SB34

Wildfire planning, an equipment inventory and targeted volunteer-fire assistance

SB34 requires a statewide wildfire-fuel study, a firefighting-equipment database and a minimum allocation of volunteer-fire assistance for areas at high risk of large wildfires. It was signed June 20, 2025, and took effect September 1, 2025. It does not itself appropriate new money or enact the broader electrical-line and emergency-communications proposals found in earlier drafts. official history; final law.

A study of combustible material and wildfire risk

The Texas A&M Forest Service and West Texas A&M University must jointly study “fuel loading”—the amount of combustible material in an area—and establish wildfire risk zones. They must seek information from the specified public-safety, agriculture, emergency-management, parks, environmental, soil/water and financial agencies, plus other natural-resource representatives as needed. final law, Section 1.

For each zone, the study must consider wildfire risk; potential loss of life, property and natural resources; reconstruction and agricultural/natural-resource production losses; mitigation and asset-protection costs; and how mitigation investment compares with the value of property protected. It must assess the economic benefits of prescribed burning, fuel control and public reduction projects, and recommend legal changes to help public and private resource managers reduce risk. These are study duties, not proof that every proposed mitigation project pays for itself. final law, Section 1.

The written report is due December 1, 2026, to the governor, lieutenant governor, House speaker and the specified legislative committees. The temporary study section expires May 1, 2027; that expiration does not sunset the separate database or assistance-allocation provisions. This briefing states the deadline, not that the report has already been delivered. final law, Section 1(e)–(f).

A statewide picture of available equipment

The Forest Service must create and maintain a comprehensive database showing, in real time, firefighting equipment available statewide for wildfire response. It must identify equipment type and department contact information, be searchable by location and equipment type, and be accessible and updatable by all Texas fire departments. Covered departments include volunteer departments and municipal, county and special-district/authority departments. The law guarantees access to fire departments; it does not expressly promise a public-facing map for everyone. final law, Section 88.1255.

The Forest Service must electronically remind departments supplying equipment information at least annually to update it, and help them update annually or as soon as practicable after an availability change. Although the database is intended to show real-time availability, that is a statutory requirement—not evidence that every equipment item is already continuously tracked. The provision does not itself buy or transfer ownership of equipment. final law, Section 88.1255.

At least 10 percent for high-risk areas

At least 10 percent of a fiscal year’s appropriations from the volunteer fire department assistance fund for assistance under the program must be allocated to volunteer departments in areas the Forest Service determines are at high risk for large wildfires. If eligible requests fall below that allocation, the unused balance may serve other assistance requests. The denominator is the fund’s appropriated assistance money—not all state emergency spending or every dollar in the fund. final law, Section 614.102(i).

Existing law already authorized equipment and personnel-training assistance, required risk-related distribution criteria and set a separate minimum allocation for emergency assistance. SB34 adds the high-risk-area provision without deleting those rules. It does not guarantee each department a grant, specify a fixed dollar award, or turn the minimum into a cap on assistance to high-risk areas. prior volunteer-fire assistance law; final law.