2023 California Code › Public Resources Code - PRC › DIVISION 4 - FORESTS, FORESTRY AND RANGE AND FORAGE LANDS › PART 2 - PROTECTION OF FOREST, RANGE AND FORAGE LANDS › CHAPTER 3 - Mountainous, Forest-, Brush- and Grass-Covered Lands › Section 4291.5.

4291.5. (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) “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, and Firewise USA organizations.
(C) University of California fire advisors.
(D) Registered Professional Foresters.
(E) Other entities or individuals deemed appropriate by the director.
(3) “Wildfire safety improvements” mean 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, 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.
(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 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 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, 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 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.
(i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, and as of that date is repealed.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 222, Sec. 2. (SB 896) Effective January 1, 2023. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, by its own provisions.)