Cal. PRC § 4291.5 — California Code / Code prc / Division 4 / Part 2 / Chapter 3 / Section 4291.5
Section 4291.5
Status: in_force

(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Home hardening” means the replacement or repair of structural features that are affixed to the property with features that are in compliance with Chapter 7A (commencing with Section 701A.1) of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations.

(2) “Property owner” means a person described in subdivision (a) of Section 4291 of this code or subdivision (a) of Section 51182 of the Government Code.

(3) “Qualified entities” means the following entities that have completed the program developed, and received a certification, pursuant to Section 4291.6:

(A) Counties, state conservancies, special districts, and other political subdivisions of the state.

(B) Members of the California Conservation Corps, the Board of Commissioners under CaliforniaVolunteers described in Section 8411 of the Government Code, local conservation corps, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, Firewise USA organizations, and nonprofit entities focused on wildfire resiliency.

(C) University of California fire advisors.

(D) Registered Professional Foresters.

(E) Other entities or individuals deemed appropriate by the director.

(4) “Wildfire safety improvements” means wildfire resilience and fire safety improvements, including measures for home hardening, the creation of defensible space, and other appropriate fuel reduction activities, to residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or other real property identified by the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the director.

(b) The director shall establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts. Qualified entities participating in the program shall be authorized by the director to conduct defensible space assessments to assess compliance with Section 4291 within the state responsibility area, to assess compliance with Section 51182 of the Government Code within local responsibility areas, educate property owners about wildfire safety improvements that may be undertaken to harden a structure and make it more resistant to fire, and assess whether wildfire safety improvements have been completed in or on a structure.

(c) (1) The director shall establish a common reporting platform that allows defensible space and home hardening assessment data, collected by the qualified entities, to be reported to the department and shall establish any necessary quality control measure to ensure that the assessment data is accurate and reliable. Data obtained voluntarily from a property owner for reasons other than responding to a request related to compliance with Section 4291 of this code or Section 51182 of the Government Code shall be anonymized and kept confidential if requested by the property owner, and shall not be used for compliance or enforcement purposes associated with ordinances that directly relate to defensible space and home hardening inspections unless specifically requested by the property owner.

(2) The department shall compile the data submitted pursuant to paragraph (1).

(d) The director may use the defensible space and home hardening assessment data that is gathered in response to requests related to compliance with Section 4291 of this code or Section 51182 of the Government Code, and other data voluntarily provided by a property owner if authorized by the property owner, to do any of the following:

(1) Direct inspection and enforcement resources away from landowners who meet or exceed the department’s standards and regulations for maintaining defensible space.

(2) Direct inspection and enforcement resources toward landowners who do not meet the department’s standards and regulations for maintaining defensible space.

(3) Direct educational resources toward landowners who own or maintain structures that can be hardened to make them more resistant to fire.

(4) Assist in estimating defensible space compliance in the state responsibility area.

(e) The department may expand or amend existing programs for the implementation of this section.

(f) This section does not grant any right of entry onto private land or regulatory or enforcement authority to participating qualified entities.

(g) Any local governmental entity that is qualified to conduct defensible space assessments pursuant to this section in very high and high fire hazard severity zones, as identified by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to Section 51178 of the Government Code or Article 9 (commencing with Section 4201) of this chapter or by a local agency pursuant to Section 51179 of the Government Code, and reports that information to the department, shall report that information using the common reporting platform established pursuant to subdivision (c).

(h) (1) On December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, the department shall report to the Legislature all defensible space data collected pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (c). The report may include information on the proportion of unique parcels that were inspected, the degree of compliance with requirements set forth in Section 4291 of this code and Section 51182 of the Government Code, any enforcement actions that may have been taken for noncompliant parcels, and the proportion of parcels that were found to be in compliance across jurisdictions. At minimum, the report shall include data with sufficient detail to facilitate comparisons of community compliance with the requirements of Section 4291 of this code and Section 51182 of the Government Code between local governmental entities qualified to conduct defensible space assessments pursuant to this section and local governmental entities that are not.

(2) A report submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.