BILL NUMBER: AB 1300 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fletcher
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add and repeal Chapter 3.1
(commencing with Section 4310) of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public
Resources Code, relating to fire protection.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1300, as amended, Fletcher. Fire protection:
vegetation management: pilot program. fuels reduction
grant program.
Existing law creates the Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection within the Natural Resources Agency, and the department is
responsible for fire protection, fire prevention, maintenance, and
enhancement of the state's forest, range, and brushland resources,
contract fire protection, associated emergency services, and
assistance in civil disasters and other nonfire emergencies.
This bill would require the department to establish and implement
a vegetation management pilot program until January 1, 2013. The bill
would require the department to choose up to 10 applicant
communities based upon specified criteria and provide to those
communities incentives for fire prevention vegetation management
projects by paying up to $20 per ton, as specified, for bone dry
vegetation removed from the pilot program communities during fire
prevention projects. The bill would require the department to seek
funding from specified sources, as available for fire prevention
projects, and would limit the department's administrative costs for
selecting projects and preparing a report that would be submitted to
the Legislature to no more than 15% of the grant amount for each
project selected.
This bill would authorize the department to develop and implement
a fuels reduction program that provides competitive grants or other
financial incentives to communities located in the wildland-urban
interface or very high fire hazard severity zones to conduct fuels
reduction efforts that minimize the risk or decrease the intensity of
a wildfire in or around a community. Cities, counties, districts,
and nonprofit organizations would be authorized to receive the
grants. The bill would require the department to develop criteria for
the review and approval of grant applications, that may include the
establishment of cost sharing requirements and appropriate oversight
and reporting requirements.
This bill would require that an eligible community meet certain
specified criteria and put limitations on the size of trees that
could be removed and prohibit those trees from being made into logs
of lumber. The bill would require the department to seek funding from
specified sources, not including the General Fund, that the program
funding used by the department for reasonable and necessary
administrative expenses not exceed 5% of the funding source, that the
department report to the Legislature yearly, and post the report on
its Internet Web site.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 3.1 (commencing with Section
4310) is added to Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public
Resources Code , to read:
CHAPTER 3.1. FUELS REDUCTION GRANT PROGRAM
4310. (a) (1) The department may develop and implement a fuels
reduction program that provides competitive grants or other financial
incentives to communities located in the wildland-urban interface or
very high fire hazard severity zones, as defined in Section 51177 of
the Government Code, to conduct fuels reduction efforts that
minimize the risk or decrease the intensity of a wildfire in or
around a community.
(2) Wildfire risk may include those posed by insect pests or plant
diseases injurious to timber, or forest growth.
(3) The department may structure a grant or offer additional
incentives to offset the costs of transporting fuels to a biomass
energy facility.
(b) (1) Grants may be made to cities, counties, districts, and
nonprofit organizations. The department shall develop criteria for
the review and approval of grant applications that may include the
establishment of cost sharing requirements and appropriate oversight
and reporting requirements.
(2) The department may waive or reduce the cost sharing
requirements for projects that directly benefit or occur in a
disadvantaged community or if the funding source prohibits a cost
sharing requirement. The cost sharing requirement may be provided in
the form of cash, in-kind services or materials, or any combination
of those, as determined by the department.
(c) To the extent applicable, the department may use or rely on
guidelines, funding criteria, fuels reduction or treatment area
priorities, assets at-risk designations, or other elements of similar
fuels reduction or vegetation management programs pursuant to, for
example Article 2 (commencing with Section 4475) of Chapter 7 or
Chapter 1.696 (commencing with Section 5096.600) of Division 5, when
developing a fuels reduction grant program.
(d) An eligible community shall meet all of the following criteria
and any other criteria the department deems appropriate.
(1) Be a wildland-urban interface community at high risk of
wildfire, as defined on page 752 et seq. of Number 3 of Volume 66
(January 4, 2001) of the Federal Register, as amended. Also, for
purposes of this paragraph, "wildland-urban interface community at
high risk of wildfire" means an area having one or more structures
for every five acres.
(2) Be designated as a "Firewise" community or have a community
wildfire protection plan approved by the department.
(3) Have a plan approved by the department or State Fire Marshal
to reach full compliance with defensible space requirements pursuant
to Section 4290.
(4) Partner with a community-based nonprofit organization that has
among its primary objectives wildfire prevention, planning, or
education.
(e) A grant that funds the removal of trees less than 16 inches in
diameter at breast height from a firebreak or fuel break shall meet
the requirements specified in subdivision (b) of Section 4527. Trees
that are removed shall not be processed into logs or lumber.
(f) (1) The department shall seek funding for the fuels reduction
grant program from new state, federal, or private funds dedicated to
fire prevention efforts, to the extent the funds are available for
those efforts.
(2) The program shall not be funded through the General Fund.
(g) Funds received for the program may be used to cover reasonable
and necessary administrative expenses of the department but shall
not exceed 5 percent of the funding source.
(h) (1) If the department develops and implements a fuels
reduction grant program, it shall report to the Legislature no later
than 12 months after the program's initiation, and every 12 months
thereafter, including a summary of the amount of grants awarded,
grant recipients, funding sources, program accomplishments and
effectiveness, and any legislative or other recommendations.
(2) The department shall post this report and other program
materials, as appropriate, in a conspicuous location on its Internet
Web site.
SECTION 1. Chapter 3.1 (commencing with Section
4310) is added to Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code,
to read:
CHAPTER 3.1. VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PILOT PROGRAM
4310. The goals of the vegetation management pilot program
established pursuant to this chapter are as follows:
(a) To provide incentives for fire prevention in and around
communities by making the material removed during vegetation
management projects for fire prevention worth more to biomass
facilities, thereby offsetting more of the cost of doing the work.
(b) To determine if a small incentive payment on the final
disposition of the vegetation materials would statistically increase
the amount of fire prevention vegetation management work done.
4311. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the department shall
establish a vegetation management pilot program to provide incentives
for fire prevention vegetation management projects in selected
communities by paying up to twenty dollars ($20) per ton for bone dry
vegetation removed from the pilot program communities during fire
prevention projects and accepted by a biomass energy facility. The
fee shall be paid pursuant to the following considerations:
(1) Fifteen dollars ($15) per bone dry ton for communities that
are located up to 20 miles away from a biomass energy facility.
(2) Eighteen dollars ($18) per bone dry ton for communities that
are located 20 to 30, inclusive, miles away from a biomass energy
facility.
(3) Twenty dollars ($20) per bone dry ton for communities that are
located more than 30 miles away from a biomass energy facility.
(b) The department shall take any action necessary, in its best
discretion, to implement the pilot program.
(c) The community taking part in the pilot program shall work with
a biomass energy facility to dispose of the vegetation materials
collected, including transportation of the materials.
(d) The department, in its best judgment when reviewing the
applications and based upon the funding available for the term
necessary to complete the projects in each community selected, shall
choose up to 10 applying communities for inclusion in the pilot
program. All of the following criteria shall be used in the selection
process:
(1) The community is a Firewise community, has a community
wildfire protection plan approved by a public fire agency, or can
otherwise show a concerted and dedicated effort towards wildfire
prevention.
(2) The community has a written plan in place to reach full
compliance with existing defensible space requirements.
(3) The community has made significant strides towards reaching
compliance with existing defensible space requirements and has
"buy-in" from the local firefighting agency.
(4) The community has significant wildland urban interface areas.
(5) The vegetation in the community poses a high hazard,
including, but not limited to, chaparral or forested areas.
(6) The community has a local Fire Safe Council or other entity in
place that is willing and able to organize the actual project work
and manage the funding that comes through the pilot program.
(7) The department may also use other criteria it deems
appropriate to choose between two otherwise similarly eligible
communities after considering all of the requirements set forth in
paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive.
(8) The department shall consider choosing communities for the
pilot program that are geographically widespread throughout the
state, but only after considering all of the requirements set forth
in paragraphs (1) to (7), inclusive.
4312. (a) The department shall seek funding for the pilot program
from new state, federal, or private funds dedicated to fire
prevention efforts, to the extent the funds are available for those
efforts.
(b) The pilot program projects shall not be funded through the
General Fund.
4313. The department shall report to the Legislature, no later
than six months after the completion of the final project of the
program, regarding the effectiveness of the program and whether its
goals were met.
4314. The department's administrative costs for selecting
projects and preparing the report required under Section 4313 shall
not exceed more than 15 percent of the grant amount for each project
selected. The department may choose to waive its administrative costs
in order to fund more fire prevention projects.
4315. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2013, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends
that date.