BILL NUMBER: SB 557 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Kuehl
FEBRUARY 20, 2003
An act to add Article 10 (commencing with Section 4629) to Chapter
8 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, relating to
forest practices.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 557, as introduced, Kuehl. Forest practices: timber products
user forest restoration.
Existing law provides for the regulation of forest practices.
This bill would establish a timber products user forest
restoration fee on timber products sold for consumption in
California, as specified. The bill would create the Timber Products
User Forest Restoration Fund in the State Treasury. Moneys in the
fund would be available for appropriation for, among other things,
restoration of the environment and habitat related to the effects of
timber harvesting, protection of forested watersheds, and assistance
to timber industry workers.
This bill would result in a change in state taxes for the purpose
of increasing state revenues within the meaning of Section 3 of
Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require
for passage the approval of 2/3 of the membership of each house of
the Legislature.
Vote: 2/3. 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) Forested lands in California provide significant environmental
benefits, including serving as the source of more than half the
state's supply of drinking water, habitat for numerous wildlife and
plant species, some of which are rare, threatened, or endangered, the
source of raw materials for the timber products industry, and a
source of jobs for those who are employed in that industry.
(b) Regulation of timber harvesting practices, including timber
harvesting plans, nonindustrial timber management plans, exemptions,
and emergency notices has become increasingly complex and expensive,
even given the fact that some reviewing agencies review less than 20
percent of the proposed timber harvesting plans presented to them.
(c) The current budget crisis presents an opportunity to
reevaluate financing of the timber harvesting plan review process
that currently draws approximately twenty-one million dollars
($21,000,000) annually from the General Fund.
(d) It is appropriate to support the timber harvesting plan review
process through user fees.
(e) The economic pressures faced by the timber industry, caused by
globalization and imported timber products, is likely to mean a
protracted period of low prices that have already reduced the margin
of profitability of timber companies and the harvests of private
landowners in California.
(f) Under those conditions, it is inequitable to add twenty
million dollars ($20,000,000) or more in timber harvesting plan
review costs to applicants, many of whom are individual landowners.
If the approximately twenty million ($20,000,000) were evenly divided
among the approximately 1,000 timber harvesting plans applied for
annually, the increase in review costs would be twenty thousand
dollars ($20,000) per timber harvesting plan application, which is
too onerous a burden.
(g) It is fair and equitable to require purchasers of timber
products to contribute to the public cost of reviewing timber
harvesting plan applications and further to contribute to the
watershed and habitat restoration that are vital public trust
resources that will also serve to rehabilitate California's
forestlands, as well as assist in the development of new and creative
techniques to protect those forestlands now and in the future.
(h) It is also fair and equitable that purchasers of timber
products be directly linked to the restoration of the stability of
the lives of workers and working families whose lives have been
disrupted by economic fluctuations within the timber products
industry. Restoring jobs, retraining workers, and providing new
opportunities for workers are legitimate objectives for the use of
funds obtained by a user fee on timber products. It is fair and
equitable that purchasers of timber products recognize that a small
fraction of their timber product purchases will contribute to the
stability of the timber products industry for the benefit of the
entire state.
(i) The Legislature has concluded that a user fee on timber
products is an equitable way to fund watershed and wildlife
restoration projects and economic development projects that are
closely associated with timber harvesting activities in California.
(j) As an alternative to a fee on landowners and industrial
timberland owners, a fee of one cent ($0.01) per board foot of lumber
could generate approximately one hundred million dollars
($100,000,000) per year, based on data from the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection.
(k) According to the department, a typical new house uses about
10,000 board feet of lumber, and thus the fee would amount to about
one hundred dollars ($100) per new home, which is a reasonable and
low fee that will return significant environmental and economic
benefits to the state. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census and
the National Association of Homebuilders, lumber is less than 3
percent of the cost of a new home.
(l) Through cost-share programs, the user fee could fund projects
that do all of the following:
(1) Alleviate erosion and sedimentation problems caused by road
building activities on public and private timberlands, which is the
major source of impairment of those rivers and streams and the major
reason virtually all of the rivers and streams on the North Coast are
listed as impaired pursuant to the Clean Water Act.
(2) Undertake the restoration of wild salmon and steelhead streams
that have been damaged by historical and present day logging
activities.
(3) Develop enhanced protections for forested watersheds that
provide drinking water to millions of Californians.
(4) Assist in the retraining of workers displaced by the economic
transformations within the timber industry and the economic
development activities of rural communities that have been adversely
affected by environmental and economic activities of the timber
industry.
(m) Additionally, the user fee could do all of the following:
(1) Create financial incentives for landowners and timber
companies to harvest timber sustainably.
(2) Pay for conservation easements that would protect sensitive
watersheds, rivers, or streams.
(3) Help defray the costs to landowners of preparing programmatic
timber environmental reports that will ensure adoption of
environmentally sustainable logging activities.
SEC. 2. Article 10 (commencing with Section 4629) is added to
Chapter 8 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, to
read:
Article 10. Timber Products User Forest Restoration
4629. The following definitions apply to this article:
(a) "Board" means the State Board of Equalization.
(b) "Consumer" means a person who purchases for consumption timber
products provided by a timber product supplier.
(c) "Consumption" means the purchase of a timber product by an end
user. An end user includes a person who purchases a timber product
for use in manufacturing, including the manufacturing of
prefabricated rafters, walls, cabinets, or furniture. The term does
not include the storage or use of timber products that will be resold
without incorporation into a manufactured product.
(d) "Fee" means the timber products user forest restoration fee.
(e) "Fund" means the Timber Products User Forest Restoration Fund.
(f) "Person" means an individual, firm, partnership, joint
venture, association, social club, cooperative organization,
fraternal organization, corporation, limited liability company,
limited liability partnership, estate, trust, business trust,
receiver, trustee, syndicate, this state, any county, city, city and
county, municipality, district, public agency, or subdivision of this
state, or any other group or combination acting as a unit.
(g) "Timber product" means a wood product, and all similar
products, described in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) of Section
4629.3, unless specifically excluded from the application of the fee.
(h) "Timber product supplier" means a person that sells timber
products to consumers.
4629.1. The Timber Products User Forest Restoration Fund is
hereby established in the State Treasury. Moneys in the fund may be
appropriated only for the uses set forth in this article.
4629.2. The State Board of Equalization shall collect a user fee
on all the timber products described in Section 4629.3 that are sold
for consumption in California and deposit in the fund all fees that
are collected. The board shall administer the fee imposed pursuant to
this article in accordance with the Fee Collection Procedures Law
(Part 30 (commencing with Section 55001) of Division 2 of the Revenue
and Taxation Code).
4629.3. The fee is imposed on the consumer at the time of the
purchase of a timber product for consumption in this state. The fee
shall be one cent ($0.01) per board foot for products, and all
similar products, listed in subdivision (a). The fee shall be one
cent ($0.01) per square foot for products, and all similar products,
listed in subdivision (b). The fee shall be one cent ($0.01) per
linear foot for products, and all similar products, listed in
subdivision (c). The fee shall be computed on the basis of standard
terminology within the timber products industry to the maximum extent
practicable. A user fee on composite products manufactured from
various wood and nonwood materials shall conform to the appropriate
following subdivision that most closely applies to the product that
is sold:
(a) Solid wood products including, but not limited to, dimension
lumber, posts and beams, boards, laminated beams, edge glued
materials, and timbers.
(b) Veneer-based and sheeting materials, including, but not
limited to, plywood, laminated veneer lumber (LVL),
parallel-laminated veneer (PLV), and composite materials such as
cellulosic fiberboard, hardboard, particleboard, waferboard,
flakeboard, oriented strandboard (OSB), and com-ply.
(c) Poles and pilings, including, but not limited to, posts and
similar products.
4629.4. (a) A timber product supplier shall collect the fee from
a consumer at the time it sells a timber product to the consumer.
The fee required to be collected by the timber product supplier shall
be added to and stated separately in its billing to the consumer.
The fee required to be collected by the timber product supplier, and
any amount unreturned to the consumer which is not a fee, but was
collected from the consumer as representing a fee, constitute debts
owed by the timber product supplier to the state.
(b) The timber product supplier shall collect the fee from a
consumer at the time of sale and may retain ____ percent of the fee
as reimbursement for any costs associated with the collection of the
fee. A timber product supplier shall remit the remainder to the
state on a quarterly schedule for deposit in the fund.
(c) A consumer in this state is liable for the fee until it has
been paid to the state, except that payment to a timber product
supplier that is registered with the board pursuant to Section 55021
of the Revenue and Taxation Code is sufficient to relieve the user
from further liability.
(d) The fee is due and payable to the board monthly on or before
the 25th day of the calendar month following the monthly period for
which the fee is due. A feepayer pursuant to subdivision (b), on or
before the 25th day of the month following each monthly period, shall
make out a return for the preceding monthly period, in the form
prescribed by the board.
(d) All fees imposed shall be paid in the form of remittances
payable to the State Board of Equalization. The board shall transmit
the payment to the fund.
4629.5. Money in the fund shall, when appropriated by the
Legislature, be spent solely for the following purposes:
(a) To pay for refunds pursuant to Part 30 (commencing with
Section 55001) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
(b) To pay administrative costs of the board for collecting,
auditing, and making refunds associated with the fund, not to exceed
3 percent of the fund per fiscal year.
(c) To assume in its entirety the existing General Fund
appropriations as they existed on December 31, 2002, for the
administration and review of all operations of all departments,
boards, and commissions that review timber harvesting undertaken
pursuant to this chapter, or pursuant to any regulations of the
department. The reviewing boards, commissions, and departments are
the department, the Department of Fish and Game, the Department of
Conservation, the California Coastal Commission, and the regional
water quality control boards. This act may not affect the personnel
practices of, the status of any employees of, or the compensation or
benefits of any current or future employees of, any reviewing board,
commission, or department.
(d) To provide increases above the former General Fund
appropriations for the maintenance of existing operations of the
reviewing agencies described in subdivision (c), and to provide
increases that result in programmatic improvements to the operations
of the reviewing agencies, or for any other appropriate increases.
(e) To provide necessary additional support to the reviewing
agencies described in subdivision (c), in order to comply with
changes in statutory law passed by the Legislature and approved by
the Governor or to comply with regulations that are adopted by any of
the reviewing agencies.
(f) Create within the department, a cost share program with a
minimum contribution of matching funds of 20 percent from any project
that is funded. By rule and regulation, the department may
determine the minimum contribution for all eligible projects.
Eligible projects include all of the following:
(1) Decommissioning roads on timberlands, so that the risk of
sedimentation into rivers and streams is minimized and protections to
wildlife and watersheds are enhanced.
(2) Maintaining roads through timberlands, including those owned
by public agencies, so that the risk of sedimentation into rivers and
streams is minimized and protections to wildlife and watersheds are
enhanced.
(3) Restoring wildlife habitat and providing watershed restoration
grants to public agencies, watershed groups, and landowners who
agree to undertake projects that protect water supplies, endangered
and threatened species, or other environmental benefits that are
undertaken in compliance with the state endangered species act and
the California Environmental Quality Act, if appropriate.
(4) Creating opportunities for cross-training among reviewing
agencies described in subdivision (c) in order to educate these
agencies about the responsibilities, perspectives, and analytical
issues faced by the other reviewing agencies.
(5) Expanding timber harvesting plan reviews by the reviewing
agencies described in subdivision (c) and increasing inspections of
ongoing timber harvesting plans to ensure compliance.
(6) Purchasing fee title, conservation easements, or other
interests in land from willing sellers who agree, if less than fee
title is purchased, that future timber harvesting activities will be
conducted in a sustainable method certified by the Forest Stewardship
Council. The purchase of conservation easements or fee title from
willing sellers shall initially prioritize lands near watercourses in
order to minimize the future risk of sedimentation into rivers and
streams or to restore endangered species, especially wild salmon and
steelhead.
(7) In conjunction with other appropriate state agencies,
establishing a worker retraining program and developing other
economic opportunities for timber workers who have been displaced by
changes in the industry, including downsizing, consolidation, and the
closing of mills in California.
(8) At the request of the State Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection, hiring professional policy staff for the State Board of
Forestry and Fire Protection.
(9) Undertaking a public education effort with forestland owners
that recommends future timber harvests be conducted pursuant to a
programmatic timber environmental impact report (PTEIR) or pursuant
to the sustainability standards of the Forest Stewardship Council,
and providing an incentive of half the cost a PTEIR for landowners
who voluntarily agree to develop a PTEIR on or before January 1,
2005. The Secretary of the Resources Agency shall first certify that
the regulations establishing the PTEIR process meet the requirements
for a certified regulatory program under Section 21080.5. In the
event that certification does not occur during the 2004 calendar
year, the incentive to landowners shall be extended one day for every
day after January 1, 2005, until the certification is completed and
any necessary changes, if any, to the PTEIR process that are
recommended by the Secretary of the Resources Agency are implemented.
(10) Studying other efforts to reduce regulatory costs to the
state and to forested landowners that are consistent with the
principles of the Forest Stewardship Council.
4629.6. After all appropriate expenditures under Section 4629.5
have been appropriated, any moneys remaining in the fund may be used
for any project eligible under subdivision (f) of Section 4629.5.
The director may waive the requirement of cost-share funds contained
in subdivision (f) of Section 4629.5 for projects of extraordinary
importance that are consistent with the purposes of this chapter.
Any remaining moneys may also be used for projects that fund public
education activities, including, but not limited to, grants for
natural resource education, natural resource research, watershed
studies, botanical studies, and wildlife surveys. The department, in
conjunction with the Secretary of the Resources Agency, shall
develop protocols for eligible projects and applications for these
funds on or before January 1, 2005, and the fund shall reimburse the
agency and department costs for developing the protocols.
4629.7. (a) The fund shall reimburse the costs to the department
and the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to create a
broad-based stakeholder group that shall do all of the following:
(1) Explore the suitable reuse and conversion of closed mills and
other timber industry facilities in California to productive uses.
(2) Recommend the most efficient way to develop new milling and
processing capacity in California that is certifiable by the Forest
Stewardship Council.
(3) Make recommendations that will develop and maintain more
"value-added" timber processing and manufacturing facilities in
California to benefit the economic status of rural communities and
workers.
(b) The stakeholder group shall be comprised of an equal number of
representatives from the timber industry, including labor
organizations that have collective bargaining agreements with the
timber industry, landowners, and conservation groups with an
expertise in statewide or regional forestry policies. All relevant
state and federal agencies shall be invited to participate in this
stakeholder process as ex officio participants. The members shall be
appointed jointly by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection
and the director.
(c) The initial report of the stakeholder group shall be submitted
to the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly on
January 1, 2005. A followup report shall be submitted two years
later, at which point the stakeholder group shall cease to exist
unless it is reauthorized by the Legislature.