Legislative and Regulatory Update
By Lary Camp, Legislative Committee Co-Chair
Regulatory Update: The Board has held a series of sessions on the permanent regulations governing home hardening in the Zone Zero (0 to 5 feet) from the exterior of a residence in response to the Governor’s office and legislation. It is likely to approve the proposed regulatory package at its meeting in December. Here is a link to a presentation to the Board by staff at its November Board meeting https://calfire.app.box.com/s/og6pl3su3ez9jjt66661i9xtoplx1yhv. Based on recent legislation, it appears that the Board will adopt emergency regulations in January 2026.
Thank you to the many members that responded to the request for information about gates associated with your forest property. At the present time, there is no formal rulemaking process underway. However, FLC is continuing to monitor the situation and will update you as things develop.
Legislative Update: The California Legislature adjourned the first year of the 2025-26 legislative session on September 13 and they are now in interim recess until they return on January 5, 2026. Overall, the Legislature passed more than 1,000 bills in the first year with most of these bills sent to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk during the last week of session. The Governor was required to sign or veto all bills submitted to him by October 13.
During the last week of legislative session, it was announced that Senator Monique Limon (D-Santa Barbara), the new Senate Leader, assumes her role on November 11. After that date, it is likely that there will be some changes to various leadership positions and committee chairs when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
The highlight of the year was an agreement reached between the Governor and legislative leaders at the end of the session with approval of six energy affordability and climate change-related bills, including key measures to reauthorize and rename the Cap-and-Trade program (AB 1207 – Irwin); adopt a new spending structure and blueprint on how the Legislature will spend billions of dollars from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) (SB 840 – Limon) with specific allocations dedicated to specific programs such as high-speed rail; establish and authorize California (AB 825 – Petrie Norris) to participate in a new multi-state regional electricity market to address energy affordability and provide more energy reliability in the West; and extend the IOU wildfire liability fund and require a study on how to limit liability for future events (SB 254 – Becker).
The extension of the Cap-and-Invest program will have a more immediate impact. Below are additional details about the Cap-and-Invest legislation.
Cap-and-Invest – AB 1207 extends the market-based greenhouse gas emission reduction program (formerly Cap-and-Trade), which will now be known as “Cap-and-Invest,” until December 31, 2045. The ultimate objective of the bill is to address energy affordability and provide certainty in the market for reducing climate emissions. The bill includes provisions relating to accounting of offsets, including a provision that allows “a total of four (4) percent of a covered entity’s compliance obligation to be met by surrendering offset credits with no more than one-half of those offset credits sourced from projects that do not provide direct environmental benefits in the state. By January 1, 2029, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) must update all its existing compliance-offset protocols “to ensure that the compliance offset protocols reflect the best available science.” There is also a provision that requires CARB to transition “gas corporation” allowances – or pollution permits – to electrical distribution utilities (EDU). The bill leaves most future policy changes up to CARB, but the slight changes to how CARB will distribute free “allowances” from gas corporations will be a new statutory requirement.
To complement enactment of AB 1207, the Governor signed SB 840, which makes changes to how a significant portion of dollars raised from GGRF will be spent on individual programs. This will be guided by multiyear spending plans dedicated to clean transportation, housing and community development, clean air and water, wildfire prevention and resilience, agriculture, clean energy, and climate focused innovation. Specifically, the bill sets aside $4 billion during the 2026-27 fiscal year for specific programs, including $1 billion per year for the High-
Speed Rail project until 2045. Going forward, legislators will assign specific funding for Transit and Intercity Rail Program ($400 million); air quality protection for environmental justice communities ($250 million); and low-carbon transportation ($200 million). The bill also reserves $1 billion in discretionary funding that will be allocated each year, which will become an inevitable fight for those dollars, and it creates a new Legislative Climate Bureau ($3 million) that will provide advice and report to the Legislature on climate change-related issues, require CARB to conduct a study on offsets. Over the next 20 years, SB 840 guarantees funding for the following programs:
Backfill revenues generated by the State Responsibility Area fire prevention fee
- $16 billion for affordable housing
- $20 billion for High-Speed Rail
- $12 billion for transit programs
- $5 billion for reducing localized air pollution impacts in frontline communities
- $4 billion for wildfire risk reduction
- $2.6 billion for safe drinking water
In addition, there is a policy provision in the bill that requires CARB to provide a report to the Legislature by December 31, 2026 about the contribution of offsets towards California’s climate goals, as well as evaluations and recommendations regarding the offset protocols and methodologies, and opportunity for potential changes.
Other bills affecting forest management in 2025
Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases:
SB 88 (Caballero-D) would have required CARB to develop specified methods and protocols to quantify the avoided emissions and beneficial uses of forest and agricultural biomass. This bill also directed the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) to require forest health projects to include a resource disposal component, and the California Energy Commission (CEC) to include biomass-derived low-and negative-carbon fuels, as specified, in certain reports. The Governor vetoed the bill claiming it would have duplicated existing efforts and resulted in unplanned costs to the state.
AB 706 (Aguiar-Curry-D) would establish a funding mechanism to support bioenergy procurement by establishing the Forest Organic Residue Energy and Safety Transformation and Wildfire Prevention Fund (FOREST). The funding would be used to fund the beneficial use of wood waste that is generated through critical fuel reduction, forest health, and post-fire recovery projects. Status: Held in Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee (did not meet deadline – two-year bill).
The table below updates the status of the bills that FLC and CFA monitored during the completed legislative session.
| Bill No. | Author | Status |
| CEQA/Permit Streamlining | ||
| AB 404 | Sanchez (R) | Two Year bill |
| AB 442 | Hadwick (R) | Two Year bill |
| AB 623 | Dixon (R) | Two Year bill |
| AB 687 | Patterson (R) | Two Year bill |
| AB 763 | Ward (D) | Two Year bill |
| AB 975 | Gallagher (R) | Vetoed |
| AB 1139 | Rogers (D) | Signed |
| AB 1226 | Ellis (R) | Died in Committee |
| AB 1456 | Bryan (D) | Died in Committee |
| SB 252 | Valladares (R) | Two Year bill |
| SB 375 | Grove (R) | Two Year bill |
| SB 426 | Alvarado-Gill (R) | Two Year bill |
| SB 678 | Niello (R) | Died in Committee |
| Climate/Carbon | ||
| AB 12 | Wallis (R) | Two Year bill |
| AB 491 | Connolly (D) | Died in Committee |
| AB 513 | Gonzalez, J. (R) | Two Year bill |
| AB 1207 | Irwin (D) | Signed |
| AB 1243 | Addis (D) | Died in Committee |
| SB 2 | Jones (R) | Two Year bill |
| SB 88 | Caballero | Vetoed |
| SB 285 | Becker (D) | Died in Committee |
| SB 318 | Becker (D) | Died in Committee |
| SB 684 | Menjivar | Died in Committee |
| SB 840 | Limon (D) | Signed |
| Home Hardening/Building Standards | ||
| AB 306 | Schultz (D) | Approv. in AB 130 |
| AB 1143 | Bennett (D) | Vetoed |
| AB 1457 | Bryan (D) | Two Year bill |
| SB 616 | Rubio (D) | Vetoed |
In addition to the bills listed above FLC monitored in conjunction with CFA the bills listed below:
Firefighters/Emergency Response: AB 1075 (Signed), AB 1309 (Vetoed), SB 514 (Signed).
Fire Mapping/Planning: AB 261 (Died in Committee), AB 300 (Died in Committee), AB 1455 (Signed), and SB 326 (Vetoed).
Proposition 4 Funding: AB 307 (W), AB 372 (NP), and SB 90 (W, NP).
Wildlife/Parks/30x30 Implementation: AB 43 (Signed), AB 454 (Signed), AB 679 (Signed),.
Water: AB 263 (Signed).
Additional bills being monitored since the August report.
AB 706 (Two Year Bill), AB 799 (Signed), AB 812 (Signed), AB 914 (Two Year bill).
Track Bills by visiting http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and use the Quick Bill Search function.
Current Year
Legislative Archives
Appellate Decision on WFMP Case
Good News -- Exemptions and NTMPs
CAL FIRE has reversed its policy change regarding the acceptance of exemptions for NTMPs. Please refer to the link below to view the letter from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Ken Pimlott) to the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection (Keith Gilless).
Should you have any questions, please send an email to the FLC Legislative Committee at legchair@forestlandowners.org.
Letter and Supporting Content from CAL FIRE to Board of Forestry
Legislative Committee Assignments
Public Policy Institute of California
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) issued a report in mid-September on the status of forest health in the Headwaters Forests. On September 20, there was a panel debriefing on the report. Click on the links below to download the documents.
If you are interested in wathcing the panel debrief, the video is posted on the PPIC's website: