Wildfires: defensible space: grant programs: local governments.

Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, shrub-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material to maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side. Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, including counties and other political subdivisions of the state, to support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts. Existing law requires the director to establish a common reporting platform that allows defensible space and home hardening assessment data, collected by the qualified entities, to be reported to the department. This bill would require any local governmental entity that is qualified to conduct these defensible space assessments in very high and high fire hazard severity zones, as specified, and that reports that information to the department, to report that information using the common reporting platform. The bill would require the department, on December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, to report to the Legislature all defensible space data collected through the common reporting platform, as provided. Existing law requires the department to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities and provides that local agencies, among others, are eligible for these grants. This bill would require the department, when reviewing applications for the local assistance grant program, to give priority to any local governmental entity qualified to perform defensible space assessments in very high and high fire hazard severity zones, as specified, for using the common reporting platform to report that information.