BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2142| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2142 Author: Chesbro (D) Amended: 6/17/14 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 : 73-0, 5/08/14 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Timber harvesting plans: exemptions SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill adds Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Trinity Counties to the AB 744 (Dahle, Chapter 647, Statutes of 2013) pilot program. All of the AB 744 conditions apply to this bill. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Prohibits, under the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, a person from conducting timber operations unless a timber harvesting plan (THP), prepared by a registered professional forester, has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). CONTINUED AB 2142 Page 2 2.Authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from those provisions of the Act, a person engaging in specified forest management activities. 3.Authorizes, for a specified three-year period, an exemption, known as the Forest Fire Prevention Pilot Project Exemption, if certain conditions are met, including, among others, that the activities conducted pursuant to the exemption occur in the Sierra Nevada Region, as defined, in the County of Modoc, Siskiyou, or Trinity, or in any combination of these areas. This bill adds Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Trinity Counties to the AB 744 pilot program. All of the AB 744 conditions apply to this bill. Background Current law assigns forestry regulation and timber harvest regulation to the CDF. Generally, landowners and commercial timber companies are prohibited from conducting timber operations unless a THP or another similar permit has been prepared by a registered professional forester and approved by the CDF. 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. There are also exemptions from the permitting process and one of those exemptions is the Forest Fire Prevention Exemption often referred to as the "La Malfa Exemption" for timber removal that assists in reducing fire risk and that meets various conditions: 1.The harvesting must occur on parcels of 300 acres or less; 2.The harvesting must decrease fuel continuity (both vertically and horizontally); 3.The harvesting must result in making the average diameter of the trees that remain in the stand larger than the average diameter of the trees in the stand prior to the fuel reduction activities; CONTINUED AB 2142 Page 3 4.A registered professional forester must prepare the notice of exemption; 5.The level of residual stocking must be consistent with maximum sustained production of high-quality timber products; 6.The activities must comply with the regulations that protect archaeological sites; and 7.Only trees less than 18 inches in stump diameter, measured at eight inches above ground level, may be removed. However, within 500 feet of a legally permitted structure, or in an area prioritized as a shaded fuel break in a community wildfire protection plan approved by a public fire agency, if the goal of fuel reduction cannot be achieved by removing trees less than 18 inches in stump diameter, trees less than 24 inches in stump diameter may be removed if that removal is necessary to achieve the goal of fuel reduction. Last year, AB 744 established a three-year pilot project in several counties in the Sierra Nevada on lands that are co-terminous with the boundaries of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (with the additions of Modoc, Trinity, and Siskyou Counties) to evaluate if an increase in the diameter of trees that could be removed under the La Malfa exemption as well as new, additional conditions, would improve the economic utility of this exemption in reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire. All activities pursuant to this exemption shall occur within the most recent version of the CDF fire hazard severity zone map in the moderate, high, and very high fire threat zones. That bill expanded the diameter of trees that could be removed from 18 to 24 inches, prohibits the use of clear-cutting, requires that acreage reflect a net increase in the diameter of the remaining trees, and other specified conditions. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/5/14) California Cattlemen's Association CONTINUED AB 2142 Page 4 California Council of Land Trusts California Farm Bureau Federation California Fire Safe Council California Forestry Association County of Humboldt Forest Products Industry Labor Management Committee Humboldt Redwood Company Mendocino Redwood Company Pacific Forest Trust Personal Insurance Federation of California Sonoma Land Trust Trust for Public Lands ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Farm Bureau Federation writes in support, "The Legislature recognized the importance of simplifying forest thinning activities in its passage of AB 744 (Dahle and Gordon) in 2013, which created a pilot project to expand opportunities for forest thinning projects. Unfortunately this bill was limited to the Sierra Nevada region and Modoc, Siskiyou and Trinity counties. Despite this geographic restriction, Farm Bureau supported AB 744 as it provided landowners in that area the ability to expand thinning activities and reduce wildfire threats. Farm Bureau supports the expansion to the North Coast region of the state, which will allow CalFire [CDF] to include a broader area as it develops the pilot project set forth in AB 744 and AB 2142. "Expanding the diameter of trees that can be harvested under the Forest Fire Prevention Exemption will allow greater opportunities to manage our forests in a way that reduces fire risk and protects communities. California cannot stand back and watch it forests burn, we must improve forest management to ensure that our forests are resilient and can be appreciated by future generations." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/8/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, CONTINUED AB 2142 Page 5 Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Mansoor, V. Manuel Pérez, Vacancy RM:nl 8/5/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED