BILL NUMBER: SB 466 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 23, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 2, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 10, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Senator Steinberg
FEBRUARY 21, 2007
An act to amend Section 4554.5 of, and to add Sections 739.5,
4515.5, and 4629 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to forest
resources.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 466, as amended, Steinberg. Forest resources.
(1) Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
This bill would authorize the board, consistent with law and the
policies of the executive branch, to hire professional and
administrative staff to provide scientific, legal, and other services
to the board, either as employees or contractors.
The bill also would state the Legislature's intent that the board'
s budget be proposed and accounted for in a manner separate and
distinguishable from the department's budget.
(2) The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a
person from conducting timber operations unless a timber harvesting
plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been
submitted to the department, and approved. A timber harvesting plan
is generally effective for not more than 3 years, and may be extended
for up to 2 years, if specified requirements are met.
This bill would require the board to convene a working group
consisting of specified members, to consider and recommend to the
board and the Legislature, by January 1, 2009, a proposal that would
authorize a longer-term, watershed-based timber harvesting plan that
is designed to reduce the timber harvesting plan regulatory
compliance costs of landowners and provide more comprehensive
environmental information to regulatory agencies and the public.
(3) The act requires the board to adopt district forest practice
rules and regulations for each forest district in the state, and
other rules and regulations related to forest practices. The act,
except as otherwise specified, requires the board's rules and
regulations to become effective on the next January 1 that is not
less than 30 days from the date of the Office of Administrative Law's
approval of those rules and regulations.
This bill instead would require those rules and regulations to
become effective on the next April 15 or November 15, that is not
less than 30 days from the date of the Office of Administrative Law's
approval of those rules and regulations.
(4) The act regulates the conversion of timberland to uses other
than the growing of timber.
This bill would specify the manner by which the
environmental effects, including climate change effects
, of forestland and a
timberland conversions, conversion
may be mitigated, for purposes of the act and regulations
adopted by the board pursuant to the act. The bill would
authorize require the board to adopt
implementing regulations in consultation with, and with the
approval of, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the
State Air Resources Board . Because a willful violation of
these provisions or of an implementing rule or regulation of the
board would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
(5) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California is a national and international leader in
recognizing the daunting challenges posed by global climate change.
California has responded with the passage of landmark legislation,
executive orders from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the
appropriation of millions of dollars, all of which are designed to
establish a framework that will lead to measurable and enforceable
reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to
global warming.
(b) The initial focus of California's efforts has appropriately
focused on the reduction of emissions within the energy and
transportation sectors of the state economy, and it will be important
to have a similar focus on other sectors that can contribute
emission reductions and provide a means to sequester carbon dioxide
and other greenhouse gases over time. California should implement a
comprehensive approach to global warming.
(c) The Climate Change Action Plan of Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger seeks 8.6 to 9.6 million metric tons in carbon dioxide
emission reductions from the forestry sector by 2010, and nearly 35
million tons in carbon dioxide emission reductions by 2020. The
forested land base in California constitutes 40 percent of the state'
s land and offers a great opportunity for mitigating the
effects of carbon emissions from other sectors of the economy
to reduce and remove carbon dioxide gases from the
atmosphere , as long as these lands are managed for that
purpose.
(d) The Climate Change Action Plan proposes that these important
objectives will be met through a combination of improved forestry
management, forest conservation, urban forestry programs,
reforestation, and fuels management. The Climate Change Action Plan
acknowledges that these efforts will also have the effect of
protecting biodiversity, water quality, and habitat resources.
(e) California currently produces approximately 428 million metric
tons of greenhouse gases, with carbon dioxide constituting
approximately 80 percent of that total. The forestlands of California
could conceivably serve as a carbon reservoir and sequester
approximately 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
However, due to the conversion of these lands and management
decisions that do not emphasize carbon sequestration, scientists are
concerned that the sequestration capability of California's
forestlands is diminishing with a percentage of California's forest
carbon being released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Since European settlement, it is estimated that California has lost
roughly 20 million acres of forestland to other uses.
(f) Nationally, the volume of forestlands has decreased by
one-third and the estimates in California are that from 25,000 acres
to perhaps as many as 60,000 acres of timberland is lost each year to
conversion to nontimber uses. Sonoma County had more timberland
conversion applications in 2005 than in the previous 10 years
combined. In a county ordinance, Sonoma County now requires
applicants for timberland conversions to preserve two acres for each
acre that is converted.
(g) These greenhouse gas reductions are achievable only if the
state improves the management and protection of its forestlands to
emphasize the protection and enhancement of overall forest carbon
stocks, and provides mechanisms, including incentives to landowners,
that will preserve forestlands so that they remain viable for
purposes of the sustainable harvest and regeneration of trees,
fostering the many other public benefits that forests provide.
(h) The conversion of forestland into other uses has environmental
effects that are cognizable under the California Environmental
Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the
Public Resources Code) and regulations of the State Board of Forestry
and Fire Protection. However, the Legislature finds that many
timberland and forestland conversions have not been mitigated fully
as required by these authorities.
(i) The State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection should have
authority to implement this act, and it should have authority to
implement regulations more than once a year, a limitation that exists
in current law.
SEC. 2. Section 739.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
739.5. Consistent with law and the policies of the executive
branch, the board may hire professional and administrative staff to
provide scientific, legal, and other services to the board, either as
employees or contractors.
SEC. 3. Section 4515.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
4515.5. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that an important
regulatory incentive for landowners who own or manage large tracts of
California's forestlands would be created if the compliance costs of
obtaining approval of a timber harvesting plan were reduced.
Expanding the acreage available for harvest through a timber
harvesting plan and extending the legal duration of that timber
harvesting plan would provide a significant economic benefit to those
landowners.
(b) The Legislature further finds and declares that the
environmental analysis and information that would be provided in
support of that timber harvesting plan would provide the department,
the other public trust review agencies of the timber harvesting plan,
and the public with more complete information and a larger context
within which to consider the timber harvesting plan. It is especially
important for the cumulative environmental analysis required by this
chapter and the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13
(commencing with Section 21000)) that the environmental information
about timber harvesting be available on a watershed scale.
(c) (1) The board shall convene a working group that shall
consider and recommend a proposal that would authorize a longer-term,
watershed-based timber harvesting plan that is designed to reduce
the timber harvesting plan regulatory compliance costs of landowners
and provide more comprehensive environmental information to
regulatory agencies and the public.
(2) The working group shall not exceed a total of 13 members, and
shall be comprised of all of the following:
(A) At least one member of the board representing the public.
(B) At least one forest products industry, or range livestock
industry, member of the board.
(C) One representative for each of the departments and boards that
are required to protect public trust resources in their review of
proposed timber harvesting plans.
(D) An equal number of timber landowner or timber industry
representatives and representatives of conservation organizations
experienced with the regulations and purposes of this chapter and the
board.
(3) The proceedings of the working group shall be publicly noticed
and conducted in public as required by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part
1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(4) The working group shall provide a consensus recommendation for
authorizing a longer-term, watershed-based timber harvesting plan to
the board and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2009.
SEC. 4. Section 4554.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
4554.5. (a) Notwithstanding Section 11343.4 of the Government
Code, except as specified in subdivision (b), rules and regulations
adopted or revised pursuant to this chapter shall become effective on
the next April 15 or November 15, that is not less than 30 days from
the date of approval of those rules or regulations by the Office of
Administrative Law.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), if the board adopts emergency
regulations pursuant to Section 4555, and subsequently adopts those
emergency regulations as nonemergency rules or regulations pursuant
to this chapter, the rules or regulations shall become effective 30
days from the date of approval of the rules or regulations by the
Office of Administrative Law.
SEC. 5. Section 4629 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
4629. (a) (1) For purposes of this chapter and the board's
regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, the
environmental effects, including the climate change effects
, of a forestland or
timberland conversion may be mitigated by any
the landowner or the applicant for the conversion, whoever is
appropriate, fully mitigating the emissions from the proposed
conversion by doing one of the following:
(A) The applicant for the conversion providing two acres of
forestland or timberland, either in fee or by conservation easement,
for each acre of forestland or timberland that is proposed to be
converted. The mitigation lands shall be managed for climate benefits
in accordance with the California Climate Action Registry Forestry
Protocols pursuant to a management agreement, and
(A) Providing either in fee or by
conservation easement, sufficient acreage that will be managed
permanently as timberland and that will offset fully the loss of
greenhouse gas sequestration potential as well as any emissions
caused by the proposed timberland conversion. The offsets produced by
the mitigation lands shall be consistent with forest-based
greenhouse gas emission reduction protocols that are developed and
adopted by the State Air Resources Board. A management agreement
shall be entered into for the management of the mitigation lands. The
mitigation lands shall be eligible for timber harvest pursuant
to local ordinances, this chapter, and regulations enacted pursuant
to this chapter. The mitigation lands, to the extent practicable,
shall consist of lands with the same physical characteristics as the
lands proposed for conversion and shall be in the same county as the
lands proposed for conversion.
(B) The applicant for the conversion providing sufficient money
(B) Providing sufficient money to the
Wildlife Conservation Board to purchase sufficient mitigation
lands either in fee or as a conservation easement in the same
quantity and with the same characteristics as identified in
subparagraph (A). The Wildlife Conservation Board shall establish a
separate account to hold financial contributions that are to be
expended pursuant to this section. The purchased mitigation lands
shall be managed and protected for climate benefits in
accordance with the California Climate Action Registry Forestry
Protocols produce measurable reductions of carbon
dioxide pursuant to forest-based greenhouse gas emission reduction
protocols that are developed and adopted by the State Air Resources
Board, and pursuant to a management agreement. The applicant
shall also provide sufficient revenue for the ongoing maintenance of
the purchased mitigation lands. The applicant or the
Wildlife Conservation Board may select a nonprofit organization to
manage and monitor the mitigation lands created by this subdivision
under criteria established by the Wildlife Conservation Board.
(2) The mitigation lands shall be registered, monitored, and
verified pursuant to the forest-based greenhouse gas emission
reduction protocols that are developed and adopted by the State Air
Resources Board.
(2)
(3) A management agreement for the lands provided
pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) or purchased pursuant
to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) shall be completed prior to, or
simultaneously with, the approval of the conversion application. The
landowner or the applicant shall provide sufficient
revenue for the manager of the fee or easement to administer and
monitor the management agreement.
(b) (1) This section neither
expands nor contracts the mitigation obligations that may exist
pursuant to this chapter, the board's regulations, and the California
Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section
21000)).
(2) A county may determine that mitigation pursuant to this
section fully mitigates the proposed timberland or forestland
conversion. Nothing in this section prevents a local government from
prohibiting the conversion of timberlands or forestlands or imposing
stricter mitigation requirements than are authorized pursuant to this
section.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meaning:
(1) "Forestland" means those lands that currently have, or
historically had, 10 percent or more canopy cover of live trees and
that are not currently developed for nonforest use.
(2) "Timberland"
(c) For purposes of this section,
"timberland" has the same meaning as that term is defined by
Section 4526.
(d) When a proposed forestland conversion may be mitigated
pursuant to this section or Section 21083.4, the applicant may elect
one of the two mitigation options, except as otherwise provided
pursuant to subdivision (b).
(e) The board may adopt regulations to implement this section.
(d) The board, in consultation with, and with the approval of, the
department and the State Air Resources Board, shall adopt
regulations to implement this section that are in compliance with
subdivision (d) of Section 42823 of the Health and Safety Code.
SEC. 6. The Legislature intends that the State Board of Forestry
and Fire Protection's budget should be proposed and accounted for in
a manner separate and distinguishable from the budget of the
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
SEC. 7. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.