Housing: fire safety standards.

Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to prepare, adopt, and submit building standards and other fire and life safety regulations to the California Building Standards Commission for approval establishing minimum requirements for the storage, handling, and use of hazardous materials. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to seek the advice of the Secretary for Environmental Protection in establishing those requirements. This bill would prohibit the legislative body of a city or county from approving a discretionary entitlement, as defined, that would result in a new residential development project, as defined, being located within a very high fire hazard severity zone, unless the city or county finds that the residential development project will meet specified standards intended to address wildfire risks, as specified, and would provide that these provisions do not limit or prohibit a legislative body of a city or county from adopting more stringent standards. By imposing new requirements on cities and counties in the review of residential development projects, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, through a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with specified state officials, to identify building retrofits and structure hardening measures that are eligible for financial assistance under the program. Existing law makes the operation of the program contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature and repeals the program's provisions on July 1, 2025. This bill, upon appropriation by Legislature and consistent with the above-described comprehensive wildfire mitigation program, would additionally require the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with specified state officials, to provide financial assistance to fire harden at least 300,000 existing vulnerable homes within the next 3 years in very high fire hazard severity zones and an additional 300,000 existing vulnerable homes every 3 years thereafter, as specified. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to report back to the Legislature annually on the pace of fire hardening and what constraints impair the ability to realize the targets established by these provisions. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.