BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1414
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Date of Hearing: April 25, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 1414 (Committee on Natural Resources) - As Introduced:
March 15, 2011
SUBJECT : Forestry: timber harvesting
SUMMARY : Amends the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act (Act) of
1973 to make technical changes and to repeal outdated provisions
that have no significance on current forest resource management.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the Act to encourage prudent and responsible forest
resource management calculated to serve the public's need for
timber and other forest products, while giving consideration
to the public's need for watershed protection, fisheries and
wildlife, sequestration of carbon dioxide, and recreational
opportunities.
2)Defines "cutover land" as land that has borne a crop of
commercial timber from which at least 70 percent of the
merchantable original growth timber stand has been removed by
logging or destroyed by fire, insects, or tree diseases and
that is now supporting, or capable of growing, a crop of
commercial timber or other forest products, and that has not
been converted to other commercial or agricultural use.
3)Requires the Board of Forestry (Board) to divide the state
into at least three districts and creates district technical
advisory committees to advise the Board in the establishment
of district forest practice rules for each district.
4)Establishes minimum acceptable stocking requirements to ensure
that timberlands are occupied by well-distributed countable
trees. Establishes a "grandfather clause" regarding stocking
requirements for timberlands that were harvested prior to the
adoption of stocking standards in the 1970s.
THIS BILL : Makes technical changes and repeals outdated
provisions in the Act regarding cutover land, district technical
advisory committees, and grandfather clauses related to stocking
requirements.
AB 1414
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Cutover Land. When the Act was enacted in 1973, standing
timber volume was taxed under the old "ad valorem" system.
Cutover lands had legal significance in terms of avoiding
taxes on standing timber. On April 1, 1977, the state began
imposing a "timber yield tax" on harvest timber. Now, in
general, standing timber is not taxed. As such, the cutover
land provisions in the Act no longer have legal significance.
2)District Technical Advisory Committees. AB 2351 (Chapter 56,
Statutes of 1993) abolished the district technical advisory
committees; however, the code still contains provisions that
are specific to the committees. This bill repeals these
leftover provisions.
3)Stocking Requirements. The Act's grandfather clauses
regarding stocking requirements were relevant to landowners in
the mid-1970s. These provisions have served their purpose and
no longer have any applicability.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Licensed Foresters Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092