BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 1414|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1414
          Author:   Assembly Natural Resources Committee
          Amended:  As introduced
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 6/14/11
          AYES:  Pavley, La Malfa, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Kehoe, 
            Padilla, Simitian, Wolk
           
          SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8
           
          ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  70-0, 5/12/11 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Forestry:  timber harvesting

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill amends the Zberg-Nejedly Forest 
          Practice Act of 1973 to make technical changes and to 
          repeal outdated provisions that have no significance on 
          current forest resource management.

           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law:

          1. Creates the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act (Act) to 
             encourage prudent and responsible forest resource 
             management calculated to serve the public's need for 
             timber and other forest products, while giving 
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             consideration to the public's need for watershed 
             protection, fisheries and wildlife, sequestration of 
             carbon dioxide, and recreational opportunities. 

          2. Defines "cutover land" as land that has borne a crop of 
             commercial timber from which at least 70 percent of the 
             merchantable original growth timber stand has been 
             removed by logging or destroyed by fire, insects, or 
             tree diseases and that is now supporting, or capable of 
             growing, a crop of commercial timber or other forest 
             products, and that has not been converted to other 
             commercial or agricultural use. 

          3. Requires the Board of Forestry (BOF) to divide the state 
             into at least three districts and creates district 
             technical advisory committees to advise the BOF in the 
             establishment of district forest practice rules for each 
             district. 

          4. Establishes minimum acceptable stocking requirements to 
             ensure that timberlands are occupied by well-distributed 
             countable trees.  Establishes a "grandfather clause" 
             regarding stocking requirements for timberlands that 
             were harvested prior to the adoption of stocking 
             standards in the 1970s. 

          This bill makes technical changes and repeals outdated 
          provisions in the Act regarding cutover land, district 
          technical advisory committees, and grandfather clauses 
          related to stocking requirements.

           Comment
           
          When the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act was enacted in 
          1973, standing timber volume was taxed "ad valorem."  To 
          avoid annual county property taxes on standing timber, 
          landowners could harvest 70 percent of their land 
          prematurely to create a cutover land.  In 1976, the 
          Legislature replaced the property tax on standing timber 
          with a state timber yield tax.  The timber yield tax is a 
          tax on the value of harvested timber.  As such, the cutover 
          land provisions in the Act no longer have legal 
          significance.


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           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  6/27/11)

          California Licensed Foresters Association

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    The California Licensed Foresters 
          Association claims that this bill is a "good government" 
          bill that streamlines the Act by eliminating hundreds of 
          unnecessary words from the Public Resources Code.


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  70-0, 5/12/11
          AYES:  Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill 
            Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, 
            Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, 
            Carter, Chesbro, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, 
            Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, 
            Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, 
            Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, 
            Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, 
            Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, 
            Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, 
            Swanson, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, 
            John A. Pérez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Alejo, Cedillo, Conway, Garrick, Gorell, 
            Roger Hernández, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mitchell, Portantino, 
            Torres


          CTW:kc  9/7/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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