California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1345

Introduced by Assembly Member Dahle

February 27, 2015

An act to amend Section 39719 of, and to add Section 38552 to, the Health and Safety Code, and to add Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 4495) to Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, relating to wildfires, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1345, as introduced, Dahle. California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: wildfires.

Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to implement various fire prevention programs in the state and to provide fire suppression service in the event of wildfires in forest resources and timberlands.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation.

This bill would require the state board, in consultation with the department, no later than January 1, 2017, to estimate the annual greenhouse gas emissions associated with wildfires in California between the years 1990 and 2015, inclusive. The bill would require the state board to develop, no later than January 1, 2017, an emissions baseline for wildfires by calculating the average of the annual greenhouse gas emissions associated with wildfires between the years 1990 and 2015, inclusive. The bill would require the state board and the department to annually approximate, no later than July 1, 2017, and every year thereafter, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with wildfires during the prior calendar year.

This bill, beginning with the 2016-17 fiscal year, would continuously appropriate $100,000,000 to the department from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for specified activities that have the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by preventing the incidence of and reducing the intensity of catastrophic wildfires.

This bill would require the department, no later than July 1, 2017, after one or more specified public workshops, to develop and begin implementation of strategies to reduce by 2035 the preceding 5-year average of greenhouse gas emissions associated with wildfires by 20 percent below the greenhouse gas emissions baseline described above.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) For millennia, fire has shaped and renewed the ecosystems
of California’s forestlands. Some of these fires were naturally
ignited by lightning, but fire was also an important tool for Native
Americans.

(b) For more than a century, states and the federal government
have focused on fire suppression. This has resulted in unnaturally
high fuel accumulations. Forests that may have normally hosted
50 to 60 trees per acre can now average 350 trees per acre or more.
These forest conditions, often combined with prolonged periods
of drought, substantially increase the risk of catastrophic wildfire
and complicate response efforts.

(c) Historically, fire regimes were frequent, as often as every 3
to 10 years, but burned with far less intensity. Unlike modern
catastrophic wildfires, historic forest fires largely burned surface
fuels and scattered small groups of trees. In contrast, today’s forest
fires often devastate wide swaths of forest, threaten and damage
buildings and life, destroy habitat, kill wildlife, and cause severe
erosion.

(d) California is expected to see more large fires in the future,
which will result in increased greenhouse gas emissions. Some
studies suggest that forest-fire-related greenhouse gas emissions
could increase by more than 50 percent in the next 70 years.

(e) The 2013 Rim Fire burned over 250,000 acres over 69 days
and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and
environmental damage; destroyed significant habitat for a number
of California’s rarest animals; and demanded more than $125
million in firefighting costs. It is estimated that the Rim Fire
released over 11 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, which
is equivalent to the annual emissions of 2.3 million cars. Experts
have attributed the fire’s exponential growth to a century’s worth
of fuel left behind due to historical fire suppression policies.

(f) The 2007 Angora Fire resulted in roughly 143,000 tons of
greenhouse gas emissions, or approximately 46.2 tons per acre.
Studies indicate that those emissions could have been lowered to
12 tons per acre if the tree density was reduced from approximately
273 trees per acre to the natural 60 trees per acre level.

(g) To avoid these greenhouse gas emissions, we must focus
our efforts on reducing the risk and intensity of catastrophic
wildfires.

SEC. 2.  

Section 38552 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:

38552.  

(a) No later than January 1, 2017, the state board, in
consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
shall estimate the annual greenhouse gas emissions associated with
wildfires in California between the years 1990 and 2015, inclusive.
To ensure the most accurate determination feasible, the state board
shall evaluate the best available information on greenhouse gas
emissions associated with wildfires.

(b) No later than January 1, 2017, the state board shall develop
an emissions baseline for wildfires by calculating the average of
the annual greenhouse gas emissions associated with wildfires
between the years 1990 and 2015, inclusive.

(c) No later than July 1, 2017, and every year thereafter, the
state board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
shall annually approximate the greenhouse gas emissions associated
with wildfires during the prior calendar year.

(d) In performing the requirements pursuant to this section, the
state board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
shall consider and separately quantify emissions associated with
fires originating on federally managed lands and evaluate whether
those emissions were exacerbated by management activities utilized
on those lands.

SEC. 3.  

Section 39719 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:

39719.  

(a) The Legislature shall appropriate the annual
proceeds of the fund for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions in this state in accordance with the requirements of
Section 39712.

(b) To carry out a portion of the requirements of subdivision
(a), annual proceeds are continuously appropriated for the
following:

(1) Beginning in the 2015-16 fiscal year, and notwithstanding
Section 13340 of the Government Code, 35 percent of annual
proceeds are continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal
years, for transit, affordable housing, and sustainable communities
programs as following:

(A) Ten percent of the annual proceeds of the fund is hereby
continuously appropriated to the Transportation Agency for the
Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program created by Part 2
(commencing with Section 75220) of Division 44 of the Public
Resources Code.

(B) Five percent of the annual proceeds of the fund is hereby
continuously appropriated to the Low Carbon Transit Operations
Program created by Part 3 (commencing with Section 75230) of
Division 44 of the Public Resources Code. begin delete Funds end delete begin insert Moneys end insert shall be
allocated by the Controller, according to requirements of the
program, and pursuant to the distribution formula in subdivision
(b) or (c) of Section 99312 of, and Sections 99313 and 99314 of,
the Public Utilities Code.

(C) Twenty percent of the annual proceeds of the fund is hereby
continuously appropriated to the Strategic Growth Council for the
Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program created
by Part 1 (commencing with Section 75200) of Division 44 of the
Public Resources Code. Of the amount appropriated in this
subparagraph, no less than 10 percent of the annual begin delete proceeds, end delete
begin insert proceeds end insert shall be expended for affordable housing, consistent with
the provisions of that program.

(2) Beginning in the 2015-16 fiscal year, notwithstanding
Section 13340 of the Government Code, 25 percent of the annual
proceeds of the fund is hereby continuously appropriated to the
High-Speed Rail Authority for the following components of the
initial operating segment and Phase I Blended System as described
in the 2012 business plan adopted pursuant to Section 185033 of
the Public Utilities Code:

(A) Acquisition and construction costs of the project.

(B) Environmental review and design costs of the project.

(C) Other capital costs of the project.

(D) Repayment of any loans made to the authority to fund the
project.

begin insert

(3) Beginning with the 2016-17 fiscal year and notwithstanding
Section 13340 of the Government Code, one hundred million
dollars ($100,000,000) is hereby continuously appropriated to the
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection from the fund, for the
purposes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by preventing the
incidence and reducing the intensity of catastrophic wildfires, by
any of the following methods:

end insert begin insert

(A) Vegetation management and brush clearance.

end insert begin insert

(B) Biomass energy incentives.

end insert begin insert

(C) Incentives for private actions to reduce the risk or intensity
of wildfires or improve the resiliency of those lands.

end insert begin insert

(D) Reforestation of lands that have previously been burned in
a catastrophic wildfire.

end insert

(c) In determining the amount of annual proceeds of the fund
for purposes of the calculation in subdivision (b), the begin delete funds end delete begin insert moneys end insert
subject to Section 39719.1 shall not be included.

SEC. 4.  

Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 4495) is added
to Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

 

Chapter  7.5. Wildfires and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

 

4495.  

(a) No later than July 1, 2017, the department shall, after
one or more public workshops, with public notice, and an
opportunity for all interested parties to comment, develop and
begin implementation of strategies to reduce by 2035 the preceding
five-year average of greenhouse gas emissions associated with
wildfires by 20 percent below the greenhouse gas emissions
baseline established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 38552
of the Health and Safety Code.

(b) The strategies developed and implemented pursuant to
subdivision (a) may include, but are not limited to, any of the
following:

(1) Vegetation management and brush clearance.

 

(2) Biomass energy incentives.

(3) Incentives for private actions to reduce the risk or intensity
of wildfires or improve the resiliency of those lands.

(4) Reforestation of lands that have previously been burned in
a catastrophic wildfire.

(5) Agreements between the federal government and the
department to undertake identified strategies.