SB 1260

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law requires a local agency to designate, by ordinance, very high fire hazard severity zones in its jurisdiction within 120 days of receiving recommendations from the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and exempts a local agency, as defined, from that requirement if ordinances of the local agency, adopted on or before December 31, 1992, impose standards that are equivalent to, or more restrictive than, specified state standards. Existing law authorizes a local agency, at its discretion, to exclude from specified requirements governing fire risk reduction an area identified as a very high fire hazard severity zone by the director within the jurisdiction of the local agency, following a specified finding supported by substantial evidence that those requirements are not necessary for effective fire protection within the area. This bill would eliminate the above-described exemption and exclusion and would require the local agency to transmit a copy of the adopted ordinance to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection within 30 days of adoption. By imposing a new duty on a local agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires each planning agency to prepare, and the legislative body of each county and city to adopt, a comprehensive, long-term general plan, including a safety element, for the physical development of the county or city, as provided. Existing law requires the draft element of, or draft amendment to, the safety element of a county or city's general plan to be submitted to the state board and to every local agency that provides fire protection to territory in the city or county, as provided. Existing law requires the state board to review and recommend changes to the safety element, as provided. Existing law requires the board of supervisors or the city council to consider the recommendations made by the state board. This bill would authorize the state board to request a consultation with the board of supervisors or city council if the local agency decides not to adopt the board's recommendations, as provided. Because the bill would require local officials to consult with the board, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires, before a legislative body takes action to adopt or substantially amend a general plan, the planning agency to refer the proposed action to specified entities. This bill would also require the planning agency to refer the proposed action to the state board and every local agency that provides fire protection to territory in the city or county, as provided. By requiring a higher level of service from a local agency with respect to the referral of the proposed action, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The Subdivision Map Act vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency, and sets forth procedures governing the local agency's processing, approval, conditional approval, or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps, and the modification thereof. The act generally requires a subdivider to file a tentative map or vesting tentative map with the local agency, as specified, and the local agency, in turn, to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove the map within a specified time period. Before approving a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, for an area located in a state responsibility area or a very high fire hazard severity zone, existing law requires the local agency to make specified findings, including that the design and location of each lot in the subdivision and the subdivision as a whole are consistent with any regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection relating to buildings or structures in hazardous fire areas or mountainous, forest, brush, and grass-covered lands, as specified. This bill would instead require a finding that the subdivision is consistent with any regulations adopted by the board relating to buildings or structures in the areas described above, or consistent with local ordinances, as provided. The bill would require the local agency, upon approval of the tentative map in specified situations, to transmit a copy of the findings and maps to the board, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The act also requires the local agency to make a finding that, to the extent practicable, ingress and egress for the subdivision meet regulations regarding road standards for fire equipment access, as provided. This bill would delete this provision. (4) Existing law authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into an agreement, including a grant agreement, for prescribed burning operations or other hazardous fuel reduction efforts, with either the owner or any other person who has legal control of any property, any public agency with regulatory or natural resource management authority over any property that is included within any wildland, or any nonprofit organization for specified purposes. Existing law provides that an agreement shall not be entered into unless the director makes a specified determination. Existing law authorizes private burning of lands under specified circumstances, as described in (6) . Existing law provides that a person who allows a fire upon his or her property to escape to the public or private property of another, without exercising due diligence to control the fire, is liable to the owner of the property for the damages to the property caused by the fire. This bill would instead provide that the director may enter into an agreement, including a grant agreement, for prescribed burning or other hazardous fuel reduction efforts with any person, as described, to conduct prescribed burning operations, as provided. The bill would delete the requirement that the director make a specified determination before entering into the agreement. This bill would provide that compliance with the provisions of law relating to prescribed burning-operation agreements with the director or with a permit authorizing the private burning of lands under specified circumstances shall constitute prima facie evidence of due diligence with respect to the above provision relating to fire liability. The bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to cooperate with private and public landowners in prescribed fire activities, as provided. The bill would require, to the extent feasible, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection's Vegetation Treatment Program Programmatic Environmental Impact Report, when certified, to serve as the programmatic environmental document for prescribed burns, as provided. Existing law requires any contract entered into pursuant to the above provisions to clearly state the obligations of each party, specify the value assigned, as provided, and specify the total costs of the prescribed burning operation or other hazardous fuel reduction, as provided. Existing law provides that in certain situations, the amount of moneys due to the state shall become a lien upon the property and that any money recovered shall be credited to the department's current support appropriation as a reimbursement. This bill would delete these provisions. Existing law requires a prescribed burning or other hazardous fuel reduction agreement to designate an officer of the department as the fire boss, as provided. This bill would also authorize the department to designate a burn boss. Existing law authorizes the director, in certain circumstances, and with the approval of the Director of Finance, to enter into an agreement with private consultants or contractors or with other public agencies for furnishing all or a part of the state's share of the responsibility for a burning operation, as provided. Existing law prohibits an agreement from being entered into unless the director determines that it will enable the prescribed burning operation to be conducted at a cost equal to, or less than, the cost that would otherwise be incurred by the state. This bill would delete the above prohibition as well as the requirement that the Department of Finance approve the agreement. Existing law authorizes the department to purchase 3rd-party liability policy of insurance, as provided. Existing law provides that if the department elects not to purchase insurance, the department shall agree to indemnify and hold harmless the person or public agency contracting with the department with respect to liability arising out of performance of the contract. This bill would also give the department the option, if it elects not to purchase insurance, to provide a maximum of liability for the department or provide for the proportionate share of liability between the department and the person contracting with the department, as provided. The bill would require the agreements described above to provide that the department shall be fully responsible for prescribed burns initiated at the department's request, with the consent of the landowner, for training or other purposes on lands owned by a nonprofit organization or other public agencies. Existing law provides that any costs incurred by the department in suppressing any wildland fire originating or spreading from a prescribed burning operation conducted by the department pursuant to a contract shall not be governed by a specified provision of law that prohibits the department from collecting costs from a party to the contract, as specified. This bill would provide that this provision does not apply when the department is applying for federal assistance. (5) Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and air pollution control and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law authorizes the air pollution control officer of any district in a county with a population of 6,000,000 or less, upon authorization of the district board, to authorize, by permit, open outdoor fires for disposing of specified wastes in a mechanized burner under certain conditions. This bill would allow these fires to be authorized, as provided above, in any county, regardless of population. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes. (6) Existing law authorizes a person, firm, corporation, or a group or combination thereof, that owns or controls brush-covered land, forest land, woodland, grassland, shrubland, or any combination thereof, within a state responsibility area to apply to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for permission to utilize prescribed burning operations for specified public purposes. Existing law authorizes various public agencies to use fire to abate fire hazards. Existing law provides that the issuance of a permit by the department does not relieve the permit holder from the duty of exercising due diligence to avoid damage to property of others in conducting the burning, as provided. This bill would provide that a person, firm, corporation, or a group or combination thereof, that owns or controls brush-covered land, forest land, woodland, grassland, shrubland, or any combination thereof, within a state responsibility area authorized by the department to utilize prescribed burning operations for specified public purposes is also authorized to use fire to abate a fire hazard, as provided. This bill would authorize a person, until January 1, 2039, with a valid fire boss certificate, as provided, to apply for the prescribed burning permit on behalf of the person or entities described above, and would authorize the department, in specified situations, to appoint a burn boss. The bill would provide that compliance with a permit issued pursuant these provisions would constitute prima facie evidence of due diligence. The bill would require the department and the State Air Resources Board, in coordination with local air pollution control and air quality management districts, to develop and fund a program, upon appropriation, to enhance air quality and smoke monitoring, and to provide a public awareness campaign regarding prescribed burns, among other things. (7) Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to establish a program of fire prevention training for fire prevention inspectors employed by local fire protection agencies. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal, on or before January 1, 2021, with the involvement of the Statewide Training and Education Advisory Committee, to develop a curriculum, or amend an existing curriculum, for a certification program for fire bosses, as provided. The bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop a training program for prescribed fire users to certify professionals in any agency or organization as fire bosses. The bill would require the department to certify these individuals to a common standard. (8) Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to do certain things, including, but not limited to, providing fire prevention and firefighting implements and apparatus. This bill would require the department, by working with specified entities, to enhance the department's education efforts regarding fire prevention and public safety. (9) Existing law authorizes the state to assume a proportionate share of the costs of site preparation, prescribed burning operations, or other hazardous fuel reduction efforts conducted on wildlands other than wildlands under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish regulations establishing standards to be used by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection in determining the state's share of the cost. Existing law authorizes the director to accept grants and donations of equipment, materials, or funds from any source for the purpose of supporting or facilitating prescribed burning or other hazardous fuels reduction work, as provided. Existing law authorizes the director to enter into a master agreement with federal land management agencies to conduct joint prescribed burning operations on wildlands and federal lands, as provided. This bill would delete these provisions. (10) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.