The next time the Washington National Guard gets called to help fight wildfires in the state they will get a raise.
Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill into law Friday morning allowing guardsmen to get $12 per hour, the state's minimum wage.
For the last 30 years, they received a military salary based on a formula involving the federal minimum wage, which paid them almost $11 an hour last year.
The Washington National Guard hopes the change will keep guardsmen in border communities from joining the national guard in states like Oregon and Idaho where the pay is higher.
Calling up the national guard for fires in Washington used to be a rarity, but they have been sent to wildfires every summer since 2014.
The bill to raise wages for guardsmen was one of more than 30 signed into law Friday. Other new bills signed into law included one to make lessons about the Holocaust mandatory for middle and high school students and one eliminating the statute of limitations for sex crimes involving kids.