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AB-388 California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan: implementation strategies.(2023-2024)



Current Version: 07/05/23 - Amended Senate

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AB388:v96#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  July 05, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 18, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 02, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 388

Introduced by Assembly Member Connolly
(Coauthor: Senator Min)

February 02, 2023

An act to amend Section 4208 of, and to add Section 4208.2 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to forest resources.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 388, as amended, Connolly. California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan: implementation strategies: roadmap. strategies.
Existing law requires the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, including the Natural Resources Agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in coordination with certain public agencies, to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided.
Existing law establishes the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes by improving ecosystem health, community wildfire preparedness, and fire resilience. Under the program, the Department of Conservation is required to provide block grants to regional entities to develop regional strategies that develop governance structures, identify wildfire risks, foster collaboration, and prioritize and implement projects within the region to achieve the program’s goals. Existing law requires that regional priority strategy development be in coordination with public landowners and other relevant forest and fire planning efforts in wildfire and forest resiliency planning.
This bill would, by January 1, 2025, require the Department of Conservation, in consultation with the task force and its member agencies, to establish guidelines for funding the implementation of the regional priority strategies, as provided, and to establish regional investment strategies to identify and align resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies that contribute to the goals and key actions identified in the California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan issued by the task force in January 2021 and any subsequent updates to this plan, and the implementation strategy. The bill would authorize conservancies, departments, and boards within the Natural Resources Agency to directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives. The bill would require the department to provide the task force and to post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:
(1) High severity wildfire, tree mortality, and other major forest disturbances increasingly occur across tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of acres of landscapes, yet funding awards remain primarily scaled to, and directed at, a project level of thousands of acres of landscape.
(2) The state is encouraging and funding regional collaboration and planning processes to develop landscape scale solutions to address high-severity wildfire and forest health, including watershed and habitat restoration.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to match funding levels to the scale of the problem and the scale of regionally developed plans and projects.

SEC. 2.

 Section 4208 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

4208.
 For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Department” means the Department of Conservation.
(b) “Eligible coordinating organization” means a local government, tribal government, resource conservation district, joint powers authority, or nongovernmental organization with a history of providing technical assistance and demonstrated capacity to coordinate regional partners across the state.
(c) “Forest collaborative” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 4810.
(d) “Implementation strategy” means the comprehensive implementation strategy developed under Section 4771.
(e) “Program” means the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program.
(f) “Regional entity” means a state conservancy, local government, tribal government, resource conservation district, joint powers authority, or nongovernmental organization with a history of implementing related projects, demonstrated capacity to work across regional partners, and ability to serve as fiscal administrators for the program.
(g) “Statewide implementation” means identifying and supporting regional entities in every part of the state that contains or is adjacent to a very high or high fire hazard severity zone identified by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to Section 51178 of the Government Code or Article 9 (commencing with Section 4201).

SEC. 3.

 Section 4208.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

4208.2.
 (a) The department, in consultation with the task force and its member agencies, by January 1, 2025, shall establish both of the following:
(1) Guidelines for funding the implementation of regional priority strategies developed pursuant to Section 4208.1 that shall include monitoring and reporting requirements and other criteria determined as necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.
(2) Regional investment strategies to identify and align federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector resources that support implementation of regional priority strategies that contribute to achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan issued by the task force in January 2021 and any subsequent updates to this plan, and the implementation strategy.
(b) To achieve the goals and key actions identified in the regional priority strategies, the California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan issued by the task force in January 2021 and any subsequent updates to this plan, implementation strategy, and regional investment strategies, conservancies, departments, and boards within the Natural Resources Agency may directly award regional block grants to eligible regional entities, forest collaboratives, and partnerships to implement regional plans, strategies, agreements, and initiatives, including, but not limited to, regional priority strategies developed pursuant to Section 4208.1 and multijurisdictional landscape-scale projects.
(c) The department shall provide the task force and shall post on its internet website a description, amount, and outcome of each regional block grant.