Today's Law As Amended


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SB-1014 Wildfire safety: The California Wildfire Mitigation Strategic Planning Act. (2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Wildfires have caused unacceptable catastrophic losses to local communities, the state, and its residents over the past decade.
(b) Increased wildfire risk is being driven by climate change, drought, and the accumulation of fuels due to historic wildfire suppression.
(c) The California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force has found that more frequent, larger, high-severity wildfires threaten a broad range of communities throughout the state, contributing to the loss of human life and property damage.
(d) Smoke from unplanned wildfires has a detrimental impact on human health and poses an elevated risk to vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, those with certain underlying health conditions, and outdoor workers.
(e) Since many of the state’s ecosystems are fire adapted, uncharacteristic fire regimes created by historic fire suppression policies threaten ecological health, hinder the ability of ecosystems to support biodiversity and vital ecosystem services, and contribute to soil erosion, diminished water quality, and impeded forest regeneration.
(f) Governor Gavin Newsom and the Legislature have identified the urgent need for utilities to invest in safe and reliable service while minimizing ratepayer impacts and protecting energy affordability.
(g) The Natural Resources Agency, the United States Forest Service, and the United States Bureau of Land Management have identified the urgent need for land managers to invest in stewardship of forests and landscapes to improve wildfire resilience in the face of climate change.
(h) The January 2021 report from the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force identified the need for greater landscape-scale treatments to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and recognized the importance of building and maintaining regional approaches to wildfire resilience, reflective of the state’s diverse ecosystems and built environment.
(i) The State of California recognizes the unprecedented challenges posed by wildfires and has responded with historic investments to address landscape-scale wildfire resilience.
(j) Current investments by electric utilities to avoid utility ignitions are much larger than even the recent historic investments in wildfire and forest resilience by the state and federal governments.
(k) Therefore, meeting the complex challenges presented by the modern wildfire crisis necessitates greater collaboration and coordination between the various entities tasked with managing wildfire risk and resilience in California in planning for and targeting wildfire risk mitigation investments.

SEC. 2.

 Part 7.4 (commencing with Section 15480) is added to Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to read:

PART 7.4. The California Wildfire Mitigation Strategic Planning Act

15480.
 Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern construction of this part:
(a) “Deputy director” means the Deputy Director of Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation within the Office of State Fire Marshal.
(b) “Framework” means the Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework prepared pursuant to Section 15481.
(c) “Risk to spend efficiency” means the net present value of monetized reduction in wildfire consequences per dollar of risk mitigation expenditure.
(d) “Wildfire mitigation plan” means a plan prepared pursuant to Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code.
(e) “Wildfire risk mitigation action” means an action undertaken by a private or public actor with the stated purpose of reducing either the chances of a wildfire ignition or the consequences of a wildfire ignition after one occurs, excluding fire suppression activities.
15481.
 (a) On or before January 1, 2026, and every three years thereafter, the deputy director shall prepare a Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework sufficient to quantitatively evaluate wildfire risk mitigation actions as determined by the deputy director.
(b) The framework shall allow for geospatial evaluation and comparison of wildfire risk mitigation actions sufficient to direct coordinated mitigation efforts and long-term collaborative mitigation planning.
(c) The framework may incorporate, for each wildfire mitigation action, including near-term and long-term estimates and projections, as determined to be appropriate by the deputy director, all of the following:
(1) The entity or entities responsible for the wildfire risk mitigation action.
(2) Risk events and consequences targeted, including cost and other appropriate metrics of unmitigated damages.
(3) Cost of the wildfire risk mitigation action.
(4) Methodologies for evaluating, and estimates of risk to spend efficiency of, the wildfire risk mitigation action.
(5) Geographic areas to which the wildfire risk mitigation action applies.
(6) Interactions, cobenefits, and joint impacts with other wildfire risk mitigation activities.
(7) Interactions and joint impacts with climate change, drought, past wildfires, and other environmental factors and environmental metrics, as appropriate.
(8) Effects on stakeholders and other affected parties.
(9) Personnel requirements to effectuate the wildfire risk mitigation action.
(10) Other factors as determined to be appropriate by the deputy director.
(d) The deputy director shall make the framework available as a planning tool for all entities planning and likely to engage in statewide wildfire risk mitigation actions, including the following:
(1) State agencies.
(2) Federal agencies.
(3) Electric utilities.
(4) Municipalities and local governments.
(5) Nongovernmental organizations and private actors seeking funding.
(e) The deputy director shall, each year the framework is completed, submit a copy of the framework to the Legislature notwithstanding Section 10231.5 and in compliance with Section 9795, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, and the Public Utilities Commission for review and consideration.
(f) To the maximum extent possible, the deputy director shall make the factual and analytical basis for the framework available to the public on its internet website.
15482.
 The deputy director may contract with a private consultant or a public university with special expertise in the quantitative assessment of wildfire risk and risk mitigation to conduct quantitative wildfire and community risk modeling and for preparation of reports in order to accomplish the purposes of Section 15481.