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SB-1088 Office of Emergency Services: state matching funds: water system infrastructure improvements.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 06/18/2024 09:00 PM
SB1088:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  June 18, 2024
Amended  IN  Senate  March 18, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1088

Introduced by Senator Alvarado-Gil

February 12, 2024

An act to add Section 8586.10 to the Government Code, relating to emergency services.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1088, as amended, Alvarado-Gil. Office of Emergency Services: state matching funds: water system infrastructure improvements.
Existing law establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES), under the direction of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law charges the OES with coordinating various emergency activities within the state. The California Emergency Services Act, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, requires the OES to enter into a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program relating to structure hardening and retrofitting and prescribed fuel modification activities. Existing law authorizes the joint powers authority to establish financial assistance limits and matching funding or other recipient contribution requirements for the program, as provided.
This bill would, contingent on funding being appropriated pursuant to a bond act, as specified, establish the Rural and Small Community Fire Resilience Water Infrastructure for Community Wildfire Protection Program within the OES for the distribution of state matching funds to communities within the Wildland Urban Interface in designated high fire hazard severity zones or very high fire hazard severity zones to improve water system infrastructure, as prescribed. The bill would require the OES to work in coordination with the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and other state entities as the office determines to be appropriate, to achieve the purposes of the program. The bill would require the office to develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize the distribution of state matching funds provided under the program to rural communities based upon specified criteria.
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) California’s rural landscapes and communities have been ground zero for large-scale environmental and economic devastation during the past decades by virtue of the Angora, Caldor, Camp, August Complex, and Dixie fires.
(b) Aging water infrastructures, combined with insufficient resources to prepare for adequate wildfire response, have left many rural communities at high risk for future unchecked fire activity.
(c) More than 2,000,000 California households, approximately one in four residential structures in California, are located within or in wildfire movement proximity to high or very high fire hazard severity zones identified on maps created by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

(c)

(d) Postfire costs associated with the destruction inflicted upon communities such as Grizzly Flats, Paradise, and Greenville have been in the tens of billions of dollars.

(d)

(e) Congress has taken affirmative fiscal action by budgeting for funding last year and is poised to repeat that action this year, as evidenced in House Report 117-400, to invest in fire prevention activities in the Tahoe Basin and elsewhere through projects such as water delivery system improvements for expanded water flow and fire hydrant installation.

(e)

(f) While California is taking the necessary actions to mitigate the intensity and frequency of fire in the rural parts of the state, local governments need state support for necessary water infrastructure investments to prepare for fire suppression capacity.

SEC. 2.

 Section 8586.10 is added to the Government Code, immediately following Section 8586.9, to read:

8586.10.
 (a) As used in this section:
(1) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.
(2) “Rural and Small Community Fire Resilience Water Infrastructure for Community Wildfire Protection Program” or “program” means the Rural and Small Community Fire Resilience Water Infrastructure for Community Wildfire Protection Program established in subdivision (b).
(b) The Rural and Small Community Fire Resilience Water Infrastructure for Community Wildfire Protection Program is hereby established within the office for the distribution of state matching funds to communities within the Wildland Urban Interface in high fire hazard severity zones or very high fire hazard severity zones designated by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to Article 9 (commencing with Section 4201) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code or by a local agency pursuant to Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 51175) of Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 5, to improve water system infrastructure infrastructure, for purposes consistent with the services described in Section 53750.5, as follows:
(1) Upgrading and upsizing waterlines.
(2) Installing additional fire hydrants of connected to water systems.
(3) Enhancing water system delivery and distribution capacity to ensure adequate water flow for community fire prevention and fire suppression activities.
(4) Creating interconnections between water systems for the purpose of improving water delivery and distribution capacity for fire suppression activities.
(c) The office shall work in coordination with the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and other state entities as the office determines to be appropriate, to achieve the purposes of the program.
(d) The office shall develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize the distribution of state matching funds provided under the program to rural communities based upon criteria that include, but are not limited to, both of the following:
(1) Community water systems that maintain 15,000 water service connections or fewer.
(2) Water infrastructure for fire suppression improvements and projects that are identified in, and consistent with one or more of, the following plans:
(A) A community wildfire protection plan, a California Fire Safe Council action plan, a National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA Community Wildfire Risk Assessment, a local hazard mitigation plan, or other local plan that addresses the hazards and risks from wildfire.
(B) A community water system master plan, hydraulic modeling, or professional engineering reports showing the need for and impact of proposed improvements.

SEC. 3.

 The operation of this act is contingent upon funding being appropriated by the Legislature to the Office of Emergency Services pursuant to a bond act approved by the voters on or after the statewide general election scheduled for November 5, 2024, including, but not limited to, a climate or natural resources bond, for purposes consistent with the Rural and Small Community Fire Resilience Water Infrastructure for Community Wildfire Protection Program authorized in Section 2 of this act.