Murcia fast-tracks law introducing fines of up to €1 million for arsonists and wildfire offences

The proposed changes to Murcia's Emergency and Civil Protection Law would increase the maximum fine from €600,000 to €1 million

After bringing in its Affordable Housing Decree-Law this week, the Murcia regional government is already turning its attention to another major piece of legislation. This time, the focus is on tougher penalties for people who deliberately or carelessly start wildfires.

Regional president Fernando López Miras wants to speed up changes to the Emergency and Civil Protection Law, which would increase fines for arsonists and those whose negligence leads to fires in forests and other natural areas.

Rather than following the longer government legislative process, the Popular Party (PP) plans to introduce the reforms directly through parliament, allowing the proposal to move forward much more quickly. Legal teams are already preparing the draft, which the party hopes to submit to the Regional Assembly before the end of July.

The fast-track approach avoids months of public consultation and reviews by advisory bodies, a process that has slowed other pieces of legislation, including the region's proposed Universities and Science laws. Instead, the PP will ask for the bill to be dealt with under an urgent procedure, similar to the law introducing tougher penalties for assaults on healthcare workers, which passed through parliament in just over two months.

Because the Emergency and Civil Protection Law only came into force in 2023, the government says only a handful of amendments are needed rather than a complete overhaul. Most of the changes relate to the section covering offences and penalties.

One of the biggest proposals is to increase the maximum fine for the most serious offences from €600,000 to €1 million.

The planned reforms would also double the financial penalties across all three offence categories. Fines for minor offences would rise from €3,000 to €6,000, serious offences from €30,000 to €60,000, while the most serious cases could carry penalties of up to €1 million.

The legislation would also broaden the definition of serious and very serious offences to include actions carried out through gross negligence or deliberate behaviour that require emergency and civil protection services to respond.

Another proposed change would allow the authorities to recover the cost of emergency operations from anyone whose deliberate or seriously negligent actions result in public resources being deployed to tackle a wildfire.

The PP hopes to formally submit the bill later this month so it can begin making its way through the Regional Assembly when parliament returns from its summer break in September.

The proposal will first need backing from at least one other political party before moving on to committee scrutiny, where interested organisations can give evidence and amendments can be tabled ahead of a final vote.

Image: 112 Murcia