SB 1370: Covered wildfire mitigation projects: consolidated and expedited review.

Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which is known as and may be referred to as CAL-FIRE. Existing law establishes in CAL-FIRE the Office of the State Fire Marshal and requires that office to establish the Community Wildfire Mitigation Assistance Program to coordinate regional and local efforts with state policies, strategies, and programs for community wildfire mitigation in order to improve wildfire preparedness and prevention, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable communities.

This bill would require that, notwithstanding any other law, any state-level environmental and resource permits, approvals, consultations, and reviews required for a covered wildfire mitigation project, as defined, be consolidated into a single coordinated review by a project review team, as defined, and administered jointly by the consolidated review agencies, defined as the Natural Resources Agency in coordination with the California Environmental Protection Agency. The bill would require an applicant seeking authorization to undertake a covered wildfire mitigation project to submit a single, consolidated application package to the consolidated review agencies. The bill would require a decision to be rendered by the consolidated review agencies within 60 calendar days of the consolidated review agencies deeming an application is complete, as provided, and would authorize the applicant and the consolidated review agencies to agree to extend the 60-day timeline if both parties agree to the extension. The bill would require the approvals to be in writing and to include specified information, including, among other things, a description of the project and a list of permits, agreements, consultations, or approvals waived by the review agencies authorization.

This bill would further provide for an expedited authorization, as defined, issued pursuant to these requirements, which would waive the requirement that the covered wildfire mitigation project comply with statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements, within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, commissions, offices, and agencies within the consolidated review agencies, except as provided. The expedited authorization would replace any other permit, agreement, or authorization required by state statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements that falls within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, commissions, offices, and agencies within the consolidated review agencies. The bill would require covered wildfire mitigation projects to be conducted in compliance with specified requirements and would impose a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each intentional, knowing, or negligent violation, as provided. The bill would require covered wildfire mitigation projects to be limited in project size based on the type of project, as specified, and completed within 5 years, for prescribed fire projects, or 2 years, for all other projects, of approval by the consolidated review agencies. The bill would further require CAL-FIRE to provide a cost-benefit analysis to estimate a projects return on investment for risk reduction or an explanation of why an estimate could not be assigned for each department state-funded grant project. This bill would specify that the authority to issuance expedited authorizations becomes inoperative on January 1, 2029.

This bill would provide that the above-described provisions do not preclude compliance with applicable local and federal statutes, rules, and regulations.

This bill would also require, on or before July 1, 2028, the consolidated review agencies to report to the Legislature on, among other required things, the implementation of all wildfire mitigation projects that were permitted pursuant to the above-described provisions, as provided.

This bill would repeal the above provisions on January 1, 2034.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment.

CEQA authorizes the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify a regulatory program that meets specified requirements as a certified regulatory program. For actions taken under a certified regulatory program, CEQA exempts those actions from certain of its provisions.

Existing law authorizes the Director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into an agreement for prescribed burning or other hazardous fuel reduction with any person to conduct prescribed burning operations and joint prescribed burning operations that serve the public interest and are beneficial to the state. Existing law requires, to the extent feasible, that the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protections Vegetation Treatment Program Programmatic Environmental Impact Report serve as the programmatic environmental document for prescribed fires initiated by a third party for a public purpose, as provided.

This bill would require the board to develop the Nontimber Vegetation Management Program for nontimber vegetation management activities that are not subject to specified forest practice rules for permitting of activities on local, nonfederal, private, and state-owned lands. The bill would authorize an eligible entity proposing to conduct those vegetation management activities to seek authorization under the program. The bill would require the board, on or before July 1, 2028, to adopt emergency regulations for the program, as provided, that qualifies for certification by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency as a certified regulatory program under CEQA and would require the board to submit those emergency regulations to the secretary for review and certification. The bill would require the board, in developing the emergency regulations to conduct no fewer than 3 public meetings to receive public comments with one of those meetings occurring in southern California. The bill would require the board, following the adoption of the emergency regulations to adopt permanent regulations in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act before July 1, 2030. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2035.