State Fire Marshal: home hardening certification program.

Removed the requirement for the Office of the State Fire Marshal to convene and facilitate a workgroup (with representatives from insurance industry, nonprofit research organizations, consumer advocacy groups, high-risk counties and cities, homebuilders, and building officials) to develop the home hardening certification program.

Added a new requirement (Section 13159.5(a)) that the Office of the State Fire Marshal develop and publish on its website a Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Safety Building Standards Compliance training program for local building officials, builders, and fire service personnel, updated as Chapter 7A changes are made, including mandates for emergency power backup such as battery backup for automatic garage door openers.

Narrowed the authorized use of Building Standards Administration Special Revolving Fund money by removing 'convening and facilitating the workgroup' from the list of purposes for which funds may be expended.

Added a new Section 3 establishing a conditional operative clause: the amendments to Section 13159.5 proposed by both AB 1143 and SB 514 will only take effect if both bills are enacted, each amends that section, and AB 1143 is enacted after SB 514; in that scenario, Section 1 of AB 1143 would not become operative.

Reorganized the structure of Section 13159.5, moving the new training provision to subsection (a), contractor certification to subsection (b), products listing to subsection (c), funding authorization to subsection (d), and the home hardening certification program deadline to subsection (e).

Header changed from amendment tracking format (listing prior amendment dates) to enrolled bill format with passage dates, Governor receipt line, and approval signature block.

Removed 'line X' markers that were part of the Senate amendment markup format, along with the senate vote/appropriation/fiscal committee summary line.

Page numbers changed from 96 to 95 and internal page headers reformatted to match enrolled bill pagination style.

New Section 2 amends Public Resources Code Section 4209.4 to establish the State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee, including its purpose, functions, membership (15 categories of members), monthly meeting requirement, and compensation terms.

The description of what the certification program identifies was broadened. The old version specified 'the best appropriate combination of products and construction assemblies listed in the products listing' plus other techniques; the new version simply says 'home hardening measures, including defensible space,' removing the specific tie to the products listing.

Coauthors (Assembly Member Berman, Senators Allen and Limon) were removed from the bill, leaving only Assembly Member Bennett as the author.

The entity responsible for developing the home hardening certification program changed from the Office of the State Fire Marshal to the newly established State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee.

The home hardening certification program now explicitly aims to bring existing building stock into alignment with state building standards for wildland-urban interface areas, in addition to reducing fire risk. It also clarifies that techniques and measures can be implemented during renovation or property improvement projects.

A new required workgroup member was added: a representative who serves as a building official (subdivision G).

Coauthors were added: Assembly Member Berman, Senator Allen, and Senator Limon.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal must now consult with the California Building Standards Commission when convening and facilitating the workgroup to develop the certification program.

The term 'fire zone' was changed to 'fire severity zone' in the descriptions of the county and city representatives on the workgroup, using more precise technical terminology.