Cal. PRC § 4137 — California Code / Code prc / Division 4 / Part 2 / Chapter 1 / Article 3 / Section 4137
Section 4137
Status: in_force

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

(1) “Activities” means the specific actions performed to support a treatment, including, but not limited to, mechanical fuel reduction, hand fuel reduction, prescribed fire, or any other appropriate activities.

(2) “Fire prevention efforts” include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Fire prevention education.

(B) Hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management treatments and activities.

(C) Fire investigation.

(D) Civil cost recovery.

(E) Forest and fire law enforcement.

(F) Fire prevention engineering.

(G) Prefire planning.

(H) Risk analysis.

(I) Volunteer programs and partnerships.

(3) “Participating in wildfire resilience activities” means dedicating an average of at least 15 percent of working hours, but less than 75 percent of working hours, to wildfire resilience-related activities.

(4) “Primarily focused on wildfire resilience activities” means dedicating an average of at least 75 percent of working hours to wildfire resilience-related activities.

(5) “Treatment” means actions conducted on the ground to meet a management objective, including, but not limited to, installation and maintenance of fuel breaks, fuels reduction, roadside fuels reduction, forest thinning, prescribed fire, reforestation, timber harvesting, fuel treatments in the wildland-urban interface, dead fuel removal, and all other treatments that reasonably could be considered fuels reduction or vegetation management.

(6) “Unique” means nonduplicated for the reporting year and, where multiple years are reported, across all of the years reported.

(7) “Wildfire resilience activities” include, but are not limited to, defensible space inspections and the activities identified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2).

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the year-round staffing and the shift to a 66-hour workweek that have been provided to the department pursuant to memorandums of understanding with the state will result in significant increases in the department’s current level of fire prevention and wildfire resilience activities. It is also the intent of the Legislature that the budgetary augmentations for year-round staffing not reduce the reimbursements that the department receives from contracts with local governments for the department to provide local fire protection and emergency services pursuant to Section 4144, commonly referred to as “Amador agreements.”

(c) On or before March 1 of each year, the department shall provide a report to the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources, and the Legislative Analyst’s Office, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, detailing the department’s fire prevention efforts, including the increased activities described in subdivision (b). The report shall display the fire prevention efforts of the previous fiscal year, as well as the information from each of the prior two reporting years for purposes of a comparison of data. The report shall include, but not be limited to, by department administrative unit and statewide total, all of the following:

(1) Fire prevention efforts performed by the department on lands designated as state responsibility areas. The fire prevention efforts included in the report pursuant to this paragraph shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) The number of hours department personnel spent primarily focused on wildfire resilience activities, by activity, the number of hours department personnel spent participating in wildfire resilience activities, by activity, and the number of hours spent on emergency incident response, by type.

(B) The number of department personnel by classification that are (i) primarily focused on wildfire resilience activities and (ii) participating in wildfire resilience activities.

(C) The number of citations issued for noncompliance with Section 4291.

(D) The number of unique parcels inspected by department personnel for compliance with defensible space requirements.

(E) The number of unique parcels that are eligible to be inspected by department personnel for compliance with defensible space requirements.

(F) The total number of defensible space inspections conducted by department personnel.

(G) (i) The number of geographical acres treated by department personnel to improve wildfire resilience that are not defensible space inspections. No treated acre shall be counted more than one time per report period.

(ii) The number of geographical acres treated by department personnel, by treatment type, to improve wildfire resilience that are not defensible space inspections.

(H) The total number of acres treated by department personnel, by activity, to improve wildfire resilience.

(I) The funding sources and estimated amounts for the fire prevention efforts described in this subdivision, itemized by the activity categories described in subparagraphs (A) to (H), inclusive.

(J) Any other data or qualitative information deemed necessary by the department in order to provide the Legislature with a clear and accurate accounting of fire prevention efforts, particularly with regard to variations from one year to the next. The department may include recommendations for updating the reporting requirements in this section to reflect changes in science and best practices related to the tracking and monitoring of fire prevention efforts.

(2) Fire prevention efforts performed by counties, pursuant to Sections 4129 and 4132, that shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) The number of hours of fire prevention education performed.

(B) The number of defensible space inspections conducted by county.

(C) The number of citations issued for noncompliance with Section 4291.

(D) The number of acres treated by mechanical fuel reduction.

(E) The number of acres treated by prescribed burns.

(F) Any other data or qualitative information deemed necessary by the department in order to provide the Legislature with a clear and accurate accounting of fire prevention efforts, particularly with regard to variations from one year to the next.

(3) Projected fire prevention efforts for the following fiscal year.

(4) Information on each of the “Amador contracts” described in subdivision (b), including an annual update on the number of those contracts and reimbursements received from the contracts that are in effect.

(d) Wildfire resilience activities that are not conducted by department personnel shall not be included in the data required to be reported in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c). Defensible space inspections shall not be included in the data reported in subparagraphs (G) and (H) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c). The department shall define the scope of each treatment type that data is reported on in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) and each activity that data is reported on in subparagraph (H) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c).

(e) The report required by this section shall also include estimates of the portion of the amounts identified in subdivision (c) that result from the shift to a 66-hour workweek at the department, as well as a description of the methodology used to prepare these estimates.

(f) The data reported pursuant to subparagraphs (C) to (H), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), and subparagraphs (B) to (E), inclusive, of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), shall be displayed geographically and shall be available on the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force’s internet website.

(g) Information contained in the report required by this section may be incorporated by reference, as applicable, to comply with annual legislative reporting required pursuant to Section 4771 of this code and Section 12805.9 of the Government Code.

(h) The department shall post on its internet website on or before December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, all of the following information regarding hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management projects funded or conducted by the department, including, but not limited to, projects funded under the department’s Forest Health Program, California Forest Improvement Program, and Wildfire Prevention Grants Program, as well as funding for CAL FIRE unit wildfire prevention projects and prescribed fire and hand crews, for the preceding fiscal year, beginning with funding included in the 2022–23 fiscal year:

(1) What permitting mechanism was used for each project.

(2) How the collaboration with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Water Resources Control Board, as required by Section 4123, was achieved for both agencies, including whether the agency reviewed the project grant proposal or project description or permit.

(3) A description of any maintenance plan or other mechanism, if available, that is in place to support maintenance of vegetation improvements over time.

(4) A description of any mitigation required for each project, and whether the mitigation has been completed.

(i) On or before December 31, 2022, the department shall develop a standardized protocol for monitoring implementation and evaluating the positive and negative ecological and fire behavior impacts from vegetation management projects undertaken by the state, consistent with the requirements of Chapter 387 of the Statutes of 2021.

(j) The department shall provide links to all documents relevant to subdivisions (h) and (i) on its internet website.

(k) The reporting and monitoring requirements in subdivisions (h) and (i) shall be expanded to other state agencies that undertake or fund hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management projects by December 31, 2024, including, but not limited to, projects funded or conducted by state conservancies, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, or the Department of Parks and Recreation.