CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 747

Author:(Levine)

As Amended Ver:September 6, 2019

Majority vote

SUMMARY:

Requires cities and counties in the safety element of the general plan to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios.

The Senate Amendments:

Delay implementation until January 1, 2022, as specified, and address chaptering out issues.

COMMENTS:

The safety element of the general plan establishes policies and programs to protect the community from risks associated with seismic, geologic, flood, and wildfire hazards. It is the major tool for identifying hazards that should be considered in preparing the land use element and the other elements of the general plan, and should be consulted before making land use decisions. These policies and plans are usually supported by detailed maps of fault zones, mudslides, flooding, dam collapse inundation areas, ground subsidence, vegetation density/slope combinations for fire risk, and other safety-related concerns.

Counties that contain a State Responsibility Area (SRA) and any city or county containing a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (Zone) must submit its safety element for review and comment by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and any local agencies that provide fire protection to the city or county.

Local agencies are also required, as a precondition for federal hazard mitigation grants, to prepare a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) every five years. Local agencies can work together on a multi-jurisdictional basis for the LHMP and submit it to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for review. LHMPs are essential in identifying and developing strategies to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities associated with disasters. Cal OES provides technical assistance to local governments in the development of these plans required under the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, and assists with integrating hazard identification, risk assessments, risk management, and loss prevention into a comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation.

This bill requires cities and counties to address the capacity, safety, and viability of evacuation routes in the safety element of the general plan, and is an author-sponsored measure.

According to the Author:

"Natural disasters have long devastated California but with the effects of climate change leading to severe wildfires it is necessary for local governments to have more concise plans for large-scale and swift evacuations. The town of Paradise provides a tragic example of the importance of evacuation route capacity. In 2015, Skyway Boulevard, one of the main outbound roads, underwent lane reduction from a four to two lane road. During the Camp Fire, residents were forced to move southbound via Skyway Boulevard. By 10am that day, evacuees were forced to abandon their vehicles and proceed on foot. The 2018 Camp Fire resulted in 85 civilian casualties; the deadliest in California history. AB 747 will help save lives by requiring local governments to preemptively plan their evacuation route capacity needs under a range of emergency scenarios."

Arguments in Support:

Supporters state that California faces a daunting task in contending with prolonged wildfire seasons and that this bill will ensure that the capacity, safety, and viability of evacuation routes during an emergency are in place.

Arguments in Opposition:

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS:

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible fiscal costs.

VOTES:

ASM LOCAL GOVERNMENT: 8-0-0

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Lackey, Bloom, Chiu, Ramos, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Voepel

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 18-0-0

YES: Gonzalez, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Calderon, Carrillo, Chau, Diep, Eggman, Fong, Gabriel, Jones-Sawyer, Maienschein, Obernolte, Petrie-Norris, Quirk, Robert Rivas

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0-4

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Obernolte, Patterson, Petrie‑Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

ABS, ABST OR NV: Arambula, Grayson, Mullin, Quirk

SENATE FLOOR: 40-0-0

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Bates, Beall, Borgeas, Bradford, Caballero, Chang, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Galgiani, Glazer, Lena Gonzalez, Grove, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Hurtado, Jackson, Jones, Leyva, McGuire, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nielsen, Pan, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Skinner, Stern, Stone, Umberg, Wieckowski, Wiener, Wilk

UPDATED:

VERSION: September 6, 2019

CONSULTANT: Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN: 0002373

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 747

Author: Levine (D), et al.

Amended: 9/6/19 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/5/19

AYES: McGuire, Moorlach, Beall, Hertzberg, Hurtado, Nielsen, Wiener

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19 (Consent) - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: general plan: safety element

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill requires the safety element to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios.

Senate Floor Amendments of 9/6/19 delay implementation until January 1, 2022, as specified, and mitigate chaptering out issues.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires every county and city to adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements, including the safety element.
2. Provides that the safety element's purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires.
3. Requires, pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act, each city and county to prepare an Emergency Operations Plan, as specified.
4. Requires, pursuant to federal law, each city and county to complete a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) every five years to be eligible for federal disaster funding.
5. Requires the Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to designate areas of moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones (VHFHSVs).

This bill:

1. Requires each city or county to review and update its safety element to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios. This revision must occur either upon the next revision of an LHMP, adopted in accordance with the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 on or after January 1, 2022, or, if a local jurisdiction has not adopted an LHMP, beginning on or before January 1, 2022.
2. Allows a county or city that has adopted an LHMP, emergency operations plan, or other document that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives to summarize and incorporate into the safety element that other plan or document.

Background

Fire Hazard Severity Zones. CAL FIRE provides wildland fire protection on non-federal lands outside cities. To meet this duty, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) designates the State Responsibility Area (SRA) every five years. Within SRA lands, the Director of CALFIRE designates VHFHSZs. After the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley firestorm, the Legislature required CALFIRE to designate VHFHSZs in the Local Responsibility Area (LRA). These maps must be updated every five years (current maps date to 2007).

Landowners in the SRA and VHFHSZs must follow specified fire prevention practices and meet standards developed by the Board (AB 337, Bates, 1992). These practices and standards include maintaining defensible space of 100 feet around structures, performing certain activities to reduce the amount of flammable material near and on structures, and meeting specific building standards developed by CAL FIRE and the Department of Housing and Community Development that help a structure withstand ignition and reduce fire risk.

Planning and permitting. Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. General plans must also either include an eighth element on environmental justice, or incorporate environmental justice concerns throughout the other elements. Most of cities’ and counties’ major land use decisions—subdivisions, zoning, public works projects, use permits—must be consistent with their general plans. Development decisions must carry out and not obstruct a general plan’s policies.

The Planning and Zoning Law says that the safety element’s purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In 2012, the Legislature expanded the safety elements’ contents for fire risks on land classified as SRAs and VHFHSZs to include assessment of risks, objectives, and feasible implementation measures (SB 1241, Kehoe, Chapter 311, Statutes of 2012).

Comments

Purpose of the bill. The 2018 wildfire season eclipsed 2017 as the most destructive and deadliest year for wildfires in California. The Mendocino Complex Fire alone burned 459,123 acres to become the largest fire in California history. Even more devastating, the Camp Fire in November 2018 became California’s most destructive and deadliest wildfire, which decimated the Town of Paradise, killing 86 people and destroying nearly 19,000 structures. One reason the Camp Fire was so deadly was that the Town of Paradise lacked adequate evacuation routes to simultaneously allow residents to leave and public safety personnel to enter. Modern development practices require adequate ingress and egress to new developments, but existing developments that weren’t built to those standards occur throughout the state. AB 747 ensures that cities and counties conduct the necessary planning to ensure that evacuation routes will allow residents to escape to safety during natural disasters or other hazardous events. While fire is currently front and center in the minds of Californians, AB 747 applies to evacuation planning for a variety of hazards. AB 747 is a common-sense measure that will help save lives when the next disaster hits.

Related/Prior Legislation

The Legislature is considering numerous fire-related bills this year. SB 99 (Nielsen, 2019) requires local safety elements to identify residential developments in hazard areas that do not have at least two evacuation routes. SB 182 (Jackson, 2019) comprehensively updates the state’s laws regarding new development in the VHFHSZ. SB 190 (Dodd, 2019) requires the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space ordinance and a training manual on Wildlife Urban Interface standards for building officials, builders, and fire service personnel. AB 1516 (Friedman, 2019) enhances the state’s defensible space requirements.

Previously, in 2018, the Legislature took important actions to improve wildfire planning and safety. Notable bills include the following:

• SB 901 (Dodd, Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018) established a comprehensive framework to address and prevent catastrophic wildfires including prevention and planning by the state's electric utilities; management of the state's forests, chaparrals, and other lands to prevent and defend against wildfires; and standards to stabilize electrical corporations in the event of extensive liability resulting from claims under inverse condemnation. SB 901 also appropriated $200 million per year through the 2023-24 budget for forest health and fire prevention.
• SB 1260 (Jackson, Chapter 624, Statutes of 2018) made various changes related to local fire planning, prescribed fire requirements, and broader fire prevention efforts, including to require that: (1) local safety elements reflect best practices contained in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research’s (OPR) technical guidance for fire hazard planning; (2) cities and counties meet with the Board on their draft safety elements at the request of the Board; and (3) cities and counties transmit any fire-related findings made under the Subdivision Map Act to the Board.
• AB 2911 (Friedman, Chapter 641, Statutes of 2018) made various changes to fire safety planning, including to: require local agencies to submit ordinances adopting VHFHSZs to the Board; direct OPR to update its technical guidance for fire and land use planning; and require the Board to identify at-risk subdivisions not less than every five years.
• AB 1956 (Limón, Chapter 632, Statutes of 2018) required CAL FIRE to establish a local grant program and establishes the criteria for those grants.
• SB 465 (Jackson, Chapter 837, Statutes of 2018) expanded, until January 1, 2029, PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing to allow cities and counties in VHFHSZs to allow contractual assessments for property owners to finance wildfire safety improvements.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/6/19)

American Concrete Pipe Association
American Planning Association, California Chapter
City of Fullerton

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/6/19)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Grayson, Mullin, Quirk

Prepared by: Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119

9/9/19 18:44:46

**** END ****

 THIRD READING 

Bill No: AB 747

Author: Levine (D), et al.

Amended: 4/1/19 in Assembly

Vote: 21

SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/5/19

AYES: McGuire, Moorlach, Beall, Hertzberg, Hurtado, Nielsen, Wiener

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19 (Consent) - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: general plan: safety element

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill requires the safety element to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires every county and city to adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements, including the safety element.
2. Provides that the safety element's purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires.
3. Requires, pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act, each city and county to prepare an Emergency Operations Plan, as specified.
4. Requires, pursuant to federal law, each city and county to complete a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) every five years to be eligible for federal disaster funding.
5. Requires the Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to designate areas of moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones (VHFHSVs).

This bill:

1. Requires each city or county to review and update its safety element to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios. This revision must occur either upon the next revision of an LHMP, adopted in accordance with the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 on or after January 1, 2020, or, if a local jurisdiction has not adopted an LHMP, beginning on or before January 1, 2021.
2. Allows a county or city that has adopted an LHMP, emergency operations plan, or other document that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives to summarize and incorporate into the safety element that other plan or document.

Background

Fire Hazard Severity Zones. CAL FIRE provides wildland fire protection on non-federal lands outside cities. To meet this duty, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) designates the State Responsibility Area (SRA) every five years. Within SRA lands, the Director of CALFIRE designates VHFHSZs. After the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley firestorm, the Legislature required CALFIRE to designate VHFHSZs in the Local Responsibility Area (LRA). These maps must be updated every five years (current maps date to 2007).

Landowners in the SRA and VHFHSZs must follow specified fire prevention practices and meet standards developed by the Board (AB 337, Bates, 1992). These practices and standards include maintaining defensible space of 100 feet around structures, performing certain activities to reduce the amount of flammable material near and on structures, and meeting specific building standards developed by CAL FIRE and the Department of Housing and Community Development that help a structure withstand ignition and reduce fire risk.

Planning and permitting. Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. General plans must also either include an eighth element on environmental justice, or incorporate environmental justice concerns throughout the other elements. Most of cities’ and counties’ major land use decisions—subdivisions, zoning, public works projects, use permits—must be consistent with their general plans. Development decisions must carry out and not obstruct a general plan’s policies.

The Planning and Zoning Law says that the safety element’s purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In 2012, the Legislature expanded the safety elements’ contents for fire risks on land classified as SRAs and VHFHSZs to include assessment of risks, objectives, and feasible implementation measures (SB 1241, Kehoe, Chapter 311, Statutes of 2012).

Comments

Purpose of the bill. The 2018 wildfire season eclipsed 2017 as the most destructive and deadliest year for wildfires in California. The Mendocino Complex Fire alone burned 459,123 acres to become the largest fire in California history. Even more devastating, the Camp Fire in November 2018 became California’s most destructive and deadliest wildfire, which decimated the Town of Paradise, killing 86 people and destroying nearly 19,000 structures. One reason the Camp Fire was so deadly was that the Town of Paradise lacked adequate evacuation routes to simultaneously allow residents to leave and public safety personnel to enter. Modern development practices require adequate ingress and egress to new developments, but existing developments that weren’t built to those standards occur throughout the state. AB 747 ensures that cities and counties conduct the necessary planning to ensure that evacuation routes will allow residents to escape to safety during natural disasters or other hazardous events. While fire is currently front and center in the minds of Californians, AB 747 applies to evacuation planning for a variety of hazards. AB 747 is a common-sense measure that will help save lives when the next disaster hits.

Related/Prior Legislation

The Legislature is considering numerous fire-related bills this year. SB 99 (Nielsen, 2019) requires local safety elements to identify residential developments in the VHFHSZs and SRA that do not have at least two evacuation routes. SB 182 (Jackson, 2019) comprehensively updates the state’s laws regarding new development in the VHFHSZ. SB 190 (Dodd, 2019) requires the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space ordinance and a training manual on Wildlife Urban Interface standards for building officials, builders, and fire service personnel. AB 1516 (Friedman, 2019) enhances the state’s defensible space requirements.

Previously, in 2018, the Legislature took important actions to improve wildfire planning and safety. Notable bills include the following:

• SB 901 (Dodd, Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018) established a comprehensive framework to address and prevent catastrophic wildfires including prevention and planning by the state's electric utilities; management of the state's forests, chaparrals, and other lands to prevent and defend against wildfires; and standards to stabilize electrical corporations in the event of extensive liability resulting from claims under inverse condemnation. SB 901 also appropriated $200 million per year through the 2023-24 budget for forest health and fire prevention.
• SB 1260 (Jackson, Chapter 624, Statutes of 2018) made various changes related to local fire planning, prescribed fire requirements, and broader fire prevention efforts, including to require that: (1) local safety elements reflect best practices contained in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research’s (OPR) technical guidance for fire hazard planning; (2) cities and counties meet with the Board on their draft safety elements at the request of the Board; and (3) cities and counties transmit any fire-related findings made under the Subdivision Map Act to the Board.
• AB 2911 (Friedman, Chapter 641, Statutes of 2018) made various changes to fire safety planning, including to: require local agencies to submit ordinances adopting VHFHSZs to the Board; direct OPR to update its technical guidance for fire and land use planning; and require the Board to identify at-risk subdivisions not less than every five years.
• AB 1956 (Limón, Chapter 632, Statutes of 2018) required CAL FIRE to establish a local grant program and establishes the criteria for those grants.
• SB 465 (Jackson, Chapter 837, Statutes of 2018) expanded, until January 1, 2029, PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing to allow cities and counties in VHFHSZs to allow contractual assessments for property owners to finance wildfire safety improvements.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

SUPPORT: (Verified 6/26/19)

American Concrete Pipe Association
American Planning Association, California Chapter

OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/26/19)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/2/19

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Bauer-Kahan, Berman, Bigelow, Bloom, Boerner Horvath, Bonta, Brough, Burke, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Chau, Chen, Chiu, Choi, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Cunningham, Dahle, Daly, Diep, Eggman, Flora, Fong, Frazier, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gloria, Gonzalez, Gray, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Kamlager-Dove, Kiley, Lackey, Levine, Limón, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Salas, Santiago, Smith, Mark Stone, Ting, Voepel, Waldron, Weber, Wicks, Wood, Rendon

NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Grayson, Mullin, Quirk

Prepared by: Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119

7/2/19 9:25:31

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE

Senator Mike McGuire, Chair

2019 - 2020 Regular

Planning and zoning: general plan: safety element

Requires the safety element to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios.

Background

Fire Hazard Severity Zones. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE) provides wildland fire protection on non-federal lands outside cities. To meet this duty, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Board) designates the State Responsibility Area (SRA) every five years. Within SRA lands, the Director of CALFIRE designates moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones (VHFHSZs). After the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley firestorm, the Legislature required CALFIRE to designate VHFHSZs in the Local Responsibility Area (LRA). These maps must be updated every five years (current maps date to 2007).

Landowners in the SRA and VHFHSZs must follow specified fire prevention practices and meet standards developed by the Board (AB 337, Bates, 1992). These practices and standards include maintaining defensible space of 100 feet around structures, performing certain activities to reduce the amount of flammable material near and on structures, and meeting specific building standards developed by CALFIRE and the Department of Housing and Community Development that help a structure withstand ignition and reduce fire risk.

Planning and permitting. Every county and city must adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements: land use, circulation, housing, conservation, open space, noise, and safety. General plans must also either include an eighth element on environmental justice, or incorporate environmental justice concerns throughout the other elements. Most of cities’ and counties’ major land use decisions—subdivisions, zoning, public works projects, use permits—must be consistent with their general plans. Development decisions must carry out and not obstruct a general plan’s policies.

The Planning and Zoning Law says that the safety element’s purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires. In 2012, the Legislature expanded the safety elements’ contents for fire risks on land classified as SRAs and VHFHSZs (SB 1241, Kehoe, 2012). SB 1241 required safety elements to contain:

• Specified information about fire hazards.
• Based on that information, a set of comprehensive goals, policies, and objectives to protect against unreasonable fire risks.
• To carry out those goals, a set of feasible implementation measures.

Cities and counties within the SRA or VHFHSZ must also submit a draft of any safety element amendments to the Board and to local fire protection agencies at least 90 days before adopting it. The Board must review and recommend changes to the draft safety element within 60 days of receiving it. If the Board provides recommendations within this timeframe, local governments must consider its recommendations. If they don’t adopt the Board’s recommendations, local governments have to explain why they didn’t to the Board. Local agencies must meet with the Board on its recommendations if the Board requests, but aren’t required to adopt the Board’s recommendations.

The safety element must also include similar information about risks due to climate change and goals, policies, objectives, and implementation measures to protect against those risks.

Before a city council or county board of supervisors can approve a subdivision of land in the SRA or VHFHSZ, it must make findings supported by substantial evidence that:

• The subdivision is consistent with the Board’s applicable regulations or local ordinances certified by the Board as meeting or exceeding the state regulations; and
• A local agency or CALFIRE, under contract, will provide structural fire protection and suppression services to the subdivision.

Upon making these findings, the city or county must send them, along with the subdivision maps, to the Board, to identify existing subdivisions in either an SRA or a VHFHSZ that do not have secondary egress routes and that are at significant fire risk.

Other local planning for disasters. Local agencies must also to prepare a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) every five years as a condition for receiving federal hazard mitigation grants. Local agencies can work together on a multi-jurisdictional basis for the LHMP and submit it to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for review and certification. LHMPs help cities and counties identify and mitigate risks and vulnerabilities associated with disasters. Cal OES provides technical assistance to local governments in the development of these plans required under the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and assists with integrating hazard identification, risk assessments, risk management, and loss prevention into a comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation.

In addition, under the California Emergency Services Act, all local agencies with a certified disaster council are required to prepare an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that meets state and federal requirements. Local EOPs generally include information on evacuation and transportation, sheltering, hazard-specific planning, regional planning, public-private partnerships, and recovery planning.

March 13^th oversight hearing. The Senate Governance & Finance Committee and the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee held an oversight hearing earlier this year, titled “Living Resiliently in the New Abnormal: The Future of Development in California’s Most Fire Prone Regions.” Among other topics, that hearing explored changes to land use planning and permitting that may be needed to reduce the loss of life and property from wildfire. One issue identified at the hearing was that the Town of Paradise lacked adequate emergency evacuation routes, resulting in residents who were trapped in their cars.

The author wants to improve local land use planning practices to ensure that cities and counties have safe and viable evacuation routes established in advance of disasters.

Proposed Law

Assembly Bill 747 requires each city or county to review and update its safety element to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios. This revision must occur either upon the next revision of a local hazard mitigation plan, adopted in accordance with the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 on or after January 1, 2020, or, if a local jurisdiction has not adopted a local hazard mitigation plan, beginning on or before January 1, 2021. AB 747 allows a county or city that has adopted a local hazard mitigation plan, emergency operations plan, or other document that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives to summarize and incorporate into the safety element that other plan or document.

State Revenue Impact

No estimate.

Comments

1. Purpose of the bill. The 2018 wildfire season eclipsed 2017 as the most destructive and deadliest year for wildfires in California. The Mendocino Complex Fire alone burned 459,123 acres to become the largest fire in California history. Even more devastating, the Camp Fire in November 2018 became California’s most destructive and deadliest wildfire, which decimated the Town of Paradise, killing 86 people and destroying nearly 19,000 structures. One reason the Camp Fire was so deadly was that the Town of Paradise lacked adequate evacuation routes to simultaneously allow residents to leave and public safety personnel to enter. Modern development practices require adequate ingress and egress to new developments, but existing developments that weren’t built to those standards occur throughout the state. AB 747 ensures that cities and counties conduct the necessary planning to ensure that evacuation routes will allow residents to escape to safety during natural disasters or other hazardous events. While fire is currently front and center in the minds of Californians, AB 747 applies to evacuation planning for a variety of hazards. AB 747 is a common-sense measure that will help save lives when the next disaster hits.

2. Mandate. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local governments for the costs of new or expanded state mandated local programs. Because AB 747 adds to the duties of local planners, Legislative Counsel says that the bill imposes a new state mandate. AB 747 disclaims the state's responsibility for providing reimbursement by citing local governments’ authority to charge for the costs of implementing the bill's provisions.

3. Related legislation. The Legislature is considering numerous fire-related bills this year. SB 99 (Nielsen), which the Committee approved at its April 24^th hearing on a 7-0 vote, requires local safety elements to identify residential developments in the VHFHSZ and SRA that do not have at least two evacuation routes. SB 182 (Jackson), which the Committee approved at its April 10^th hearing on a 6-0 vote, comprehensively updates the state’s laws regarding new development in the VHFHSZ. SB 190 (Dodd) requires the State Fire Marshal to develop a model defensible space ordinance and a training manual on Wildlife Urban Interface standards for building officials, builders, and fire service personnel. AB 1516 (Friedman) enhances the state’s defensible space requirements and imposes a $500 penalty for failure to maintain defensible space.

Previously, in 2018, the Legislature took important actions to improve wildfire planning and safety. Notable bills include the following:

• SB 901 (Dodd, 2018) establishes a comprehensive framework to address and prevent catastrophic wildfires including prevention and planning by the state's electric utilities; management of the state's forests, chaparrals, and other lands to prevent and defend against wildfires; and standards to stabilize electrical corporations in the event of extensive liability resulting from claims under inverse condemnation. SB 901 also appropriated $200 million per year through the 2023-24 budget for forest health and fire prevention.
• SB 1260 (Jackson, 2018) made various changes related to local fire planning, prescribed fire requirements, and broader fire prevention efforts, including to require that: (1) local safety elements reflect best practices contained in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research’s technical guidance for fire hazard planning; (2) cities and counties meet with the Board on their draft safety elements at the request of the Board; and (3) cities and counties transmit any fire-related findings made under the Subdivision Map Act to the Board.
• AB 2911 (Friedman, 2018) made various changes to fire safety planning, including to: require local agencies to submit ordinances adopting VHFHSZ to the Board; direct OPR to update its technical guidance for fire and land use planning; and require the Board to identify at-risk subdivisions not less than every 5 years.
• AB 1956 (Limón, 2018) requires CALFIRE to establish a local grant program and establishes the criteria for those grants.
• SB 465 (Jackson, 2018) expands, until January 1, 2029, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing to allow cities and counties in VHFHSZs to allow contractual assessments for property owners to finance wildfire safety improvements.

Assembly Actions

Assembly Local Government Committee: 8-0

Assembly Appropriations Committee: 18-0

Assembly Floor: 76-0

Support and Opposition

(5/31/19)

Support: American Concrete Pipe Association.

Opposition: Unknown.

-- END --

Date of Hearing: April 24, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Lorena Gonzalez, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 747

Author:(Levine) – As Amended Ver:April 1, 2019

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires cities and counties to address evacuation routes in the safety element of the general plan. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires, upon the next revision of a local hazard mitigation plan on or after January 1, 2020, or beginning on or before January 1, 2021, if a local jurisdiction has not adopted a hazard mitigation plan, each city and county to review and update the safety element of their general plan as necessary to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety, and viability under a range of emergency scenarios.
2. Allows a city or county that has adopted a plan or document that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives to use that information in the safety element by summarizing and incorporating that other plan or document by reference.

FISCAL EFFECT:

No state costs. Local costs associated with this bill are not reimbursable by the state because local agencies have the authority to levy fees to cover general plan updates.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. This bill seeks to help save lives during local emergencies by requiring local jurisdictions to review and update the safety elements of their general plans as necessary to ensure that local escape routes are safe and viable. According to the author:

Natural disasters have long devastated California but with the effects of climate change leading to severe wildfires it is necessary for local governments to have more concise plans for large-scale and swift evacuations. The town of Paradise provides a tragic example of the importance of evacuation route capacity.

1. Safety Element and Other Local Government Plans. The safety element of the general plan establishes policies and programs to protect the community from risks associated with seismic, geologic, flood and wildfire hazards. It is the major tool for identifying hazards that should be considered in preparing the land use element and the other elements of the general plan, and should be consulted before making land use decisions. These policies and plans are usually supported by detailed maps of fault zones, mudslides, flooding, dam collapse inundation areas, ground subsidence, vegetation density/slope combinations for fire risk and other safety-related concerns.

Any county containing a State Responsibility Area (SRA) and any city or county containing a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (Zone) must submit its safety element for review and comment by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and any local agencies that provide fire protection to the city or county. Local agencies are also required, as a precondition for federal hazard mitigation grants, to prepare a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) every five years.

Local agencies can work together on a multi-jurisdictional basis for the LHMP and submit it to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for review. LHMPs are essential in identifying and developing strategies to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities associated with disasters. Cal OES provides technical assistance to local governments in the development of these plans required under the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and assists with integrating hazard identification, risk assessments, risk management and loss prevention into a comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation.

Pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act, all local agencies with a certified disaster council are required to prepare an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that meets state and federal requirements. Local EOPs generally include information on evacuation and transportation, sheltering, hazard-specific planning, regional planning, public-private partnerships and recovery planning.

1. Prior Legislation. SB 1035 (Jackson), Chapter 733, Statutes of 2018, required the safety element to be revised to identify new information on fire hazards, flood hazards, and climate adaptation and resiliency strategies applicable to the city or county that was not available during the previous revision of the safety element. This revision must occur upon each revision of the housing element or local hazard mitigation plan, but not less than once every eight years.

Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: March 27, 2019

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 747 (

Author:Levine) – As Introduced Ver:February 19, 2019

SUBJECT: Planning and zoning: general plan: safety element.

SUMMARY: Requires cities and counties to address the capacity of evacuation routes in the safety element of the general plan. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires cities and counties, in the safety element of the general plan, to address the capacity of evacuation routes under a range of emergency scenarios.
2. Provides that no reimbursement is required because a local agency has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of serviced mandated by this act.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires every county and city to adopt a general plan with seven mandatory elements, including the safety element.
2. Provides that the safety element's purpose is to protect the community from unreasonable risks from geologic hazards, flooding, and wildland and urban fires.
3. Requires, pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act, each city and county to prepare an Emergency Operations Plan, as specified.
4. Requires, pursuant to federal law, each city and county to complete a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) every five years.

FISCAL EFFECT: This bill is keyed fiscal and contains a state-mandated local program.

COMMENTS:

1. Bill Summary. Existing law requires cities and counties to address evacuation routes in the safety element of the general plan. This bill additionally requires cities and counties to address the capacity of those evacuation routes under a range of emergency scenarios. This bill is author-sponsored.
2. Author’s Statement. According to the author, “Natural disasters have long devastated California but with the effects of climate change leading to severe wildfires it is necessary for local governments to have more concise plans for large-scale and swift evacuations. The town of Paradise provides a tragic example of the importance of evacuation route capacity. In 2015, Skyway Boulevard, one of the main outbound roads, underwent lane reduction from a four to two lane road. During the Camp Fire, residents were forced to move southbound via Skyway Boulevard. By 10am that day, evacuees were forced to abandon their vehicles and proceed on foot. The 2018 Camp Fire resulted in 85 civilian casualties; the deadliest in California history. AB 747 will help save lives by requiring local governments to preemptively plan their evacuation route capacity needs under a range of emergency scenarios.”
3. Background on Safety Element and Other Local Government Plans. The safety element of the general plan establishes policies and programs to protect the community from risks associated with seismic, geologic, flood, and wildfire hazards. It is the major tool for identifying hazards that should be considered in preparing the land use element and the other elements of the general plan, and should be consulted before making land use decisions. These policies and plans are usually supported by detailed maps of fault zones, mudslides, flooding, dam collapse inundation areas, ground subsidence, vegetation density/slope combinations for fire risk, and other safety-related concerns.

Counties that contain a State Responsibility Area (SRA) and any city or county containing a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (Zone) must submit its safety element for review and comment by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and any local agencies that provide fire protection to the city or county.

Local agencies are also required, as a precondition for federal hazard mitigation grants, to prepare a local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) every five years. Local agencies can work together on a multi-jurisdictional basis for the LHMP and submit it to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) for review. LHMPs are essential in identifying and developing strategies to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities associated with disasters. Cal OES provides technical assistance to local governments in the development of these plans required under the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, and assists with integrating hazard identification, risk assessments, risk management, and loss prevention into a comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation.

Pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act, all local agencies with a certified disaster council are required to prepare an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that meets state and federal requirements. Local EOPs generally include information on evacuation and transportation, sheltering, hazard-specific planning, regional planning, public-private partnerships, and recovery planning.

1. Recent Legislation. SB 379 (Jackson), Chapter 608, Statutes of 2015, established a requirement in general plan law that a city or county must address climate adaptation and resiliency strategies upon the next revision of the safety element, and then continue to update the safety element, as needed, for adaptation and resiliency concerns, upon subsequent revisions of the safety element, to occur concurrently with subsequent revisions of the housing element.

SB 974 (Committee on Governance and Finance), Chapter 366, Statutes of 2016, deleted the requirement that the safety element be regularly updated as specified in SB 397, upon revisions of the housing element.

SB 1035 (Jackson), Chapter 733, Statutes of 2018, reestablished that update requirement and also required the safety element to be revised to identify new information on fire hazards, flood hazards, and climate adaptation and resiliency strategies applicable to the city or county that was not available during the previous revision of the safety element. This revision must occur upon each revision of the housing element or LHMP, but not less than once every eight years.

1. Policy Considerations:
   1. Other local government planning documents. As mentioned above, there are several other planning documents prepared by local agencies that may cover the issue of evacuation routes and emergency planning for a hazard or disaster. These documents may be prepared by emergency operations personal, planners, or public safety professionals, among others.

The Committee may wish to ask the author to allow flexibility for cities and counties to meet the requirements of the bill by referencing other prepared documents like the EOP or the LHMP, so that the work is not duplicated in the safety element when a plan is already in place at the local level. It is also important that these documents are consistent with each other.

• 1. Unclear start date. It is unclear when this new duty on cities and counties would start – at the next time a city or county updates its safety element? Because of the importance of local agencies addressing evacuation routes for hazards and disasters, the Committee may wish to ask the author to specify a timeframe for implementation.

1. Arguments in Support. None on file.
2. Arguments in Opposition. None on file.
3. Committee Amendments. To address the concerns raised above, the Committee may wish to ask the author to clarify that a city or county may meet the requirements of the bill by referencing or linking to another planning document that substantially meets the requirements of the bill, and also specify an implementation date, as follows:

Strike existing requirement in bill, and instead add the following language to provisions in the safety element:

Upon the next revision of a local hazard mitigation plan, adopted in accordance with the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-390), on or after January 1, 2019, or, if a local jurisdiction has not adopted a local hazard mitigation plan, beginning on or before January 1, 2021, the safety element shall be reviewed and updated as necessary to identify evacuation routes and their capacity, safety and viability, under a range of emergency scenarios. If a city or county has adopted the local hazard mitigation plan, emergency operations plan, or other document that fulfills commensurate goals and objectives, a local jurisdiction may use that information in the safety element to comply with this subdivision, and shall summarize and incorporate by reference into the safety element the other plan or document.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

None on file

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958