California 2019-2020 Regular Session Status: Passed Senate 1 D cosponsors

SB 1348 — Fire prevention: vegetation management: public education: grants: defensible space: fire hazard severity zones: forest management.

Last action — Ordered to third reading.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed Assembly
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill died with 2019-2020 Regular Session. It reached “Passed Senate” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.

This bill is no longer active — its legislative session has ended, so there is no live prognosis. It would have to be reintroduced in the current session to move again.

Summary

(1) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify areas of the state as very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria. Existing law requires a local agency, within 30 days after receiving a transmittal from the director that identifies very high fire hazard severity zones, to make the information available for public review, as provided. This bill, among other things, would also require the director to identify areas of the state as moderate and high fire hazard severity zones and would require a local agency to make this information available for public review and comment, as provided. By expanding the responsibility of a local agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered land, brush-covered land, grass-covered land, or land that is covered with flammable material that is within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as designated by a local agency, or a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining those areas or lands within a state responsibility area, to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, as specified. Existing law authorizes a greater distance than specified above on the specified land in a very high fire hazard severity zone. Existing law specifies that clearance beyond the property line may only be required if state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation includes certain findings and specifies that clearance on adjacent property shall only be conducted following written consent by the adjacent landowner. This bill, among other things, would instead provide that fuel modification beyond the property line may only be required by state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation in order to maintain the 100 feet of defensible space. This bill would also require the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, as defined, to support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts and to establish a common reporting platform for participating qualified entities to report defensible space and home hardening assessment data to the department. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2025. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space program that is required to be made available for use by a city, county, or city and county in the enforcement of the above defensible space provisions. The program is required to have specified components, including general guidelines for creating and maintaining defensible space around structures, as provided. This bill would also include as a component of the model defensible space program, provisions for fuel modifications beyond the property line, as provided. The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval or adoption. In the absence of a designated state agency, the commission is required to adopt specific building standards, as prescribed. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Director of Housing and Community development, to propose specified fire protection building standards in fire hazard severity zones, including very high fire hazard severity zones, in state responsibility areas. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal and the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose, and the State Building Standards Commission to adopt, expanded application of the above-described specified building standards to high fire hazard severity zones. The bill would also require the State Fire Marshal and the Department of Housing and Community Development to consider, if it is appropriate, expanding application of these building standards to moderate fire hazard severity zones. This bill would also make other related changes. (3) Existing law appropriates specified moneys to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for purposes of healthy forest and fire prevention programs and projects that improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by uncontrolled wildfires and to complete prescribed fire and other fuel reduction projects, as provided. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2022, the department, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the California Forest Management Task Force, to report to the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on moneys spent pursuant to the above provision, as provided. (4) Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities in the state. Existing law requires the local assistance grant program to establish a robust year-round fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities. Exiting law requires that the eligible activities include, among other things, fire prevention activities, as provided. Existing law permits the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to authorize advance payments, not exceeding 25% of the total grant award, from a grant awarded pursuant to the local assistance grant program. Existing law requires the grantee to expend these funds from the advance payment within 6 months of receipt, as provided. This bill, among other things, would specify that the above-described fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities, as provided. The bill would define "fire threatened communities" as provided. The bill would specifically include vegetation management along roadways and driveways to reduce fire risk, public education outreach regarding making homes and communities more wildfire resilient, projects to reduce the flammability of structures and communities to prevent their ignition from wind-driven embers, and developing a risk reduction checklist for communities as part of the eligible activities, among other things, as provided. The bill would instead authorize an advance payment not exceeding 50% of the total grant award and would instead require the grantee to expend these funds within 12 months. This bill would require the department to develop and implement a training program, as provided, to train individuals to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and public education efforts. The bill would require the department to issue a certification of completion to individuals who have successfully completed the training program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025. (5) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to provide grants to, or enter into contracts or other cooperative agreements with, specified entities for the implementation and administration of projects and programs to improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board, as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to reduce air emissions, to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires that any project or program described above that is funded with moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund complies with all statutory and program requirements applicable to the use of moneys from the fund. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, under Good Neighbor Authority agreements entered into between the state and the federal government, as provided, to establish a program for purposes of conducting landscape scale ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects on national forest lands, including the development of specified federal and state environmental protection documents for landscape scale ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects on national forest lands that are at least 25,000 acres. The bill would authorize the department to contract with Native American tribes, local governments, forest collaboratives, and qualified nongovernmental organizations to conduct restoration activities on federal forest lands and to develop the federal documents. (6) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 51182 and 51189 of the Government Code and Section 4291 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 3074 to be operative only if this bill and AB 3074 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (7) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Ordered to third reading.

  2. Read third time and amended.

  3. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  4. Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  5. From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 13. Noes 4.) (August 20).

  6. August 18 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.

  7. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (August 6). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  8. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES.

  9. July 29 hearing postponed by committee.

  10. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES.

  11. Referred to Com. on NAT. RES.

  12. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  13. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 32. Noes 5. Page 3882.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  14. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  15. Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  16. From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3771.) (June 18).

  17. Set for hearing June 18.

  18. June 9 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  19. Set for hearing June 9.

  20. Hearing rescheduled due to Capitol closure.

  21. Set for hearing June 1.

  22. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 1. Page 3561.) (May 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  23. Referral to Com. on EQ. rescinded due to the shortened 2020 Legislative Calendar.

  24. Set for hearing May 19.

  25. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W.

  26. Referred to Coms. on N.R. & W. and EQ.

  27. Read first time.

  28. From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 25.

  29. Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 2 co-sponsors · 119 not signed on · 2 voted No

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (2)

  • Beall
  • Friedman

Not signed on (119)

119 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 119 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Do pass as amended.

Passed 13 Yea · 4 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 6000
Unaffiliated 7301
Republican 0100
Total 13401
% of votes cast 72%22%0%6%
How each member voted (18)
Member Party Vote
Quirk — Yea
Gonzalez — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Chau — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Voepel — Nay
Fong — Nay
Bigelow — Nay
Diep — Not Voting
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Bauer-Kahan, Rebecca Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Petrie-Norris, Cottie Democratic Yea
Rivas, Robert Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

Passed 8 Yea · 0 Nay · 3 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 7002
Democratic 1000
Republican 0001
Total 8003
% of votes cast 73%0%0%27%
How each member voted (11)
Member Party Vote
Eggman — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Chau — Yea
Cunningham — Not Voting
Mathis — Not Voting
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Luz Rivas — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

3rd Reading

Passed 32 Yea · 5 Nay · 3 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 22401
Democratic 10000
Republican 0102
Total 32503
% of votes cast 80%13%0%8%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Chang — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Allen — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Roth — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Hill — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
Pan — Yea
Beall — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Monning — Yea
Galgiani — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Moorlach — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Morrell — Nay
Bates — Nay
Melendez — Nay
Borgeas — Nay
Nielsen — Not Voting
Archuleta, Bob Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Durazo, Maria Elena Democratic Yea
Gonzalez, Lena A. Democratic Yea
Hurtado, Melissa Democratic Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Umberg, Thomas J. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Not Voting
Grove, Shannon Republican Not Voting
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass as amended

Passed 5 Yea · 2 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 5100
Republican 0100
Total 5200
% of votes cast 71%29%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Leyva — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Hill — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Bates — Nay
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Placed on suspense file

Passed 7 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Republican 1000
Unaffiliated 6000
Total 7000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Leyva — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Hill — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Bates — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

Passed 6 Yea · 1 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Democratic 2001
Unaffiliated 4001
Republican 0100
Total 6102
% of votes cast 67%11%0%22%
How each member voted (9)
Member Party Vote
Monning — Yea
Allen — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Borgeas — Not Voting
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Not Voting
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Subjects

public-safety environment
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Frequently asked questions

What does SB 1348 do?
(1) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify areas of the state as very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria. Existing law requires a local agency, within 30 days after receiving a transmittal from the director that identifies very high fire hazard severity zones, to make the information available for public review, as provided. This bill, among other things, would also require the director to identify areas of the state as moderate and high fire hazard severity zones and would require a local agency to make this information available for public review and comment, as provided. By expanding the responsibility of a local agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered land, brush-covered land, grass-covered land, or land that is covered with flammable material that is within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as designated by a local agency, or a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining those areas or lands within a state responsibility area, to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, as specified. Existing law authorizes a greater distance than specified above on the specified land in a very high fire hazard severity zone. Existing law specifies that clearance beyond the property line may only be required if state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation includes certain findings and specifies that clearance on adjacent property shall only be conducted following written consent by the adjacent landowner. This bill, among other things, would instead provide that fuel modification beyond the property line may only be required by state law, local ordinance, rule, or regulation in order to maintain the 100 feet of defensible space. This bill would also require the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, as defined, to support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts and to establish a common reporting platform for participating qualified entities to report defensible space and home hardening assessment data to the department. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2025. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space program that is required to be made available for use by a city, county, or city and county in the enforcement of the above defensible space provisions. The program is required to have specified components, including general guidelines for creating and maintaining defensible space around structures, as provided. This bill would also include as a component of the model defensible space program, provisions for fuel modifications beyond the property line, as provided. The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval or adoption. In the absence of a designated state agency, the commission is required to adopt specific building standards, as prescribed. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Director of Housing and Community development, to propose specified fire protection building standards in fire hazard severity zones, including very high fire hazard severity zones, in state responsibility areas. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal and the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose, and the State Building Standards Commission to adopt, expanded application of the above-described specified building standards to high fire hazard severity zones. The bill would also require the State Fire Marshal and the Department of Housing and Community Development to consider, if it is appropriate, expanding application of these building standards to moderate fire hazard severity zones. This bill would also make other related changes. (3) Existing law appropriates specified moneys to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for purposes of healthy forest and fire prevention programs and projects that improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by uncontrolled wildfires and to complete prescribed fire and other fuel reduction projects, as provided. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2022, the department, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the California Forest Management Task Force, to report to the relevant fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on moneys spent pursuant to the above provision, as provided. (4) Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities in the state. Existing law requires the local assistance grant program to establish a robust year-round fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities. Exiting law requires that the eligible activities include, among other things, fire prevention activities, as provided. Existing law permits the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to authorize advance payments, not exceeding 25% of the total grant award, from a grant awarded pursuant to the local assistance grant program. Existing law requires the grantee to expend these funds from the advance payment within 6 months of receipt, as provided. This bill, among other things, would specify that the above-described fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities focus on increasing the protection of people, structures, and communities, as provided. The bill would define "fire threatened communities" as provided. The bill would specifically include vegetation management along roadways and driveways to reduce fire risk, public education outreach regarding making homes and communities more wildfire resilient, projects to reduce the flammability of structures and communities to prevent their ignition from wind-driven embers, and developing a risk reduction checklist for communities as part of the eligible activities, among other things, as provided. The bill would instead authorize an advance payment not exceeding 50% of the total grant award and would instead require the grantee to expend these funds within 12 months. This bill would require the department to develop and implement a training program, as provided, to train individuals to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and public education efforts. The bill would require the department to issue a certification of completion to individuals who have successfully completed the training program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025. (5) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to provide grants to, or enter into contracts or other cooperative agreements with, specified entities for the implementation and administration of projects and programs to improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board, as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to reduce air emissions, to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires that any project or program described above that is funded with moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund complies with all statutory and program requirements applicable to the use of moneys from the fund. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, under Good Neighbor Authority agreements entered into between the state and the federal government, as provided, to establish a program for purposes of conducting landscape scale ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects on national forest lands, including the development of specified federal and state environmental protection documents for landscape scale ecological restoration and fire resiliency projects on national forest lands that are at least 25,000 acres. The bill would authorize the department to contract with Native American tribes, local governments, forest collaboratives, and qualified nongovernmental organizations to conduct restoration activities on federal forest lands and to develop the federal documents. (6) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 51182 and 51189 of the Government Code and Section 4291 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 3074 to be operative only if this bill and AB 3074 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (7) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Who sponsors SB 1348?
SB 1348 is sponsored by Stern, Henry I. (Democratic), Beall, and Friedman.
What is the current status of SB 1348?
This bill died with 2019-2020 Regular Session. It reached “Passed Senate” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.
Where can I track SB 1348?
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