BILL NUMBER: AB 2993 CHAPTERED 09/16/02 CHAPTER 596 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 16, 2002 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 15, 2002 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 22, 2002 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 19, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 7, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 6, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2002 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Firebaugh (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Cardoza) MARCH 4, 2002 An act to add Section 4123 to the Public Resources Code, relating to wildfires. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2993, Firebaugh. Urban wildland interface communities: prefire activities. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to make and enforce regulations that are necessary and proper for the organization, maintenance, government, and direction of the fire protective system for the prevention and suppression of forest fires. This bill would require the board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, jointly, to establish a working group consisting of representatives of state or local government, or both, industries and environmental groups with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy, and representatives with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy from sectors of the public that are not otherwise represented in the working group. The bill would require the working group to identify potential incentives for landowners to implement prefire activities in state responsibility areas and urban wildland interface communities, as defined, and to identify all federal, state, or local programs, private programs, or any other programs requiring a cost share that involves prefire activities, as defined. The bill would require the department to report the findings of the working group to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2004, and would require the department to include in that report any recommendations identified by the working group to provide potential incentives for consideration by the Legislature. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) Federal and state resource agencies have identified more than 740 communities as urban wildland interface communities in the vicinity of federal lands that are at a high risk from wildfire. (2) Catastrophic wildfires are not only a danger to property and personal safety, but also to the environment. (3) Wildfires can negatively affect air quality, causing and contributing to severe health problems, including eye and lung irritation, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses. (4) The state should promote greater utilization of existing hazardous fuel reduction programs and grant funds available to the general public. (5) The state should promote practices by forest landowners that reduce risk of catastrophic wildfires in urban interface areas. (6) The state should encourage and support the development of strategies and solutions for reducing the risk of wildfire for communities that have been identified at risk by the Fire and Resource Assessment Program of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage wildfire protection activities that reduce the risks of fire to citizens and firefighters. (c) It is also the intent of the Legislature to reduce total wildfire costs and losses while increasing firefighter and public safety. SEC. 2. Section 4123 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 4123. (a) The director of the department shall establish a working group that consists of the following members: (1) Four representatives from either state or local government, or both. (2) Three representatives of industries with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy. (3) Three representatives of environmental groups with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy. (4) Two representatives with experience in state forestry and fire suppression policy from sectors of the public that are not otherwise represented in the working group. (b) The working group established pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following: (1) Identify potential incentives for landowners to implement prefire activities in state responsibility areas and urban wildland interface communities. (2) Identify all federal, state, or local programs, private programs, and any other programs requiring a cost-share that involves prefire activities. (c) The department shall report the findings of the working group to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2004. The department shall include in the report any recommendations identified by the working group to provide potential incentives for consideration by the Legislature. (d) For the purposes of this section, the following terms mean: (1) "Prefire activities" means those lawful activities that reduce the risk of wildfire, including precommercial thinning, selective harvesting, shaded fuel breaks, brush treatments, grazing, and prescribed burns. (2) "Urban wildland interface community" means an area that is identified by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of the Interior as an urban wildland interface community at high risk from wildfire and listed in the "List of fire threatened communities in California, Appendix A," issued by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.