2026 Regulatory and Legislative Outlook
By Larry Camp, Legislative Committee Co-Chair
Regulatory & Science/Technology Update
The major focus of the Board of Forestry will be development and approval of Zone Zero (the area within zero to five feet of the exterior walls of dwellings within State Responsibility Areas, largely wildlands and the areas within the wildland urban interface) regulations. It appears that the Board will act on a draft proposal at its August meeting, August 18-19 in Sacramento. The public can monitor the issue via the Board of Forestry website at https://bof.fire.ca.gov/business.
The governor’s office has appointed Joe King and Rhys Williams to fill the vacancies on the Board of Forestry. Mr. King is an industry representative and the manager of SPI’s Tahoe District.
Mr. Williams is a public member and has worked in multiple positions on the staff of Governor Newsom.
You may remember that we asked members and other forest landowners to complete a quick survey regarding vertical and swinging gates to present to Cal OSHA regarding possible new regulations. The issue is now in the early stages of regulatory development. If you did not respond to the earlier survey, please contact the FLC office and we will email a copy to you. Responses within the next month would be appreciated.
Think that AI doesn’t affect forest landowners? Well, surprise, surprise! There are at least two websites that are using AI processes to create opposition letters to Harvest Plan documents that take less than five (5) minutes to generate. Caltrees.org (not related to Cal Trees database run by CAL FIRE) and FOSFG (Friends of South Fork of the Gualala) is a second group. Discussion with CAL FIRE representatives indicates that protest letters will likely begin to be filed for almost all new THPs and NTMPs and amendments thereto. Currently, Notices of Timber Operations and Exemptions do not permit public comment so they may be safe for the moment. At this time, any redaction of personal information to a confidential section will require a legislative and regulatory change. The FLC Board discussed this issue at its July meeting.
On a more positive note, there was a recent article in the Wall Street Journal about the use of lidar and other technologies to inventory and manage forest properties and a second firm to operate autonomous harvest equipment. FLC is pursuing contacts with these organizations for future newsletter articles.
Based on some tortured legal history, bumblebees, as invertebrates, are considered to be fish by the California Fish and Game Commission (CFGC) in 2019. Based on an Appeals Court decision, the CFGC action was upheld and four species were reinstated as candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) in the fall of 2022. While the bees are most common in agricultural settings they are also present in forests especially near meadows. If you are interested in learning more about bees go to the following link https://www.bumblebeeatlas.org/pages/california and scroll down to training videos. These videos are the same as required for a multiday workshop costing more than $1,500 dollars.
Legislative Update
AB 2494 (Rogers): Redefining State Forest Management Proposes a major shift in how California’s state forests are managed and funded, specifically Demonstration State Forests such as Jackson Demonstration State Forest. It would change the primary goal of forest management from “maximum sustained production” of high-quality forest products to one that focuses on biodiversity conservation and fire resilience. It restricts the sale of timber to only those harvests intended for ecological restoration or research. Last, it would redirect revenues from timber sales and all recreational fees into the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund. Because the bill changes the purpose of Demonstration State Forests, it changes both the legal requirements for registered professional foresters and their potential employment because they could no longer plan timber harvests based on commercial rotation cycles by having to put more focus on ecological restoration or scientific research. The bill passed the Assembly on a 58 to 20 vote and is now in the Senate. FLC has worked with a coalition of opponents to amend or defeat the bill. A number of amendments have been offered by the Senate Natural Resources staff. While the revised bill is not ideal, the most onerous provisions have been removed and the consensus in the industry is that the bill is palatable.
SB 1270 (Stern): Fire Innovation Unit Would establish a “Fire Innovation Unit” within CAL FIRE, which would act as a hub for researching, procuring, and deploying new wildfire technologies. The unit would manage a grant program for early-stage tech and establish testbeds to validate new tools for wildfire mitigation and response. Dead for the current legislative session.
SB 899 (Grove): Wildfire Smoke Health Assessment. Would require the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to assess the health costs of high-severity wildfire smoke by July 2028, and develop models to determine the benefits of achieving the state’s forest resilience goals. Passed Senate 39-0, passed Assembly Natural Resources, in suspense in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1666 (Rogers): Biomass Innovation Parks Act. Would establish grants for “Biomass Innovation Parks” that process wood waste into carbon-beneficial products, including a requirement that the state develop regional wood availability assessments and a tracking system to authenticate forest biomass origins. This purpose is to create new markets for low-value material removed during fuel reduction projects. Passed Assembly, in Senate Appropriations Committee after passing Senate Natural Resources Committee.
SB 1404 (Stern): Wildfire Prevention and Implementation Strategy. Among other things, it would require a major update to the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, and proposes a “Forest Data Hub” for centralized monitoring to align the Forest Practice Act with State Water Board and other regulatory requirements. It would also seek to reinstate the SRA fire prevention fee starting in 2027 to fund ongoing treatments. Dead for current legislative session.
AB 2102 (Addis): Mandatory Assessments. Would require state and local agencies to assess all undeveloped public lands every two years for fire risk and creates 200-foot firebreaks on borders with private property. Dead for current legislative session.
AB 2513 (Petrie-Norris): Landscape Grants. Would authorize the Department of Conservation to award direct “regional landscape grants” for large-scale forest health and ecosystem projects. Passed Assembly, in Senate Appropriations Committee after passing Senate Natural Resources Committee.
SB 973 (Stern): Would establish the Wildfire County Coordinator Program within the CAL FIRE to provide grants or technical assistance to counties to fund Wildfire County Coordinators. Passed Senate 37-0, passed Assembly Natural Resources, in suspense in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1891 (Connolly): Beneficial Fire Capacity Act. Would establish in CAL FIRE, the Beneficial Fire Capacity Program to expand training, organizational capacity, and support for community-led beneficial fire programs, including those developed by California Native American tribes, nongovernmental organizations, universities and colleges, resources conservation districts, volunteer fire districts, and other local or special districts. Would also require the program to provide competitive grants for beneficial fire implementation, capacity building, research, innovation, and training. Passed Assembly, in Senate Appropriations Committee after passing Senate Natural Resources Committee.
SB 1270 (Richardson): California Wildfire Mitigation Financial Assistance Program. Would require the joint powers authority to provide financial assistance to the 10 counties with the greatest combined risk of wildfire and social vulnerability based on the above-described eligibility criteria. Dead for current legislative session.
AB 1699 (Rogers): The Good Fire Act. Would indefinitely extend and expand the Prescribed Fire Liability Pilot Program (set to expire in 2028). It would also expand eligibility for the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund to include a wider range of private entities and individuals. The bill would also remove the requirement that CAL FIRE approve burn plans if they have already been reviewed and approved by a certified burn boss. Passed Assembly, in Senate.
AB 442 (Hadwick): The bill will increase the NTMP acreage from 2,500 acres to 4,000 acres, and restore the Working Forest Management Plan (WFMP) to 15,000 acres. It also permits property owners in the Southern Sub-District to apply for an WFMP and corrects some technical issues in the WFMP legislation. This is a big win for the nonindustrial landowner community. The bill is on consent on the Senate Floor and will likely move to the Governor’s desk.
AB 706 (Aguiar-Curry): The bill requires, upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys from the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund or from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to establish the Forest Organic Residue Energy and Safety Transformation (FOREST) program in order to maintain and expand biomass power generation in the state, to revitalize idle facilities for biomass power generation, and to support biomass power generation facilities by creating additional capacity for power generation or feedstock utilization in strategically located regions of the state. In Senate Appropriations Committee after passing Senate
Natural Resources Committee.
We do our best to provide timely legislative, regulatory and agency information in the newsletter. There will be times that the legislative update could be abbreviated with a broader update available on the website.
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: