CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 945

Introduced by Senator Alvarado-Gil

January 18, 2024

An act to add Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 107260) to Part 2 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 945, as introduced, Alvarado-Gil. The Wildfire Smoke and Health Outcomes Data Act.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties pertaining to, among other things, protecting, preserving, and advancing public health. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with specified stakeholders, to develop a plan, addressing specified issues, with recommendations and guidelines for counties to use in the case of a significant air quality event caused by wildfires or other sources.
This bill, the Wildfire Smoke and Health Outcomes Data Act, would require the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, and the State Air Resources Board to create, operate, and maintain a statewide integrated wildfire smoke and health data platform that, among other things, would integrate wildfire smoke and health data from multiple databases. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to develop the data platform in accordance with a to be specified schedule. Under the bill, the purposes for the data platform would include providing adequate information to understand the negative health impacts on California’s population caused by wildfire smoke and evaluating the effectiveness of investments in forest health and wildfire mitigation on health outcomes in California.
This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, and the State Air Resources Board to develop, among other things, protocols for data sharing, documentation, quality control, and promotion of open-source platforms and decision support tools related to wildfire smoke and health data.
This bill would create the Wildfire Smoke and Health Administration Fund. Under the bill, moneys in the fund would be available, upon appropriation, to the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, and the State Air Resources Board for the collection, management, and improvement of wildfire smoke and health data for the purposes of the act. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Over the past five years, California has experienced massive increases in climate change driven wildfires which burn faster and hotter than ever before, presenting extreme dangers to the environment and to humans, alike.
(b) Even when these fires occur in remote areas of the state, smoke from fire conflagrations pollute rural and urban populated areas.
(c) The state and medical community do not have sufficient data to fully understand the negative health impacts on California’s population caused by wildfire smoke.
(d) Policymakers and regulators lack sufficient data to determine whether investments made in addressing forest health have an impact on improving health outcomes for smoke-impacted communities.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 107260) is added to Part 2 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER  2. Wildfire Smoke and Health Outcomes Data Act

107260.
 This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Wildfire Smoke and Health Outcomes Data Act.

107261.
 For purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:
(a) “State board” means the State Air Resources Board.
(b) “Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force” has the same meaning as provided in Section 4005 of the Public Resources Code.

107262.
 The State Department of Public Health, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, and the state board shall coordinate and integrate existing wildfire smoke and health data from local, state, and federal agencies. The purposes for integrating wildfire smoke and health data include, but are not limited to, providing adequate information to understand the negative health impacts on California’s population caused by wildfire smoke and evaluating the effectiveness of investments in forest health and wildfire mitigation on health outcomes in California.

107263.
 The State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, and the state board, shall develop all of the following:
(a) Protocols for data sharing, documentation, quality control, and promotion of open-source platforms and decision support tools related to wildfire smoke and health data.
(b) Regularly updated data products that track air pollution concentrations attributable to forest and wildland fire smoke, population exposure to smoke, and cases of adverse health outcomes attributable to smoke.
(c) Smoke data products that include estimates of smoke impacts by individual wildland fires.
(d) Methodological guidelines for estimating smoke air pollutant concentrations and counts of adverse health impacts attributable to wildland fire smoke.
(e) Methodologies to estimate smoke emissions from human-made materials.
(f) Smoke emission inventories that include emission estimates from developed landscapes that are burned by wildland fires.

107264.
 (a) The State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, and the state board, shall create, operate, and maintain a statewide integrated wildfire smoke and health data platform.
(b) The State Department of Public Health shall develop the data platform in accordance with the following schedule:
(1) By ____, the State Department of Public Health shall do both of the following:
(A) Make public the protocols developed pursuant to Section 107263.
(B) Publish a strategic plan for data management to guide the implementation of this part.
(2) (A) By ____, the State Department of Public Health shall make available existing wildfire smoke and health data held by state agencies on the platform.
(3) By ____, the State Department of Public Health shall make available on the platform any other existing information listed in subdivision (c).
(c) The State Department of Public Health shall ensure that the statewide integrated wildfire smoke and health data platform created pursuant to this section, at a minimum, does all of the following:
(1) Integrates existing wildfire smoke and health data information from multiple autonomous databases managed by federal, state, and local agencies and academia using consistent and standardized formats.
(2) Integrates the data products developed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 107263.
(3) Integrates the air pollutant concentrations and counts of adverse health impacts estimated by the methodological guidelines developed pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 107263.
(4) Integrates measures of smoke emissions from human-made materials estimated by methodologies developed pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 107263.
(5) Integrates smoke emission inventories developed pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 107263.
(6) Provides documentation of data quality and data formats through metadata.
(7) Adheres to data protocols developed by state agencies pursuant to Section 107263.
(8) Is able to receive both spatial and time series data from various sources.
(d) This section does not prevent a state agency from disseminating, managing, or publishing data separately from the platform.

107265.
 (a) The Wildfire Smoke and Health Administration Fund is hereby created. All moneys in the fund are available, upon appropriation, to the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, and the state board for the collection, management, and improvement of wildfire smoke and health data for the purposes of this part.
(b) The Department of Finance shall develop a standardized agreement to allow for the voluntary donation to the fund by any person, educational institution, government entity, corporation or other business entity, or organization.