Community colleges: Urban and Rural Forest and Woodlands Restoration and Fire Resiliency Workforce Program.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, the board of governors appoints a chief executive officer, who is known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. This bill would require the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges, working in collaboration with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, to develop a forest and woodlands restoration workforce model curriculum and vocational programs to be offered by community college districts commencing on or before July 31, 2021. The bill would require the chancellor's office to allocate funds appropriated for purposes of the bill to community college districts that offer the coursework in accordance with the model curriculum, as specified. The bill would require the model curriculum to reflect regional needs, and to be developed by the chancellor's office in consultation with experts from designated governmental, academic, and nonprofit organizations with a demonstrated expertise in forest and woodland restoration and fire management. The bill would require the final contents of the model curriculum to be determined solely by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. The bill would also specify topics to be covered and training to be provided, to the extent practicable and feasible, by the model curriculum and the related vocational programs. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature that certified graduates of the forest and woodlands restoration workforce course would be able to matriculate into the prescribed fire teams of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or into work with other compatible state and federal forest restoration efforts and other private professional restoration businesses and related apprenticeship programs. The bill would require the chancellor's office, working in collaboration with the California Fire Science Consortium, to provide community college districts interested in offering the forest and woodlands restoration workforce course with information about fire advisors from the consortium who are qualified, willing, and available to be course instructors or to consult with those instructors.