BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1867
Author: Patterson (D), et al.
Amended: 8/12/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Pavley, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Hueso, Jackson, Lara,
Monning, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-2, 5/23/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Timber harvest plans: exemption: reducing
flammable materials
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill, until no later than January 1, 2019,
authorizes the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) to
exempt some or all requirements of the Forest Practices Act to
allow the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property
to reduce flammable materials and create defensible space. This
bill extends the exemption that allows vegetation clearing from
a radius of 150 feet to 300 feet of habitable structures,
although it is technically proposed as a separate exemption.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/12/14 establish a date certain for
the Board to adopt regulations to implement this bill and change
the sunset date to three years following the date the
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regulations are adopted.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Prohibits any person from conducting timber operations unless
a Timber Harvest Plan (THP) has been prepared by a registered
professional forester and approved by the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). (The Secretary of
the Natural Resources Agency has certified that a THP is the
functional equivalent of an environmental impact report under
the California Environmental Quality Act.)
2.Requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or
maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a
mountainous area, forest-covered lands, brush-covered lands,
grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable
material, to at all times maintain a defensible space of 100
feet from each side of the structure, but not beyond the
property line.
3.Allows a state or local fire official, at his/her discretion,
to authorize an owner of property, or his/her agent, to
construct a firebreak, or implement appropriate vegetation
management techniques, to ensure that defensible space is
adequate for the protection of a hospital, adult residential
care facility, school, aboveground storage tank, hazardous
materials facility, or similar facility on the property.
Allows the firebreak to be for a radius of up to 300 feet from
the facility, or to the property line, whichever distance is
shorter.
4.Creates a THP exemption for defensible space timber operations
conducted not more than 150 feet on each side from an approved
and legally permitted structure, as specified
This bill:
1.Authorizes the Board to exempt some or all requirements of the
Forest Practices Act to allow the cutting or removal of trees
on the person's property to reduce flammable materials and
create defensible space.
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2.Extends the exemption that allows vegetation clearing from a
radius of 150 feet to 300 feet of habitable structures,
although it is technically proposed as a separate exemption.
3.Provides that for the areas between 150 and 300 feet from the
habitable structure, the operations meet all of the following
provisions:
A. The residual stocking standards are consistent with
specified regulations, as appropriate.
B. Activities within this area will increase the quadratic
mean diameter of the stand.
C. The residual stand consists primarily of healthy and
vigorous dominant and codominant trees from the preharvest
stand, well distributed though the harvested area.
D. Postharvest slash treatment and stand conditions will
lead to more moderate fire behavior in the professional
judgment of the registered professional forester who
submits the notice of exemption.
E. Any additional guidance for slash treatment and
postharvest stand conditions and any other issues deemed
necessary that are consistent with this section, as
established by the Board.
4.Requires the Board to adopt regulations to implement the
provisions of this bill no later than January 1, 2016.
5.Specifies this bill becomes inoperative three years after the
Board adopts the regulations, but no later than January 1,
2019.
6.Requires CAL FIRE to evaluate the effects of these provisions
and to report its recommendations, before the provision
becomes inoperative, to the Legislature based on that
evaluation.
Background
Fire is an integral part of most California landscapes. Many of
our native plants, including trees, are adapted to burn
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periodically; they need fire to be healthy, reproduce, and
survive. Fire suppression activities over the last 100 to 150
years have largely taken fire out of the system, causing
far-reaching changes in habitats and forest health. Many of the
forest plant communities are not adapted to today's exceedingly
hot fires. During these fires many mature trees succumb from
top kill while others have their roots killed due to decades of
accumulated debris burning down into the root zones.
At the same time, growing numbers of people moving into forested
areas (the wildland urban interface) increase the risk of fires,
place more lives and property in danger, and complicate efforts
to restore fire to the ecosystem.
Defensible space . The vegetation surrounding a building or
structure can be fuel for a fire. Even the building or
structure itself is considered fuel. Research and experience
have shown that fuel reduction around a building or structure
increases the probability of it surviving a wildfire. Good
defensible space allows firefighters to protect and save
buildings or structures safely without facing unacceptable risk
to their lives. Various fire programs throughout the state and
country teach that fuel reduction through vegetation management
is the key to creating good defensible space.
State law requires a home owner to at all times maintain
defensible space of 100 feet from each side of the structure,
but not beyond the property line. However, various defensible
space-related programs recommend a much larger defensible space
area if possible.
For example, the Firewise Communities Program (a program
co-sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of
the Interior, and the National Association of State Foresters)
provides advice on how to manage defensible space up to 200 feet
and recommends an even greater distance depending on the site.
Another program worth citing is the Tuolumne County Fire Safe
Council (TCFSC). Tuolumne County was seriously affected by the
2013 Rim Fire, which burned 257,314 acres. Certain communities,
such as Pine Mountain Lake, were ordered to evacuate the area
during the fire. The Pine Mountain Lake Association practices
defensible space activities pursuant to recommendations
established by the TCFSC. For certain areas, TCFSC recommends
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more than 150 feet of defensible space.
State law currently has a THP exemption to conduct defensible
space fuels management up to 150 feet from each side of an
approved and legally permitted structure. In this context, the
term "structure" is broad: it can be a structure designed for
human occupancy, a garage, a barn, a stable, or a structure used
to enclose fuel tanks. Under this exemption, clearcutting is
prohibited and timber operations shall be limited to cutting or
removal of trees that will result in a reduction in the rate of
fire spread, fire duration and intensity, fuel ignitability, or
ignition of the tree crowns. Additionally, surface fuels (e.g.,
logging slash and debris, low bush, deadwood) that could promote
wildfire must be chipped, burned, or otherwise removed from all
areas of the timber operations.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/14)
Associated California Loggers
California Association of Realtors
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Licensed Foresters Association
Forest Landowners of California
Highway 168 Fire Safe Council
Madera County Board of Supervisors
Mariposa County Fire Safe Council
Personal Insurance Federation of California
Rural County Representatives of California
Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/13/14)
Sierra Club
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Tuolumne County Board of
Supervisors writes:
This bill will give the homeowner who resides in the
California State Responsibility Area another tool to create
defensible space around one's property. Recent studies have
reiterated that it is more fiscally responsible to prevent
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catastrophic forest fires than to fight them.
This bill would allow a responsible homeowner to more easily
create defensible space and clear timber up to 300 from his or
her residence without having to go through the onerous process
of developing and filing a timber harvest plan with CalFIRE.
The current 150 feet rule should be expanded as is included in
AB 1867.
Due to the state mandated clearance rules, homeowners are
required to clear timber and brush farther from their homes.
Non-compliant homeowners are seeing homeowner's insurance
policies cancelled and are being cited by CaIFIRE. While
necessary, enforcement should be preceded by providing options
for compliance.
It is encouraging to see a common sense bill such as AB 1867
come forth to provide homeowners with another tool to help
create the critically important defensible space. The recent
Rim Fire in Tuolumne County demonstrated the importance of
brush and timber clearance to save residential structures.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Sierra Club California writes:
This bill would unnecessarily double the area of space defined
as "defensible" and thus exempted from timber harvest plan
requirements.
Currently, the defensible space around a structure that is
allowed for clearing without applying for a timber harvest
plan is 150 feet. This bill proposes to double that without
any solid reason other than to allow for additional harvest
without the benefit of a timber harvest plan so that
landowners may raise capital to fund the allowed clearing.
The bill provides for no protection of habitat, no clear
oversight by experts, and no additional funding for any
enforcement agency to ensure that the proposed changes which
could ultimately cover millions of acres in the state do not
substantially and negatively impact the states wildlife,
wildlife corridors, and forests.
Last year, the legislature passed AB 744 [Dahle, Chapter 647,
Statutes of 2012] over Sierra Club's objection. That bill
increased the size of trees allowed to be downed for fire
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protection without a timber harvest plan. It purported to
ensure that landowners could and would actively manage their
forests for fire prevention. That bill allowed a 3-year pilot
project. It makes no sense to add another layer of timber
harvest plan exemption for fire prevention before the pilot
for AB 744 has been completed and analyzed.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-2, 5/23/14
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh,
Dahle, Daly, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove,
Hagman, Hall, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,
John A. P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Atkins
NOES: Stone, Ting
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Dickinson, Eggman, Harkey, Roger
Hern�ndez, Lowenthal, V. Manuel P�rez, Skinner, Wieckowski,
Yamada, Vacancy
RM:k 8/13/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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