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AB-2047 Fire prevention: federal funding.(2003-2004)

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AB2047:v95#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 01, 2004
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 22, 2004
Amended  IN  Senate  June 21, 2004
Amended  IN  Senate  June 29, 2004

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2003–2004 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2047

Introduced  by  Assembly Member Dutton

February 17, 2004

An act to add Sections 4121, 4121.5, and 4122 and 4121.5 to the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2047, as amended, Dutton. Fire prevention: federal funding.
Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (state board) to classify all lands within the state, for the purpose of determining areas in which the financial responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires is primarily the state’s responsibility, as specified. Under existing law, those areas are called state responsibility areas.
This bill would authorize the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to help communities in or near state responsibility areas develop collaborative community wildfire prevention plans and obtain federal funding for fire prevention or for assistance in connection with wild land fires, by undertaking specified activities, including convening and facilitating community meetings and communication among residents of a community regarding the development of a community wildfire protection plan. The bill would authorize the state board to exempt from specified timber management plan preparation and submission requirements a person engaged in forest management whose activities are limited to those authorized through a community wildfire protection plan, if specified requirements are met, as provided. The bill would provide that the collective costs of all parties engaged in the preparation and implementation of a community wildfire protection plan shall be considered a local in-kind contribution for the purposes of meeting any local cost-share match requirements of state grants, and to the extent permitted by federal law, of federal grants.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 4121 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

4121.
 The department may help communities in or near state responsibility areas develop collaborative community wildfire prevention plans and obtain federal funding that is available pursuant to Public Law 108-148, for fire prevention, or that is available pursuant to any other federal law that provides financial assistance in connection with wild land fires, by doing any of the following:
(a) Providing technical assistance, resources, and advice to fire safe councils and other civic, community, tribal, or neighborhood organizations, in connection with preparing a community wildfire protection plan that will make the community as competitive as possible for federal funding pursuant to Public Law 108-148.
(b) Convening and facilitating community meetings and communication among residents of a community, regarding the development of a community wildfire protection plan.
(c) Publicizing and encouraging community involvement in the planning process.
(d) Coordinating and facilitating the development of the plan within the context of collaborative agreements among any of the following:
(1) A county.
(2) A city, if the community wildfire protection plan affects an incorporated area.
(3) An affected tribal organization.
(4) A fire protection district or other local public agency that provides fire protection services and has jurisdiction over the area.
(5) Another state agency that manages land in the vicinity of the community.
(6) A federal agency that manages land in the vicinity of the community.
(7) Residents of the community.
(e) Providing assistance in identifying and prioritizing areas for hazardous fuel reduction treatments.
(f) Providing information about the requirements of state and federal law relating to wild land fires, and about the types of prefire management solutions and cooperative projects that reduce the risk of wild land fires.
(g) Providing and coordinating professional and technical expertise to recommend the types and methods of treatment on federal and nonfederal land that will protect one or more communities and essential infrastructure.
(h) Recommending, in cooperation with the State Fire Marshal, measures to reduce structural ignitability throughout the community.

SEC. 2.

 Section 4121.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

4121.5.
 The collective costs of all parties engaged in the preparation and implementation of a community wildfire prevention plan pursuant to Section 4121 shall be considered a local in-kind contribution for the purposes of meeting any local cost-share match requirements of state grants, and to the extent permitted by federal law, of federal grants.

SEC. 3.Section 4122 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
4122.

The board may exempt from the timber management plan preparation and submission requirements of Section 4581, a person engaged in forest management whose activities are limited to those authorized through a community wildfire protection plan, if the following requirements are met:

(a)The plan is developed in accordance with Section 4121.

(b)The plan is agreed to by the department, and the applicable local government, and local fire department, in consultation with all interested parties and appropriate federal land management agencies that manage land in the vicinity of the at-risk community.

(c)A landowner on whose lands the exemption will be applied, agrees to the terms and conditions of the exemption.

(d)The selection of trees to be removed is by the method known as “thinning from below” and limited to 18 inches in diameter at stump height. Trees 18 inches to 30 inches may be removed only when necessary to achieve and reasonably maintain a posttreatment fuel load that will result in all of the following:

(1)A flamelength of 4 feet or less and a minimum of 8 feet separation from the ground to the crown of live trees.

(2)An elimination of the vertical continuity of vegetative fuels and the horizontal continuity of tree crowns, for the purpose of reducing the rate of fire spread, duration, and intensity, fuel ignitibility, or ignition of tree crowns.

(3)A minimum posttreatment canopy closure of dominant and codominant trees of 40 percent for forest types in the Northern and Southern Districts, and 60 percent in the Coast District.

(4)The construction or maintenance, or both, of a shaded fuel break and safety zone around the community.