AB 981: Forestry: California Fire Safe Council.

Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities in the state. Existing law requires the local assistance grant program to establish a robust year-round fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities. Exiting law requires that the eligible activities include, among other things, fire prevention activities, as provided. Existing law permits the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to authorize advance payments, not exceeding 25% of the total grant award, from a grant awarded pursuant to the local assistance grant program. Existing law requires the grantee to expend these funds from the advance payment within 6 months of receipt, as provided.

Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, through a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings.

This bill would establish the California Fire Safe Council in the Natural Resources Agency consisting of 11 members, as specified. The bill would require the council to identify programs administered by public agencies to address and minimize the risks of wildfire and to coordinate the implementation of those programs, to identify public and private programs that may be leveraged to facilitate structure-hardening and community resilience to minimize the impacts of wildfire to habitable structures, to conduct public outreach effects to regional and local wildfire mitigation groups, and to recommend make recommendations to the Legislature on how the programs identified by the council can be coordinated to increase the effectiveness of those programs. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to post on its internet website the membership of the council and recommendations made by the council.

This bill would state that an appropriation of that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, an amount not to exceed $7,000,000 shall be available from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the Natural Resources Agency for purposes of the bill shall be made in the annual Budget Act for the 202122 fiscal year. bill.