H.B. No. 842
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to fire prevention and fire-fighting support activities of
1-3 the Texas Forest Service.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 88.101, Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 88.101. Director of Texas Forest Service. <(a)> The
1-8 board shall appoint a director of the Texas Forest Service, who
1-9 shall be a technically trained forester with not less than two
1-10 years of experience in professional forestry work.
1-11 <(b) In this subchapter, "director" means the director of
1-12 the Texas Forest Service.>
1-13 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 88, Education Code, is
1-14 amended by adding Sections 88.1015 and 88.117-88.120 to read as
1-15 follows:
1-16 Sec. 88.1015. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
1-17 (1) "Director" means the director of the Texas Forest
1-18 Service.
1-19 (2) "Wildfire" means any fire occurring on wildland
1-20 except a fire that constitutes controlled burning within the
1-21 meaning of Section 28.01, Penal Code.
1-22 (3) "Wildland" means an area in which there is
1-23 virtually no development except for:
1-24 (A) roads, railroads, transmission lines, and
2-1 similar transportation facilities; or
2-2 (B) development related to use of the land for
2-3 park purposes or for timberland or other agricultural purposes.
2-4 Sec. 88.117. STATEWIDE FIRE CONTINGENCY ACCOUNT. (a) The
2-5 statewide fire contingency account is established as an account in
2-6 the general revenue fund.
2-7 (b) The governor, the board, and the director may accept
2-8 gifts and grants, including federal grants, and other federal
2-9 assistance for deposit into the account. This program will be
2-10 funded through private gifts, grants, or assistance.
2-11 (c) Money in the account may be used only to:
2-12 (1) develop and deploy fire overhead management teams;
2-13 (2) pay the direct costs of using Texas Forest Service
2-14 equipment and personnel to support local fire-fighting forces in
2-15 the suppression of fires during wildfire emergencies or threatened
2-16 wildfire emergencies;
2-17 (3) pay the direct costs of local fire-fighting forces
2-18 that are mobilized to respond to wildfire emergencies or threatened
2-19 wildfire emergencies in aid of another fire-fighting force;
2-20 (4) pay for any expenses incurred by the Texas Forest
2-21 Service, or otherwise by the state, when fires are combatted under
2-22 the South Central Interstate Forest Fire Prevention Compact or with
2-23 the assistance of the federal forest service; and
2-24 (5) pay for any other expenses that the director is
2-25 required to pay from this account under federal law.
2-26 (d) Money in the account may not be used or transferred from
2-27 the account except for the purposes prescribed by Subsection (c) of
3-1 this section or as required by Subsection (e) of this section.
3-2 (e) Any unobligated amount over $1,000,000 remaining in the
3-3 account on August 31 of each year shall be transferred into the
3-4 undedicated portion of the general revenue fund except as
3-5 prohibited by other law.
3-6 Sec. 88.118. STATEWIDE FIRE COORDINATION CENTER. (a) The
3-7 director shall establish a statewide fire coordination center.
3-8 (b) The center shall provide continuous dispatching services
3-9 for wildland fire control in the six Texas Forest Service dispatch
3-10 areas in eastern Texas.
3-11 (c) The center shall provide a central location for
3-12 statewide:
3-13 (1) wildfire monitoring;
3-14 (2) coordination of the response to each major or
3-15 potentially major wildland fire in the state, including fires in
3-16 places where urban areas and rural areas meet, with the
3-17 coordination function including a direct liaison with the state
3-18 emergency operating center; and
3-19 (3) assistance to fire-fighting forces in obtaining
3-20 the transfer of needed and available resources.
3-21 Sec. 88.119. REGIONAL WILDFIRE COORDINATORS. (a) The
3-22 director shall divide the state into six wildfire control regions
3-23 to coordinate fire control in rural areas and in places where rural
3-24 areas and urban areas meet. The boundaries of the regions must be
3-25 the same as existing Department of Public Safety regions that
3-26 include state disaster district boundaries to the extent that the
3-27 director determines that the same boundaries are practical.
4-1 (b) The director shall employ and assign a regional wildfire
4-2 coordinator to each fire control region.
4-3 (c) Each regional wildfire coordinator shall, with respect
4-4 to the coordinator's region:
4-5 (1) train, prepare, and coordinate fire fighters to
4-6 respond to wildfire incidents locally, regionally, and statewide;
4-7 (2) inform the statewide coordination center of
4-8 regional wildfire loads and of additional resources that may be
4-9 required to handle a fire load;
4-10 (3) communicate as necessary with appropriate federal
4-11 officials;
4-12 (4) assist and promote the development of mutual aid
4-13 agreements among fire-fighting forces;
4-14 (5) develop wildfire strike teams and overhead strike
4-15 teams;
4-16 (6) coordinate and assess the need for wildland fire
4-17 training;
4-18 (7) coordinate the rural community fire protection
4-19 program;
4-20 (8) coordinate response activities through the
4-21 appropriate state disaster district; and
4-22 (9) evaluate and acquire excess federal equipment and
4-23 other property for use in the region.
4-24 (d) The director shall acquire and assign to each wildfire
4-25 control region a regional command post that has the capability to
4-26 assist in the management of wildland fires and other disasters,
4-27 including disasters not related to fire. The director and the
5-1 director's designees shall determine when the regional command post
5-2 may be used by personnel under the control of the director and when
5-3 the regional command post may be used by local fire-fighting forces
5-4 or other emergency response personnel. Each regional command post
5-5 shall include mobile communications equipment, including a radio
5-6 repeater and a supply of other necessary radio equipment.
5-7 Sec. 88.120. WILDFIRE TRAINING. The Texas Forest Service is
5-8 the lead agency of the state for providing and coordinating
5-9 training in fighting wildland and forest fires.
5-10 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
5-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-16 passage, and it is so enacted.