ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
1
AN ACT relating to public utilities; requiring public
utilities to prepare and submit wildfire mitigation plans;
specifying procedures for the submission and review of
wildfire mitigation plans; specifying how costs associated
with wildfire mitigation plans may be recovered; specifying
limits for liability and damages for public utilities
related to wildfires; requiring rulemaking; specifying
applicability; and providing for effective dates.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. 37-3-401 through 37-3-405 are created to
read:
ARTICLE 4
WILDFIRE MITIGATION
37-3-401. Definitions.
(a) As used in this article:
(i) "Economic loss" means pecuniary loss,
including losses resulting from medical expenses, business
interruption, loss of business, property damage loss,
replacement services loss, loss due to death and burial
costs to the extent recovery for the loss is allowed under
the laws of Wyoming;
(ii) "Electric utility" means any person,
including cooperative electric utilities that perform any
of the functions specified in W.S. 37-1-101(a)(vi)(C), that
is authorized to engage in business in Wyoming and that is
primarily engaged in the generation, transmission or sale
of electric energy. "Electric utility" shall not include
any electric utility owned or operated by a city or town; ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
2
(iii) "Wildfire" means an unplanned, unwanted
fire burning within Wyoming that may impact, damage or
cause harm to natural resources, agricultural resources,
homes and property or that threatens lives and safety.
37-3-402. Wildfire mitigation plans; preemption;
commission authority; applicability.
(a) Nothing in this article shall be construed to
limit the commission's authority to regulate utilities or
promulgate rules under other provisions of this title.
(b) Wildfire mitigation plans approved by the
commission shall preempt any part of a local land use plan
or ordinance that would impede or preclude an electric
utility from implementing the wildfire mitigation plan.
37-3-403. Electric utilities; wildfire mitigation
plans; contents.
(a) Each electric utility shall prepare a wildfire
mitigation plan that shall include, at a minimum:
(i) A description of the electric utility's
service territory and the areas within the service
territory or rights-of-way that may be subject to a
heightened risk of wildfire;
(ii) A description of the procedures, standards
and schedules that the electric utility will use to inspect
and operate its transmission and distribution
infrastructure, if any; ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
3(iii) A description of the procedures and
standards that the electric utility will use to perform
vegetation management;
(iv) A description of proposed modifications,
replacements and upgrades to facilities and preventative
programs that the electric utility will implement to reduce
the risk of its electric facilities initiating a wildfire;
(v) A description of how the electric utility's
wildfire mitigation strategies and policies have changed in
the immediately preceding five (5) years;
(vi) A description of how the electric utility
will coordinate with other electric utilities regarding any
shared facilities;
(vii) A description of procedures and
considerations for de-energizing power lines and disabling
reclosers to mitigate potential fires, including:
(A) The ability of the electric utility to
reasonably access the proposed power line to be
de-energized;
(B) Balancing the risk of wildfire with the
need for the continued supply of electricity to a
community;
(C) Any potential impact that de-energizing
lines may have on the resilience of the remainder of the
electric utility's transmission and distribution
facilities, if any; ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
4 (D) The need to provide notice to customers
and the public before or as soon as practicable after
de-energization;
(E) Any need to communicate and coordinate
with any other electric utilities that may be impacted by a
de-energization and any plans to accomplish communications,
including communications with transmission operators,
reliability coordinators and cooperative member systems;
(F) Anticipated potential impacts to public
safety.
(viii) A description of the procedures the
electric utility intends to use to restore its electrical
system in the event of a wildfire;
(ix) For electric utilities whose rates are
regulated by the commission, a description of the estimated
incremental costs and potential associated rate impacts for
the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan,
including system improvements and upgrades;
(x) A description of community outreach and
public awareness efforts before and during the wildfire
season, particularly in areas impacted by wildfires or
de-energizations;
(xi) A description of potential participation
with emergency coordinators, if applicable;
(xii) Input from the Wyoming state forestry
division of the office of state lands and investments, an
association representing Wyoming rural firefighters, ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
5
counties and any other appropriate federal, state or local
fire entity.
(b) Not later than five (5) business days after a
fire mitigation plan is submitted to the public service
commission for approval under W.S. 37-3-404(a), the
electric utility shall provide direct notice that a
wildfire mitigation plan has been filed with the public
service commission to all conservation districts,
municipalities and counties in the electric utility's
Wyoming service territories.
37-3-404. Wildfire mitigation plans; commission
approval.
(a) An electric utility shall apply to the commission
for approval of a wildfire mitigation plan.
(b) Upon receiving an application for approval of a
wildfire mitigation plan, the commission shall, not later
than one hundred twenty (120) days after receipt, unless
the commission deems it is necessary to continue the
implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan for a longer
period of time and the commission has entered an order
confirming the continuance and stating the facts making the
continuance necessary, approve the plan if the plan is
reasonable, in the public interest and appropriately
balances the costs of implementing the plan with the risks
of a potential wildfire. For electric utilities whose rates
are regulated by the commission, approval of a wildfire
mitigation plan shall not automatically confer to the
electric utility the right to recover the costs associated
with the wildfire mitigation plan. An electric utility
whose rates are regulated by the commission may seek, and ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
6
the commission may authorize, cost recovery for the costs
associated with implementing a wildfire mitigation plan.
(c) Each electric utility shall submit subsequent or
updated plans to the commission not later than every fifth
year after the electric utility last submitted a plan to
the commission or as ordered by the commission. The
commission shall review and approve subsequent plans in
accordance with subsection (b) of this section.
(d) Not later than June 1 in the year following any
year in which the commission approves a wildfire mitigation
plan under this section, an electric utility shall file an
annual report with the commission detailing the electric
utility's compliance with the approved wildfire mitigation
plan and shall request an order of the commission finding
that the electric utility has substantially complied with
the plan during the preceding year.
37-3-405. Wildfire mitigation plans; recovery of
costs.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section,
there shall be a presumption in any civil action that the
approved wildfire mitigation plan is a reasonable and
prudent preparation for, and mitigation of, wildfire risk.
(b) An electric utility and a landowner with an
alleged wildfire related claim shall negotiate in good
faith before any landowner files a civil action against the
electric utility. During negotiations, an electric utility
shall respond to a landowner not later than ninety (90)
days after receipt of the landowner's submission of
itemized damages. ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
7(c) A plaintiff may recover economic loss from an
electric utility as a result of a wildfire only if the
plaintiff shows one (1) or more of the following by a
preponderance of the evidence:
(i) The electric utility failed to substantially
comply with an approved wildfire mitigation plan, and that
failure was the actual and proximate cause of the damages
to the plaintiff. For purposes of this paragraph, an
electric utility shall be deemed to have substantially
complied with the wildfire mitigation plan if the electric
utility attempted in good faith to comply with the plan but
was denied or unreasonably delayed access to a right-of-way
after the electric utility requested access to the
right-of-way to perform vegetation management or fire
mitigation work in accordance with the plan and the denial
or delay was a proximate cause of the damages to the
plaintiff. A denial or delay shall not be deemed a
proximate cause of the damages unless the electric utility
made reasonable efforts to enforce their easement access
rights within a reasonable time;
(ii) The electric utility acted with gross
negligence, malice or criminal intent, and the electric
utility's action was the actual and proximate cause of the
damages to the plaintiff.
(d) The following shall apply in any civil action
filed under subsection (c) of this section that any
plaintiff brings against an electric utility for damages
caused by wildfire:
(i) An action against an electric utility for
damages caused by a wildfire shall be brought not later ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
8
than four (4) years after the date of the ignition of the
wildfire;
(ii) A plaintiff may recover economic losses;
(iii) No plaintiff shall recover noneconomic
damages unless the plaintiff's claim is based on the injury
or death of any person in a wildfire;
(iv) Nothing in this section shall be construed
to limit any defenses that an electric utility may be
entitled to raise in a civil action for damages caused by
wildfire.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to
apply to any action against an electric utility for:
(i) Any act or omission taken by the electric
utility that is not addressed or covered in the electric
utility's wildfire mitigation plan;
(ii) Any act or omission taken by the electric
utility that causes damages or losses not caused or created
by a wildfire.
Section 2. Nothing in this act shall be construed to
impair, alter or preempt any terms or agreements in grants
of easements or the terms in any other agreements between
electric utilities and third parties for the shared use of
facilities.
Section 3. The public service commission may
promulgate any rules necessary to implement this act. ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0192
ENROLLED ACT NO. 58, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
9Section 4.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this
section, this act is effective July 1, 2025.
(b) Sections 3 and 4 of this act are effective
immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a
bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of
the Wyoming Constitution.
(END)
Speaker of the HousePresident of the SenateGovernorTIME APPROVED: _________DATE APPROVED: _________
I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.
Chief Clerk