BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1414| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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Author DIGEST : This bill amends the Zberg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 to make technical changes and to repeal outdated provisions that have no significance on current forest resource management.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 CONTINUED AB 1414 Page 2 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 This bill makes technical changes and repeals outdated provisions in the Act regarding cutover land, district technical advisory committees, and grandfather clauses related to stocking requirements.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. CONTINUED AB 1414 Page 3 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 **** END **** CONTINUED