Bill Text: CA AB2465 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Burning of lands: private burns.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2014-09-29 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2465 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB2465-Enrolled.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2465 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 20, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chesbro
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
An act to add Article 4 (commencing with Section 4495) to Chapter
7 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, relating to
forestry.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2465, Chesbro. Burning of lands: private burns.
Existing law authorizes any person, firm, or corporation, or any
combination thereof, that owns or controls brush-covered land within
a state responsibility area to apply to the Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection for permission to burn the brush from the land.
Existing law requires the department to provide advisory service to
applicants for burn permits as to the precautions to be taken by the
applicant to prevent damage to the property of others by reason of
the prescribed burning, and to provide standby fire protection, as
available.
This bill would require the department, by July 1, 2015, in
consultation with the State Air Resources Board, local air districts,
and other relevant organizations and individuals, to develop, an
Internet Web site that provides the public certain information
relating to prescribed burns, including information on the
regulations that govern prescribed burns for forest fuel treatment,
and to develop a uniform prescribed burn template for forest
landowners that provides standardized procedures associated with
planning and implementation of a prescribed burn and meets specified
objectives. The bill would authorize the department to contract with
an institution of the University of California to perform any of
these requirements.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1.
(a) For millennia, fire has shaped and renewed the ecosystems of
California's forestlands. In many parts of the state, historical fire
regimes were frequent, with fires occurring as often as every 3 to
10 years. Some of these fires were naturally ignited by lightning,
but fire was also an important tool for Native Americans, who used it
to promote the growth of certain plants they relied on for food,
medicine, and materials to make baskets, string, and shelter.
(b) For more than a century, states and the federal government
have adopted fire suppression policies that have resulted in high
fuel accumulations and significant ecological impacts on forestlands.
This has been reflected in the increasingly severe fire seasons in
recent years with more acres burned, increased number of catastrophic
fires, problematic containment and suppression, increased financial
costs, and reductions in resiliency and biodiversity of California's
fire-adapted ecosystems. In addition, implementation of fire
suppression policies have impacted tribal communities throughout the
state, and continue to threaten cultural resources, practices,
ceremonies, and cultural identity.
(c) The 2013 Rim Fire demonstrated the dangers and cost of high
fuel accumulations on forestlands. The Rim Fire burned more than
250,000 acres over a period of 69 days; caused at least hundreds of
millions of dollars in economic and environmental damage; destroyed
significant habitat for a number of California's rarest animals;
blanketed large swaths of northern California and northern Nevada
with thick smoke; threatened reservoirs, such as Hetch Hetchy; and
demanded more than $125 million in firefighting costs. The fire
caused the Governor to declare states of emergency in the Counties of
Mariposa, San Francisco, and Tuolumne and the President of the
United States to make a Major Disaster Declaration. According to
federal forest ecologists, the Rim Fire's exponential growth was tied
to a century's worth of fuel left behind due to historic policies of
fire suppression. The lack of fire over the years had led to
overgrown and unhealthy forests. In fact, the fire slowed only after
hitting areas that had burned in the past two decades due to
prescribed and natural burns.
(d) Many states and the federal government have been taking
measures to increase the use of prescribed burning as a vegetation
management tool to reduce the naturally occurring buildup of
vegetative fuels on forestlands, thereby reducing the risk and
severity of wildfires and lessening the loss of life and property.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian
Affairs, National Parks Service, United States Forest Service, Bureau
of Land Management, and United States Fire Administration are part
of an interagency strategy that has adopted direction and guidance
for prescribed burn planning and implementation. These agencies have
created a formal prescribed fire plan template as part of this
effort. Moreover, several states have laws that promote prescribed
burning and approximately one-half of the states in the country have
prescribed fire councils.
(e) Prescribed burning is recognized as an important tool in the
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's 2010 Strategic Fire Plan
for California. This plan includes the objective of increasing
"public education and awareness in support of ecologically sensitive
and economically efficient vegetation management activities,
including prescribed fire, forest thinning and other fuels treatment
projects."
(f) In addition to reducing the frequency and severity of
wildfires, prescribed burning of forestlands helps to prepare sites
for replanting and natural seeding, to control insects and diseases,
and to increase productivity. It is also an important tool for
increasing the fire resilience and heterogeneity of California's
diverse landscapes, and for creating, restoring, and maintaining
critical habitats, resources, and ecosystem services.
(g) Prescribed burning is often the most cost-effective, efficient
fuel treatment option for forestlands. In some circumstances, costs
may be a challenge when preburn thinning is required to avoid fire
escape during burns. In California, some of these costs may be offset
through existing timber harvest permit exemptions (for example, the
Forest Fire Prevention Pilot Project Exemption) that allow landowners
to harvest timber to offset the cost of thinning or burning.
(h) While prescribed burning inherently creates wood smoke, this
smoke pales in comparison to the air quality issues created by
catastrophic wildfires. Therefore, by reducing the threat of
catastrophic wildfires, prescribed burning can have net air quality
benefits that are significant to protecting public health.
(i) Forest ecosystems are crucial for absorbing and storing
atmospheric carbon; however, catastrophic wildfires impede the forest'
s ability to sequester carbon. Accelerating the pace and scale of
prefire treatments, such as prescribed fire, promises to help modify
future wildfire impacts and thus protect our forests' ability to
sequester carbon.
(j) Though prescribed burning is widely recognized as an
effective, powerful management tool, it is complex in nature and
highly regulated. Successful implementation of prescribed burning
requires careful planning, specific weather conditions, qualified
crews, funding, public support, and compliance with various laws and
regulations. These variables can make it difficult for managers to
utilize prescribed burning, and they often have to turn to more
expensive, less efficient, and less ecologically appropriate
management tools, stalling the overall pace and scale of treatment.
(k) To limit the threat of catastrophic wildfires and to improve
forest health, it is a priority of the state to have an effective
prescribed burning program that is crafted by prescribed burning
experts at state public universities, state agencies, and other
relevant organizations. It is also a priority of the state that its
prescribed burning program should assist forest landowners in
exercising due diligence to control prescribed burning so as to
prevent fire escape. By promoting due diligence, the state will be
protecting the public, reducing the risk of landowner liability, and
taking steps to encourage more responsible prescribed burning.
SEC. 2. Article 4 (commencing with Section 4495) is added to
Chapter 7 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, to
read:
Article 4. Forestland Fuel Hazard Reduction
4495. (a) In enacting this article, it is the intent of the
Legislature to establish a centralized source of information that
will assist forest landowners in doing all of the following when
planning and implementing prescribed burning on forestlands:
(1) Obtaining the required permits for prescribed burning.
(2) Complying with existing laws and regulations.
(3) Exercising due diligence to control prescribed burning so as
to prevent fire escape.
(4) Maximizing benefits and protection for the environment and the
public.
(b) It is also the intent of the Legislature to establish a
uniform prescribed burn template for forest landowners that provides
standardized procedures associated with the planning and
implementation of prescribed burning and meets the objectives of
subdivision (a).
4496. (a) To assist landowners in conducting prescribed burns for
the purpose of forest fuel treatment, the department shall, no later
than July 1, 2015, develop both of the following:
(1) An Internet Web site that provides the public all of the
following:
(A) Information on the regulations governing prescribed burns for
forest fuel treatment.
(B) Information on how to obtain the appropriate regulatory
permits for prescribed burns for forest fuel treatment.
(C) A link to the Prescribed Fire Information Reporting System and
any other relevant information about permissive burn days and
no-burn days that the State Air Resources Board and the local air
districts deem are appropriate to provide publicly.
(D) The uniform prescribed burn template described in paragraph
(2).
(E) Contact information for the offices at the department, State
Air Resources Board, and local air districts, and any other relevant
entity that can assist a person who is interested in conducting a
prescribed burn for forest fuel treatment.
(F) If the department deems appropriate, the contact information
of organizations and individuals that the department recognizes as
qualified or certified to assist landowners in conducting prescribed
burns.
(G) Any other information that is appropriate regarding prescribed
burns for forest fuel treatment.
(2) A uniform prescribed burn template for forest landowners that
provides standardized procedures associated with the planning and
implementation of a prescribed burn and meets the objectives of
subdivision (a) of Section 4495.
(b) The department may contract with an institution within the
University of California with an expertise in fire research and
outreach to perform any of the requirements of subdivision (a).
(c) The development of the Internet Web site and the uniform
prescribed burn template pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be done in
consultation with the State Air Resources Board, local air
districts, and other relevant organizations and individuals.
