BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1867| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1867 Author: Patterson (D), et al. Amended: 7/1/14 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/24/14 AYES: Pavley, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Monning, Wolk SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-2, 5/23/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Timber harvest plans: exemption: reducing flammable materials SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill, until January 1, 2018, authorizes the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) to exempt some or all requirements of the Forest Practices Act to allow the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property to reduce flammable materials and create defensible space. This bill extends the exemption that allows vegetation clearing from a radius of 150 feet to 300 feet of habitable structures, although it is technically proposed as a separate exemption. ANALYSIS : Existing law: CONTINUED AB 1867 Page 2 1.Prohibits any person from conducting timber operations unless a Timber Harvest Plan (THP) has been prepared by a registered professional forester and approved by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). (The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency has certified that a THP is the functional equivalent of an environmental impact report under the California Environmental Quality Act.) 2.Requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, brush-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material, to at all times maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side of the structure, but not beyond the property line. 3.Allows a state or local fire official, at his/her discretion, to authorize an owner of property, or his/her agent, to construct a firebreak, or implement appropriate vegetation management techniques, to ensure that defensible space is adequate for the protection of a hospital, adult residential care facility, school, aboveground storage tank, hazardous materials facility, or similar facility on the property. Allows the firebreak to be for a radius of up to 300 feet from the facility, or to the property line, whichever distance is shorter. 4.Creates a THP exemption for defensible space timber operations conducted not more than 150 feet on each side from an approved and legally permitted structure, as specified This bill: 1.Authorizes, until January 1, 2018, the Board to exempt some or all requirements of the Forest Practices Act to allow the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property to reduce flammable materials and create defensible space. 2.Extends the exemption that allows vegetation clearing from a radius of 150 feet to 300 feet of habitable structures, although it is technically proposed as a separate exemption. 3.Provides that for the areas between 150 and 300 feet from the CONTINUED AB 1867 Page 3 habitable structure, the operations meet all of the following provisions: A. The residual stocking standards are consistent with specified regulations, as appropriate. B. Activities within this area will increase the quadratic mean diameter of the stand. C. The residual stand consists primarily of healthy and vigorous dominant and codominant trees from the preharvest stand, well distributed though the harvested area. D. Postharvest slash treatment and stand conditions will lead to more moderate fire behavior in the professional judgment of the registered professional forester who submits the notice of exemption. E. Any additional guidance for slash treatment and postharvest stand conditions and any other issues deemed necessary that are consistent with this section, as established by the Board. 4.Requires CAL FIRE to evaluate the effects of these provisions and to report its recommendations, no later than January 1, 2018, to the Legislature based on that evaluation. Background Fire is an integral part of most California landscapes. Many of our native plants, including trees, are adapted to burn periodically; they need fire to be healthy, reproduce, and survive. Fire suppression activities over the last 100 to 150 years have largely taken fire out of the system, causing far-reaching changes in habitats and forest health. Many of the forest plant communities are not adapted to today's exceedingly hot fires. During these fires many mature trees succumb from top kill while others have their roots killed due to decades of accumulated debris burning down into the root zones. At the same time, growing numbers of people moving into forested areas (the wildland urban interface) increase the risk of fires, place more lives and property in danger, and complicate efforts to restore fire to the ecosystem. CONTINUED AB 1867 Page 4 Defensible space . The vegetation surrounding a building or structure can be fuel for a fire. Even the building or structure itself is considered fuel. Research and experience have shown that fuel reduction around a building or structure increases the probability of it surviving a wildfire. Good defensible space allows firefighters to protect and save buildings or structures safely without facing unacceptable risk to their lives. Various fire programs throughout the state and country teach that fuel reduction through vegetation management is the key to creating good defensible space. State law requires a home owner to at all times maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side of the structure, but not beyond the property line. However, various defensible space-related programs recommend a much larger defensible space area if possible. For example, the Firewise Communities Program (a program co-sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the National Association of State Foresters) provides advice on how to manage defensible space up to 200 feet and recommends an even greater distance depending on the site. Another program worth citing is the Tuolumne County Fire Safe Council (TCFSC). Tuolumne County was seriously affected by the 2013 Rim Fire, which burned 257,314 acres. Certain communities, such as Pine Mountain Lake, were ordered to evacuate the area during the fire. The Pine Mountain Lake Association practices defensible space activities pursuant to recommendations established by the TCFSC. For certain areas, TCFSC recommends more than 150 feet of defensible space. State law currently has a THP exemption to conduct defensible space fuels management up to 150 feet from each side of an approved and legally permitted structure. In this context, the term "structure" is broad: it can be a structure designed for human occupancy, a garage, a barn, a stable, or a structure used to enclose fuel tanks. Under this exemption, clearcutting is prohibited and timber operations shall be limited to cutting or removal of trees that will result in a reduction in the rate of fire spread, fire duration and intensity, fuel ignitability, or ignition of the tree crowns. Additionally, surface fuels (e.g., logging slash and debris, low bush, deadwood) that could promote CONTINUED AB 1867 Page 5 wildfire must be chipped, burned, or otherwise removed from all areas of the timber operations. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/4/14) Associated California Loggers California Association of Realtors California Farm Bureau Federation California Licensed Foresters Association Forest Landowners of California Highway 168 Fire Safe Council Madera County Board of Supervisors Mariposa County Fire Safe Council Personal Insurance Federation of California Rural County Representatives of California Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/4/14) Sierra Club ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors writes: This bill will give the homeowner who resides in the California State Responsibility Area another tool to create defensible space around one's property. Recent studies have reiterated that it is more fiscally responsible to prevent catastrophic forest fires than to fight them. This bill would allow a responsible homeowner to more easily create defensible space and clear timber up to 300 from his or her residence without having to go through the onerous process of developing and filing a timber harvest plan with CalFIRE. The current 150 feet rule should be expanded as is included in AB 1867. Due to the state mandated clearance rules, homeowners are required to clear timber and brush farther from their homes. Non-compliant homeowners are seeing homeowner's insurance policies cancelled and are being cited by CaIFIRE. While CONTINUED AB 1867 Page 6 necessary, enforcement should be preceded by providing options for compliance. It is encouraging to see a common sense bill such as AB 1867 come forth to provide homeowners with another tool to help create the critically important defensible space. The recent Rim Fire in Tuolumne County demonstrated the importance of brush and timber clearance to save residential structures. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Sierra Club California writes: This bill would unnecessarily double the area of space defined as "defensible" and thus exempted from timber harvest plan requirements. Currently, the defensible space around a structure that is allowed for clearing without applying for a timber harvest plan is 150 feet. This bill proposes to double that without any solid reason other than to allow for additional harvest without the benefit of a timber harvest plan so that landowners may raise capital to fund the allowed clearing. The bill provides for no protection of habitat, no clear oversight by experts, and no additional funding for any enforcement agency to ensure that the proposed changes which could ultimately cover millions of acres in the state do not substantially and negatively impact the states wildlife, wildlife corridors, and forests. Last year, the legislature passed AB 744 [Dahle, Chapter 647, Statutes of 2012] over Sierra Club's objection. That bill increased the size of trees allowed to be downed for fire protection without a timber harvest plan. It purported to ensure that landowners could and would actively manage their forests for fire prevention. That bill allowed a 3-year pilot project. It makes no sense to add another layer of timber harvest plan exemption for fire prevention before the pilot for AB 744 has been completed and analyzed. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-2, 5/23/14 AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, CONTINUED AB 1867 Page 7 Hagman, Hall, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Atkins NOES: Stone, Ting NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Dickinson, Eggman, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Lowenthal, V. Manuel Pérez, Skinner, Wieckowski, Yamada, Vacancy RM:k 8/5/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED