November 2025
Dec 22, 2025, 3:47 PM
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.
August 2025
Sep 5, 2025, 10:23 AM
Regulatory Update: Tony Anderson has been selected as the new Executive Officer of the Board of Forestry. He previously was with the California Natural Resources Agency. The Board has held a series of sessions on the permanent regulations governing home hardening in the Zero Zone (0 to 5 feet) from the exterior of a residence in response to the Governor’s office.
May 2025
Jun 22, 2025, 10:08 AM
Regulatory Update: The Executive Officer of the Board of Forestry has not filled as of this date. Dan Stapleton, the Executive Officer for Licensing continues to temporarily fill the position. The Board passed Emergency Rules to implement the Forest Resilience and the Oak Woodland Exemptions in January that are effective for one year. Talk to your RPF or local Cal Fire forester for more details. The Board is deeply engaged on regulations governing home hardening in the Zero Zone (0 to 5 feet) from the exterior of a residence in response to the Governor’s office.
March 2025
Mar 21, 2025, 9:52 AM
Regulatory Update: The Executive Director of the Board of Forestry, Edith Hanigan has submitted her resignation effective in late February. Dan Stapleton, the Executive Officer for Licensing, has temporarily filled the position. The Board passed Emergency Rules to implement the Forest Resilience and the Oak Woodland Exemptions in January that are effective for one year.
January 2025
Mar 19, 2025, 8:57 AM
In mid-January, Governor Newsom released his proposed 2025-26 budget, and more details to come in the next few weeks during budget hearings. It still needs to be negotiated with the Legislature and go through a “ May revise” after April tax receipts and will be finalized in June. While the Governor and Department of Finance anticipate a minor surplus this year, which is a much better outlook than last year. There is a lot of uncertainty given the ongoing challenges of the Los Angeles fires and the unknown of a new Administration at the federal level. In the meantime, the budget relies on the recent voter-approved Proposition 4 ($10 billion climate bond) to backfill funding for various resource management, energy and, water programs.
Winter 2024
Apr 2, 2024, 3:59 PM
With the Legislature now back in session and with the release of a new proposed Governor’s budget, below is the latest legislative update.
Summer-Fall 2024
Nov 7, 2024, 12:20 PM
The California Legislature wrapped up its 2024 regular session and Governor Newsom completed his final actions on bills by the September 30 deadline for bills that landed on his desk by August 31. Overall, it was a busy legislative year with nearly 2,200 bills introduced and ultimately 1,200 of them landing on the Governor’s desk with 1,017 bills getting signed and only 189 vetoed. That resulted in an 89% approval rate. Several legislators were not thrilled with the Governor’s vetoes even though he cited policy disagreements, potential unintended consequences, costs, or implementation issues.
July 24, 2023
Jul 24, 2023, 8:08 AM
With about three months left in the first year of the 2023-24 legislative session, the Legislature continues to debate hundreds of bills with many of them moving over to the second house. Of the 2,600 bills that were introduced earlier in the year, hundreds have been put on hold but there remains about 1,000 bills that are still alive as they survived the June 2 house of origin deadline. These bills will now be scrutinized with additional analysis as the Legislature approaches a July 14 deadline to move bills out of second-house policy committees in the Senate and Assembly Floors, and ultimately a September 14 deadline for all bills to pass the Legislature for Governor Newsom’s consideration. Below are some of the key forestry and wildfire-related bills FLC is monitoring with recommended positions.
Track Bills by visiting http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and use the Quick Bill Search function.
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: