BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    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).
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          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; 


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          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

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          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,  

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            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

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