Public contracts: preferences: forest products.

Existing law generally requires state agencies to comply with competitive bidding procedures in soliciting and evaluating bids for public works projects. Existing law authorizes bidding preferences for certain categories of business owners. Existing law also requires the Department of General Services, in consultation with the California Environmental Protection Agency, members of the public, industry, and public health and environmental organizations, to provide state agencies with information and assistance regarding environmentally preferable purchasing. The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations on timberland unless a timber harvesting plan has been prepared by a registered professional forester and has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and approved by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection or the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases and requires the board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. Under existing law, the board is required to consult with other states, the federal government, and other nations to identify the most effective strategies and methods to, among other things, reduce greenhouse gases and imposes limitations on any link, as defined, between the state and another state, province, or country for purposes of a market-based compliance mechanism, as specified. This bill would require a state agency, as specified, that contracts for, or acquires, lumber or other solid wood products, excluding paper and other types of secondary manufactured goods, to give preference, to the extent consistent with federal law, if price, fitness, and quality are equal, based upon verifiable, self-certification from the supplier, to lumber and other solid wood products that are harvested in compliance with the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, rules governing federal timber sales, or a forest certification program identified by the Director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the Director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify, after consideration at a public hearing, a forest certification program or programs that may be used for the purpose of purchasing preferences for lumber and solid wood products. The bill would require the Director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to notify the Department of General Services of this identification in writing.