receive all earnings on investments of surplus treasury balances, directs the Office of Financial Management to implement federal Cash Management Improvement Act (CMIA) obligations, requires the state treasurer to distribute earnings monthly and to give specified accounts a proportionate share based on average daily balances, and requires annual transfers of investment earnings from the wildfire prevention and protection account to the wildfire response, forest restoration, and community resilience account (RCW 76.04.511). It further amends RCW 76.04.185 and RCW 80.28.445 to require the department to contract for and publish recommended wildfire mitigation plan formats and elements, to provide technical assistance, and to require electrical companies to file and periodically update mitigation plans for commission review with public workshop and hearing requirements. Important specifics are not present in the extracted text: the exact amounts for the one‑time fund contribution, annual contribution levels, surcharge rates, the completed text and formula for the damages threshold, detailed claims procedures and eligibility mechanics, the administrator selection criteria and process, and complete effective/expiration dates and the full list of accounts affected by the RCW 43.84.092 amendments are missing or truncated.

If enacted, the bill creates a state-run wildfire prevention and protection fund that will require investor-owned electrical companies to make a one-time payment and forces participating utilities to pay annual contributions and follow approved wildfire mitigation plans and maintain commercial insurance. Participating utilities can seek reimbursement from the fund only for third-party damages from covered wildfires after July 1, 2021 once they have absorbed a set damages threshold, and any payments are limited to the money available in the account; the administrator may later require repayment if a court finds gross negligence. Utilities are allowed to recover their annual contributions from customers through surcharges (with required low-income discounts), and investment earnings from the fund are transferred at least annually to the state account for wildfire response and community resilience. The groups most affected are investor-owned utilities (which must pay mandatory up-front and ongoing charges and meet stricter mitigation and insurance requirements), consumer-owned utilities (which may opt in and could face different surcharge rates), and utility customers who could see new surcharges on their bills. State agencies (Department of Natural Resources, OFM, State Treasurer) gain new administrative and oversight duties and the treasurer will handle earnings distributions, but important details are missing from the text provided—specific contribution amounts, how the damages threshold is set, claim procedures, and exact dates and administrator selection criteria—so the timing, scale, and operational impacts remain uncertain.