BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1504 (Skinner)
Hearing Date: 08/02/2010 Amended: 08/02/2010
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy Policy Vote: NR&W 5-3, EQ 5-2
AB 1504 (Skinner), Page 2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1504 requires the Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection to ensure that its rules and regulations for
harvesting timber consider the capacity of forest resources to
sequester carbon dioxide sufficient to meet or exceed the
state's emission reduction goals for the forestry sector under
AB 32.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Review of existing regulations $800 to $1,000 General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Under current law, the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection is
required to develop rules and regulations for the harvesting of
timber. The rules and regulations shall ensure the continuing
harvest of timber while protecting soil, air, fish, wildlife,
and water resources. In order to commercially harvest timber in
the state, a landowner must file a timber harvest plan (THP)
with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The THP
governs the timber harvest and specifies harvest methods and
protections that will be put in place to protect public
resources, such as fish and water quality. Under law, the THP
process is functionally equivalent to the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process. Therefore, a THP must
address all the issues that would be addressed under CEQA.
Recently revised CEQA guidelines require the analysis of carbon
emissions as part of the required environmental analysis.
Because the THP review process is functionally equivalent to
CEQA, THPs will now have to address carbon emissions associated
with a proposed timber harvest.
Under AB 32 (Nunez, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006), the Air
Resources Board is required to approve a statewide greenhouse
gas emission limit, such that statewide emissions in 2020 are
equal to emissions in 1990. The Air Resources Board is required
to implement regulatory measures to reduce emissions to meet
that target. Pursuant to AB 32, the Air Resources Board adopted
AB 1504 (Skinner), Page 2
a "scoping plan" to outline how the state will achieve those
goals. The scoping plan allocated emission reductions to a
variety of sectors of the state's economy. The scoping plan
includes the goal that the forestry sector will continue to
sequester carbon at the current estimated rate of 5 million tons
of CO2 equivalent per year.
AB 1504 requires the Board to ensure that all its rules and
regulations that govern timber harvesting consider the capacity
of forest resources to sequester carbon dioxide, sufficient to
meet the state's greenhouse gas emission reduction goals for the
forestry sector.
In order to meet the requirements of the bill, the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (which provides staff support to
the Board) indicates that it will need to commission life-cycle
analyses of forestry products and forestry practices to ensure
that the Board's rules and regulations, and hence forestry
practices, are in fact continuing to sequester carbon dioxide at
the current estimated level. CalFire indicates that the costs to
commission those studies are likely in the range of $800,000 to
$1,000,000.
SB 144 (Pavley) requires CalFire to develop certain baseline
information about green house gas emissions relating to the
forestry sector. The bill also requires CalFire to develop
incentives for the conservation of forest lands. SB 144 is in
the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.