Amended in Senate July 16, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 824


Introduced by Assembly Member Gatto

February 26, 2015


An act to amend Section 4137 of the Public Resources Code, relating to fire protection.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 824, as amended, Gatto. Fire prevention activities.

Existing law requires the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to classify all lands within the state, without regard to any classification of lands made by or for any federal agency or purpose, for the purpose of determining areas in which the financial responsibility of preventing and suppressing fires is primarily the responsibility of the state.

Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to provide an annual report to the Legislature detailing the department’s fire prevention activities, as described. Existing law requires the report to include specified data and information.

This bill would, for purposes of this report, describe “fire prevention activities” to include coordination and cooperation with the federalbegin delete governmentend deletebegin insert government, as providedend insert. The bill would require the report to include a map of the areas of coordination between the department and the federal government, as provided.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 4137 of the Public Resources Code is
2amended to read:

3

4137.  

(a) For purposes of this section, “fire prevention
4activities” include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

5(1) Fire prevention education.

6(2) Hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management.

7(3) Fire investigation.

8(4) Civil cost recovery.

9(5) Forest and fire law enforcement.

10(6) Fire prevention engineering.

11(7) Prefire planning.

12(8) Risk analysis.

13(9) Volunteer programs and partnerships.

14(10) Coordination and cooperation with the federalbegin delete government.end delete
15begin insert government, which shall include, but not be limited to, all of the
16following:end insert

begin insert

17(A) Estimates of state and federal fire prevention costs to fund
18fire prevention activities of Fire Safe Councils, community
19emergency response teams developed by local governments, and
20similar organizations who cooperate with state and federal
21authorities to reduce the risk of wildfires near communities.

end insert
begin insert

22(B) Estimates of the funding needs for forest fuel management
23programs to reduce urgent fire risks near communities at high risk
24of wildfire.

end insert
begin insert

25(C) Usage of coordinated policies that promote defensible space
26adjacent to communities where multiple jurisdictions may engage
27in fire suppression activities.

end insert

28(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the year-round staffing
29and the extension of the workweek that has been provided to the
30department pursuant to memorandums of understanding with the
31state will result in significant increases in the department’s current
32level of fire prevention activities. It is also the intent of the
33Legislature that the budgetary augmentations for year-round
34staffing not reduce the reimbursements that the department receives
35from contracts with local governments for the department to
36provide local fire protection and emergency services pursuant to
37Section 4144, commonly referred to as “Amador agreements.”

P3    1(c) On or before January 10 of each year, the department shall
2provide a report to the Legislature, including the budget and fiscal
3committees of the Assembly and the Senate, in accordance with
4Section 9795 of the Government Code, detailing the department’s
5fire prevention activities, including the increased activities
6described in subdivision (b). The report shall display the fire
7prevention activities of the previous fiscal year, as well as the
8information from previous reports for purposes of a comparison
9of data. The report shall include all of the following:

10(1) Fire prevention activities performed by the department on
11lands designated as state responsibility areas, and by counties,
12where, pursuant to a contract with the department, a county has
13agreed to provide fire protection services in state responsibility
14areas within county boundaries on behalf of the department. The
15fire prevention activities included in the report pursuant to this
16paragraph shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

17(A) The number of hours of fire prevention education performed.

18(B) The number of defensible space inspections conducted,
19including statewide totals and totals for each region.

20(C) The number of citations issued for noncompliance with
21Section 4291.

22(D) The number of acres treated by mechanical fuel reduction.

23(E) The number of acres treated by prescribed burns.

24(F) Any other data or qualitative information deemed necessary
25by the department in order to provide the Legislature with a clear
26and accurate accounting of fire prevention activities, particularly
27with regard to variations from one year to the next.

28(G) A map of the areas of coordination between the department
29and the federal government, particularly in areas of high fire hazard
30severity or inbegin delete wildlife-urbanend deletebegin insert wildland-urbanend insert interface areas.

31(2) The fire prevention performance measures described in
32subparagraphs (A) to (G), inclusive, of paragraph (1) shall be
33reported for each region annually, including activities performed
34from December 15 to April 15, inclusive.

35(3) Projected fire prevention activities for the following fiscal
36year.

37(4) Information on each of the “Amador agreements” described
38in subdivision (b), including an annual update on the number of
P4    1those agreements and reimbursements received from the
2agreements that are in effect.



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