California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 18

Introduced by Assembly Members Patterson and Gatto

May 27, 2015

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 18—Relative to the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 18, as introduced, Patterson. Federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to support H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in order to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal agencies to conduct the necessary fuels management on national forestlands, while retaining resources to suppress catastrophic wildfires.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, According to the United States Forest Service,
approximately 58 million acres of national forest lands, or one-third
of the entire National Forest System, are in need of restoration due
to the high risk for catastrophic wildfire; and

WHEREAS, California is home to 21 national forests; and

WHEREAS, Over the last three decades, fire season lengths
have increased by 60 to 80 days, and annual acreages burned have
more than doubled to over seven million acres; and

WHEREAS, The United States Forest Service plans to thin less
than 3 percent of its high-risk acreage in the next federal fiscal
year; and

WHEREAS, One percent of the wildfires fought on national
forestlands each year consume up to 30 percent of the annual fire
budget, and the wildland fire management appropriation has tripled
its portion of the United States Forest Service budget from 17
percent to 51 percent from 1995 to 2014, inclusive; and

WHEREAS, Over seven of the last 12 years, the United States
Forest Service and the United States Department of the Interior
have had to divert over $2 billion dollars in funds from other
forestry and land management programs to fund firefighting efforts;
and

WHEREAS, This “fire borrowing” has had adverse effects on
other United States Forest Service projects, with funds being
transferred from other programs that provide necessary hazardous
fuel reduction and vegetation management on national forestlands;
and

WHEREAS, This “fire borrowing,” in 2012, consisted of $440
million dollars being transferred to the fire suppression account
and projects at all levels, including multiple fuel reduction projects
on national forestlands in California, being cancelled or deferred;
and

WHEREAS, It has been shown that post-wildfire rehabilitation
costs can exceed the costs of wildfire suppression by two to 30
times; and

WHEREAS, Frequent, severe wildfires result in great
environmental damage, and the prevention of wildfires is necessary
to decrease the great risk posed to California due to the large
amount of overgrown national forestlands in the state; and

WHEREAS, The Governors of California, Washington, and
Oregon requested the 113th Congress to support common sense
wildfire funding, as embodied in the federal Wildfire Disaster
Funding Acts of 2014, H.R. 3992 and S. 1875, but these pieces of
legislation were not signed into law; and

WHEREAS, Catastrophic wildfires are an ongoing yet
preventable threat to California and its residents, and the inability
of federal agencies to manage national forestlands appropriately
due to funding constraints is a pressing issue that must be addressed
as quickly as possible; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully urges the 114th Congress of the United States to
support H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in
order to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal
agencies to conduct the necessary fuels management on national
forestlands, while retaining resources to suppress truly catastrophic
wildfires; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.