Timber harvest plans: exemption: reducing flammable materials.

The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practices Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations, as defined, unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The act authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from some or all of those provisions of the act a person engaging in specified forest management activities, including a person engaged in forest management whose activities are limited to the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property in compliance with existing laws relating to defensible space, as provided, and requires the board to adopt regulations to implement this exemption no later than January 1, 2016. Existing law requires the department evaluate the effects of this exemption and report its recommendations to the Legislature based on that evaluation, as provided. Existing law makes the exemption inoperative 3 years after the effective date of regulations adopted by the board or no later than January 1, 2019. This bill would extend the inoperative date to January 1, 2022, and would delete the reporting requirement.