BILL NUMBER: AB 2146	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Patterson
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow, Brough, and Olsen)

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2016

   An act to add Section 4599 to the Public Resources Code, relating
to forestry and fire protection.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2146, as introduced, Patterson. Forestry and fire protection:
greenhouse gas emissions.
   Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire
Prevention to implement various fire prevention programs intended to
protect forest resources and prevent uncontrollable wildfires. The
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires that all
moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air
Resources 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 by the
Legislature, for greenhouse gas emissions reduction activities.
   This bill would provide that $200,000,000 from the fund shall be
made available annually, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act,
to the department for activities that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in the state caused by uncontrolled forest fires.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. 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) California continues to experience catastrophic wildfires of a
magnitude previously unknown. Unlike traditional regenerative forest
fires, modern forest fires are extremely destructive with
devastating economic and environmental consequences, including loss
of life and property destruction, job losses, erosion, downstream
drinking water quality degradation, proliferation of nonnative and
invasive species, nonnative species choking out reemerging native
vegetation, soil sterilization, ecosystem destruction, and tremendous
amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
   (b) While the state focuses its climate change efforts on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources, it is turning a
blind eye to the equally significant greenhouse gas and short-lived
climate pollutant emissions resulting from forest fires.
   (c) The 2015 calendar year brought disastrous fires of high
intensity, including the Rough Fire, which burned over 150,000 acres
over a two-months period, injuring 12 people; the 2015 Valley Fire,
which caused four civilian casualties, four injured firefighters,
over 1,000 destroyed homes, 27 destroyed multifamily structures, and
over 600 other structures destroyed, prompting the declaration of a
major disaster from the President of the United States; and the Butte
Fire that continued for over a month, resulting in two deaths and
destroying 475 homes and over 350 other structures.
   (d) 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 species; and demanded more than $125 million in firefighting
resources. 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 and practices.
   (e) 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 were reduced from approximately 273
trees per acre to the natural 60 trees per acre level.
  SEC. 2.  Section 4599 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
   4599.  The sum of two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) from
the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section
16428.8 of the Government Code, shall be made available annually to
the department, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, for
activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state caused
by uncontrolled forest fires, including, but not limited to,
vegetation management, forest overgrowth reduction, and measures to
ensure that future fires are more consistent with the historic
regenerative fire regime.