Legislative Update – October 11, 2024
By Brian White, KP Public Affairs
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.
With the regular session now in the rear-view mirror, the last remaining action will be ending a hastily convened special session Governor Newsom requested of the Legislature to address high gas prices. While he will claim victory with a bill forcing refiners to keep more gasoline supplies on hand when they go offline for maintenance, all signs point to continued uncertainty and a bumpy road ahead as the state’s three most powerful leaders shift attention towards the November 5 elections. Compounding several legislators’ frustrations are ongoing debates with the Governor over energy affordability and the gas price spikes with many calling his request for action a political stunt. But this also highlights a power struggle that has been brewing as Senate Leader Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas were at odds over various policy issues just as session ended. And with Senator McGuire and Governor Newsom having only two years left in office Speaker Rivas has another four years in office, which means he’ll likely become the state’s most powerful legislator going into the 2025-26 session. When the new session convenes on December 2, it will usher in 34 new legislators resulting in another round of committee changes and chairmanships with various legislators terming out or retiring. This includes long-standing forest management and wildfire control legislators who will leave such as Assembly Member Jim Wood and Senators Bill Dodd and Brian Dahle. Most leadership positions are expected to remain intact for at least two to three more years in the Assembly and will likely change in the Senate in late 2025 or mid-2026.
In the meantime, below is the status of several priority resource management and forestry related bills that FLC tracked throughout 2024:
- Small Landowner – Five Year Extension of THP Exemption. AB 2276 (Wood) deletes the Small Timberland Owner THP Exemption and renames it the Forest Resilience Exemption. Extends the former small landowner THP exemption until January 1, 2031 (currently set to expire January 1, 2026). The bill also 1) increases the maximum project size to 500 acres; 2) revises the maximum allowable diameter of trees that can be removed to up to 30 inches diameter at breast height; 3) references the appropriate stocking standards to better reflect the geographic diversity of California’s forests; 4) allows for thinning or single tree selection harvest to accommodate various forest structures and densities; 5) authorizes BOF to determine necessary canopy closure metrics through rulemaking, and 6) specifically changes the maximum size of conifers that could be removed from 26 inches stump diameter to 30 inches dbh. Signed by Governor. Support.
- CalFire Prescribed Fire Contracts. SB 1101 (Limon) requires CalFIRE to map a comprehensive network of potential areas that can be used for proactive prescribed fire; assess severe impacts from wildfires; and exempt CalFIRE from certain state contracting laws for the purpose of large-scale prescribed fire treatment. Signed by Governor. Support.
- Biomass Procurement. AB 2750 (Gallagher) extends requirements on electric investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and community choice aggregators (CCAs) to procure energy from biomass generating electric facilities to July 1, 2025. Signed by Governor.
- Low-Impact Camping. SB 620 (McGuire) would have provided landowners more flexibility to offer “low-impact camping” to potential campers by exempting such sites from the Special Occupancy Parks Act (SOPA), in addition to establishing minimum health and safety requirements for low-impact camping areas in counties that have adopted an authorizing ordinance for the activity. Held on Senate Floor. Support.
- Climate Bond. SB 867 (Allen) provides for a $10 billion climate bond to be voted on during the November 5, 2024 general election (Proposition 4), which will provide funding for wildfire prevention, flood protection, water quality, land conservation, and clean energy projects. The bond sets aside $1.5 billion for wildfire and forest resilience programs. Signed by Governor.
- Endangered Species – Wildfire Preparedness Activities. AB 2330 (Holden) would have established a process to facilitate the approval of an incidental take permit (ITP) for listed species, if any, needed by a local agency to undertake wildfire preparedness activities. Vetoed by Governor.
- Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force. AB 3023 would have required the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to create an interagency funding strategy to “align ongoing planning and implementation” of state actions to deliver on our climate change and biodiversity goals, including wildfire and watershed restoration activities. Vetoed by Governor.
- Fire Safety – Ingress and Egress Route Recommendations. SB 571 (Allen) would have required the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to conduct a study and prepare a report, including recommendations, that evaluates potential improvements to state standards for ingress and egress and evacuation routes for development in the event of a natural disaster. Vetoed by Governor.
- Wildfire Mitigation. SB 1014 (Dodd) would have required by January 1, 2026, and every three (3) years, CalFIRE’s deputy director to prepare a Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework that evaluates wildfire risk mitigation actions; and would require the Framework to allow for geospatial evaluation and comparison of wildfire risk mitigation actions sufficient to direct coordinated mitigation efforts and long-term collaborative mitigation planning. Held in Assembly Fiscal Committee.
- Idled Biomass Plants. SB 1062 (Dahle) would have required the Department of Conservation (DOC) to develop the Biomass Technology Transition Program to support the conversion of biomass energy generation facilities using traditional combustion technologies to newer advanced bioenergy technology facilities that result in reducing emissions from criteria pollutants, toxic air contaminants, and greenhouse gases. The bill also would have required the DOC, on or before January 1, 2032, to establish a grant program to support the distribution of advanced bioenergy technologies for generation facilities with a generation capacity of 10 MW or greater. Held In Assembly Fiscal Committee.
- Fire Hazard Maps. AB 3150 (Quirk-Silva) would have required the State Fire Marshal to provide an opportunity for the public to review and comment on the fire hazard severity zone maps before the State Fire Marshal submits them to the local agency. Held in Senate Fiscal Committee.
- CEQA Exemption for Roadside Projects. SB 1159 (Dodd) would have directed the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research to evaluate, and the California Natural Resources Agency Secretary to consider, creating a categorical exemption from CEQA for roadside projects no more than five road miles from a municipality or census designated place that are undertaken solely for the purpose of wildfire risk reduction. Held in Assembly Fiscal Committee.
- CEQA Exemption – Roadside Wildfire Prevention Projects. AB 1951 (Fong) would have exempted from CEQA, a project for wildfire prevention within 50 feet of either side of a roadway. Held in Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
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: