BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1414|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1414
Author: Assembly Natural Resources Committee
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/14/11
AYES: Pavley, La Malfa, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Kehoe,
Padilla, Simitian, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/12/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Forestry: timber harvesting
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill amends the Zberg-Nejedly Forest
Practice Act of 1973 to make technical changes and to
repeal outdated provisions that have no significance on
current forest resource management.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Creates the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act (Act) to
encourage prudent and responsible forest resource
management calculated to serve the public's need for
timber and other forest products, while giving
CONTINUED
AB 1414
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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 (BOF) to divide the state
into at least three districts and creates district
technical advisory committees to advise the BOF 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This bill makes technical changes and repeals outdated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.
Comment
When the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act was enacted in
1973, standing timber volume was taxed "ad valorem." To
avoid annual county property taxes on standing timber,
landowners could harvest 70 percent of their land
prematurely to create a cutover land. In 1976, the
Legislature replaced the property tax on standing timber
with a state timber yield tax. The timber yield tax is a
tax on the value of harvested timber. As such, the cutover
land provisions in the Act no longer have legal
significance.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/27/11)
California Licensed Foresters Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Licensed Foresters
Association claims that this bill is a "good government"
bill that streamlines the Act by eliminating hundreds of
unnecessary words from the Public Resources Code.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/12/11
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Chesbro, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng,
Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines,
Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall,
Harkey, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan,
Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Cedillo, Conway, Garrick, Gorell,
Roger Hern�ndez, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mitchell, Portantino,
Torres
CTW:kc 6/28/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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