---
type: "Bill"
title: "Concerning proactively addressing wildfire risk by creating a forest health treatment assessment."
description: "Concerning proactively addressing wildfire risk by creating a forest health treatment assessment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wa"
legislature: "Washington Legislature"
session: "2017-2018"
identifier: "SB 5546"
citation: "Washington SB 5546 (2017-2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["FIRE PROTECTION", "NATURAL RESOURCES", "DEPARTMENT", "FOREST LAND"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hawkins"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 36
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-01-27"
last_action: "2017-04-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7b187372-c095-4fd7-862e-4a29ec90971a"
source_url: "http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5546&year=2017"
source_hash: "3b99bf2506e375a02e46514d1b68f064593654ef6edbae56353ea630d49bf69f"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wa"]
---

# Washington SB 5546 (2017-2018) — Concerning proactively addressing wildfire risk by creating a forest health treatment assessment.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5546.htm)
2. **Second Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5546-S2.htm)
3. **Substitute Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Biennium/2017-18/Htm/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5546-S.htm)

## Votes

- Final Passage (#19) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading & Final Passage (#30) — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Hawkins — primary (person)
- Braun — cosponsor (person)
- Fortunato — cosponsor (person)
- McCoy — cosponsor (person)
- O'Ban — cosponsor (person)
- Pearson — cosponsor (person)
- Rivers — cosponsor (person)
- Sheldon — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-27** First reading, referred to Natural Resources & Parks. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-14** NRP - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-14** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2017-02-23** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-24** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2017-02-28** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-03-01** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2017-02-14** NRP - Majority; 1st substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-14** And refer to Ways & Means. `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Referred to Ways & Means.
- **2017-02-23** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-24** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2017-02-28** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-03-01** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2017-02-23** WM - Majority; 2nd substitute bill be substituted, do pass. `passage`
- **2017-02-24** Passed to Rules Committee for second reading.
- **2017-02-28** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-03-01** 2nd substitute bill substituted. `substitution`
- **2017-03-01** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2017-03-01** Third reading, passed; yeas, 49; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2017-03-03** First reading, referred to Agriculture & Natural Resources (Not Officially read and referred until adoption of Introduction report). `reading-1`
- **2017-03-23** AGNR - Majority; do pass.
- **2017-03-27** Referred to Appropriations.
- **2017-04-04** APP - Majority; do pass.
- **2017-04-04** Minority; do not pass.
- **2017-04-04** Referred to Rules 2 Review.
- **2017-04-07** Placed on second reading by Rules Committee.
- **2017-04-10** Rules suspended. Placed on Third Reading.
- **2017-04-10** Third reading, passed; yeas, 98; nays, 0; absent, 0; excused, 0. `reading-3`
- **2017-04-11** President signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-14** Speaker signed. `passage`
- **2017-04-17** Delivered to Governor.
- **2017-04-20** Governor signed. `executive-signature`
- **2017-04-20** Chapter 95, 2017 Laws. `became-law`
- **2017-04-20** Effective date 7/23/2017. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/7b187372-c095-4fd7-862e-4a29ec90971a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Washington legislature records).