Bill Text: CA AB2465 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2465	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 21, 2014
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 28, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chesbro

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act to add  Section 4495 to   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, as amended, 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 and local air
districts,  to, among other things,   to 
develop a page on the department's Internet Web site that provides
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 to assist a person conducting a prescribed burn, as
provided  .
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
   
  SECTION 1.    Section 4495 is added to the Public
Resources Code, to read:
   4495.   
  SECTION 1.    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.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (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 5 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 the last 100 to 150 years, states and the federal
government have adopted fire suppression policies that have resulted
in high fuel accumulations 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, and increased financial costs.
   (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
Tuolumne, Mariposa, and San Francisco 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) 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.
   (f) 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.
   (g) 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.
   (h) 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 the satisfaction of 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.
   (i) 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 requires best management practices
and utilizes the expertise of state agencies to ensure maximum
benefits and protection for the environment and the public. 

   4496.  In enacting this article, it is the intent of the
Legislature to accomplish all of the following:
   (a) The creation of a centralized source of information for forest
landowners to assist them in using prescribed burning in a manner
that does all of the following:
   (1) Complies with existing laws and regulations.
   (2) Utilizes best management practices to ensure the forest
landowner exercises due diligence in controlling the burn.
   (3) Maximizes benefits and protection for the environment and the
public.
   (b) The creation of a uniform prescribed burn template, modeled
after the federal prescribed fire plan template, that forest
landowners can utilize to conduct burns, that does all of the
following:
   (1) Complies with existing laws and regulations.
   (2) Utilizes best management practices to ensure the forest
landowner exercises due diligence in controlling the burn.
   (3) Maximizes benefits and protection for the environment and the
public. 
    4497.  To assist landowners in conducting prescribed
burns for the purpose of forest fuel treatment, the department, in
consultation with the State Air Resources Board and local air
districts, shall, no later than July 1, 2015, do all of the
following:
   (a) Develop a page on the department's Internet Web site that
provides all of the following:
   (1) Information on the regulations governing prescribed burns for
forest fuel treatment.
   (2) Specific information about permissive burn days and no-burn
days.
   (3) The uniform prescribed burn template described in subdivision
(b).
   (4) Contact information for the offices at the department, State
Air Resources Board, and local air districts that can assist a person
who is interested in a prescribed burn for forest fuel treatment.
   (5) Any other information that the department determines is
appropriate regarding prescribed burns for forest fuel treatment.
   (b) Develop a uniform prescribed burn template. The template shall
provide assistance to a person, who is interested in conducting
forest fuel treatment through a prescribed burn, to do all of the
following:
   (1) Use best management practices to  minimize 
 ensure the exercise of due diligence in controlling the burn.

    (2)     Minimize  impacts to the
environment and public health while maximizing the fire resiliency of
the treated forest. 
   (2) 
    (3)  Obtain the appropriate regulatory approval from the
department and local air districts.