Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2028, the Prescribed Fire Liability Pilot Program, to be administered by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to increase the pace and scale of the use of prescribed fire and cultural burning and to reduce barriers for conducting prescribed fires and cultural burning. Existing law creates the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund in the State Treasury to support coverage for losses from prescribed fires and cultural burning by nonpublic entities, such as cultural fire practitioners, private landowners, and nongovernmental entities. Under existing law, moneys in the fund are under the control of the department, and the department or a contracted third-party administrator is authorized to direct payments for claims from the fund, consistent with specified guidelines adopted by the department. These guidelines include, among other things, (1) a requirement that an eligible claim relate to either a prescribed fire conducted or supervised by a burn boss, as defined, or a cultural burn conducted or supervised by a cultural fire practitioner, and (2) a requirement that a claim shall not be paid from the fund unless the department reviewed and approved a burn plan before the prescribed fire or cultural burning. Existing law requires, upon order of the Department of Finance, the $20,000,000 appropriated to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection by the Legislature in the Budget Act of 2021 be transferred into the fund, and provides that all moneys deposited or transferred into the fund be continuously appropriated to the department for these purposes. By Executive Order N-35-25, Governor Gavin Newsom suspended the limitation on public and governmental agencies enrolling in the Prescribed Fire Liability Pilot Program to the extent that the limitation would prohibit resource conservation districts and volunteer fire departments or districts from such enrollment. This bill would establish the Good Fire Act, which would indefinitely extend the Prescribed Fire Liability Program. The bill would explicitly state that the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund shall support coverage for losses from prescribed fires and cultural burning on any lands within the state. The bill would also expand program eligibility by changing the entities who may receive coverage for losses from prescribed fires and cultural burning from nonpublic entities to individuals and entities other than the department or the federal government, as provided. By extending the term of a continuous appropriation and authorizing the expenditure of continuously appropriated funds for new purposes, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would eliminate the requirement for department approval for a plan reviewed and approved by a burn boss, and would require a burn plan to be submitted to the claims fund portal before ignition. The bill would also require the guidelines to include methods for prioritizing broadcast burns and burns by non-public individuals or entities or California Native American tribes in the event the fund is oversubscribed. Within one year of a claim being paid from the fund, the bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the claim process and propose statutory changes related to the fund, as provided. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, with the involvement of the Statewide Training and Education Advisory Committee, to develop a curriculum for, or amend into an existing curriculum, a certification program for burn bosses who possess authority to engage in a prescribed burning operation and to enter into the necessary contracts related to a prescribed burning operation. Existing law requires this curriculum to provide for the initial certification as well as the continuing education of burn bosses. Under existing law, specified civil liability protections and eligibility for claims from the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund extend to prescribed burns that, among other things, are reviewed and approved by a burn boss certified pursuant to these provisions, as provided. This bill would require, as part of the continuing education of burn bosses, the State Fire Marshal to require recertification no sooner than every 3 years. The bill would also require the department to consider methods to increase the pool of available instructors for the certification program, including the use of non-department instructors. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Statewide Training and Education Advisory Committee, to develop a mechanism to allow specified individuals to be designated as a burn boss. The bill would authorize these individuals certified pursuant to this process to use the above-described recertification process to maintain currency. Existing law authorizes an entity that owns or controls brush-covered land, forest lands, woodland, grassland, shrubland, or a combination of those types of land within a state responsibility area to apply to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for permission to use prescribed burning for certain public purposes. Existing law requires the department, upon receipt of an application, to inspect the land in company with the applicant to determine whether a permit shall be granted, as provided. By Executive Order N-35-25, Governor Gavin Newsom suspended the above-described requirement that the department conduct a site visit or inspection before issuing a state burn permit for projects undertaken by burn bosses or cultural fire practitioners. This bill would authorize the department to waive the inspection requirement or modify the standard precautions for an application submitted by specified individuals. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. Existing law exempts from CEQA specified wildfire risk reduction projects, including, among other projects, projects consisting of a prescribed fire or fuel reduction to reduce wildfire risk by reestablishing the fire return interval appropriate to the ecosystem for biodiversity or other benefits, excluding projects located on coastal sage scrub habitat or any other sensitive habitat. By Executive Order N-35-25, Governor Gavin Newsom suspended the requirements of CEQA as applied to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to the extent necessary for the department to assist local agencies and beneficial fire practitioners to complete beneficial fire projects that limit dangerous wildfire conditions to the greatest extent feasible. This bill would exempt from CEQA those actions taken by the department to assist in the implementation of prescribed fire or cultural burning projects that do not otherwise require compliance with CEQA. Existing law establishes various grant programs for purposes of wildfire prevention. This bill would require a state agency, department, board, or commission that has awarded grant funds for a project that includes the preparation for, or implementation of, a beneficial fire project to include as an allowable expense of the grant the payment of overtime or double rates of pay to employees or contractors who prepare for or implement the beneficial fire project when such expenses are necessary for the implementation of the beneficial fire project. Existing law authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to provide grants to, or enter contracts or other cooperative agreements with, specified entities for the implementation and administration of projects and programs to improve forest health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Existing law authorizes the director to authorize advance payments and requires grantees who receive advance payments to file an accountability report with the department 4 months from the date of receiving the funds and every 4 months thereafter. This bill would instead require grantees who receive advance payments to file an accountability report within 6 months from the date of receiving the funds and every 6 months thereafter. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4799.05 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 2513 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2513 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if the lead agency finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation. Existing law requires the division to be the lead agency for all geothermal exploratory projects for purposes of CEQA, except as provided. Existing law defines "geothermal exploratory project," for purposes of CEQA, in part as a project composed of not more than 6 wells and associated drilling and testing equipment whose chief and original purpose is to evaluate the presence and characteristics of geothermal resources. Existing law requires wells included within a geothermal exploratory project to be located at least 12 mile from geothermal development wells that are capable of producing geothermal resources in commercial quantities. This bill would expressly include as part of a geothermal exploratory project, among other things, equipment and activities necessary to establish interconnectivity between wells and reservoirs. The bill would specify that the above-described12–mile limit is measured from all points along the wellhead location and well course.
Existing law defines "disadvantaged communities" and requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to identify disadvantaged communities for investment opportunities from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and for other purposes. This bill would require the agency to do specified things regarding farmworker communities for purposes of identifying disadvantaged communities including, among other things, assessing whether designating farmworker communities as disadvantaged communities would increase those communities' access to investment opportunities and identifying potential barriers faced by low-income farmworker communities in accessing investment opportunities, as specified. The bill would require the agency to make its findings publicly available on its internet website and consider those findings when identifying disadvantaged communities. The bill would require the agency and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to develop and implement a strategy for engaging with farmworker communities on environmental, health, and socioeconomic burdens, as provided.
Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county to administratively approve an application to install an electric vehicle charging station through the issuance of a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit, and requires every local government to adopt an ordinance that creates an expedited, streamlined permitting process for electric vehicle charging stations, as provided. Existing law defines "electric vehicle charging station" to mean any level of electric vehicle supply equipment station that is designed and built in compliance with specified provisions, and delivers electricity from a source outside an electric vehicle into a plug-in electric vehicle. Existing law requires fees charged by a local agency for specified purposes, including permits, to not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, unless a question regarding the amount of the fee charged in excess of this cost is submitted to, and approved by, 23 of the electors. Existing law, until January 1, 2034, prohibits a city, county, city or county, or charter city from charging a permit fee for a solar energy system that exceeds the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, which cannot exceed $450 plus $15 per kilowatt for each kilowatt above 15kW for residential solar energy systems, and $1,000 plus $7 per kilowatt for each kilowatt between 51kW and 250kW, plus $5 for every kilowatt above 250kW, for commercial solar energy systems, unless the city, county, city and county, or charter city provides substantial evidence of the reasonable cost to issue the permit as part of a written finding and an adopted resolution or ordinance, as provided. This bill, until January 1, 2036, would prohibit a city, county, city or county, or charter city from charging a permit fee for an electric vehicle charging station that exceeds the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, which cannot exceed $500 plus $5 per kilowatt for each kilowatt between 51kW and 250kW, plus $2 for every kilowatt above 250kW, for a level 2 electric vehicle charging station installed at a new or existing multifamily housing development, unless the city, county, city and county, or charter city provides substantial evidence of the reasonable cost to issue the permit as part of a written finding and an adopted resolution or ordinance, as provided. The bill would make its provisions operative on July 1, 2027, but for every city, county, city and county, or charter city with a population of fewer than 200,000 residents, the provisions would apply beginning on January 1, 2028. By requiring local agencies to perform additional duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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.
The Municipal Utility District Act establishes the formation of a municipal utility district for the provision of light, heat, water, or power within the district's jurisdiction. The act prohibits a district furnishing light, heat, water, or power from terminating residential service on account of nonpayment of a delinquent account unless the district provides a notice of delinquency and an opportunity to cure, as provided. This bill would authorize districts to offer customers the option of electronically receiving the required notice of delinquency, as specified. The bill would authorize districts furnishing service to fewer than 100,000 customers to offer residential customers a prepay option, as defined, for electrical service if certain conditions are met, including, among other things, that the district provides the customer with information on returning to standard billing and issues automated low-balance alerts to the customer before suspending the customer's electrical service, as provided. The bill would specify that the requirement to provide a notice of delinquency does not apply to customers participating in the prepay option.
The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity protection and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. Of these funds, the act makes $300,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for improving climate resilience and sustainability of agricultural lands, including, among other things, by making $15,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, for purposes of providing grants to public postsecondary educational institutions that are designated as Agricultural Experiment Stations or Agricultural Research Institutes, to develop research farms to improve climate resiliency, as specified. Existing law authorizes a state agency to furnish services, materials, or equipment to, or perform work for, any other state agency upon terms and conditions and for the consideration as they may determine, and to enter into agreements for that purpose, subject to approval of the Director of General Services. Existing law requires a state agency that furnishes the services, materials, or equipment to, or performs the work for, the other state agency to compute charges in a manner approved by the Director of Finance. Existing law authorizes a state agency to provide for the advancing of funds, as provided, to defray those charges. This bill would authorize the State Department of Education to advance a payment for a contract or agreement made with the Department of Food and Agriculture pursuant to the research farm provisions of Proposition 4, described above, in the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years. The bill would exempt those contracts and agreements from the above-described requirement of approval by the Director of General Services. The bill would provide, for purposes of those contracts and agreements, that developing a research farm pursuant to the research farm provisions of Proposition 4 includes constructing a new research farm and maintaining, altering, or improving an existing research farm previously constructed by the Agricultural Experiment Station or the Agricultural Research Institute. This bill would provide, for purposes of the research farm grants, that Agricultural Experiment Stations and Agricultural Research Institutes are designated by the University of California and the California State University.
Existing law makes void and unenforceable any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property that effectively prohibits or restricts certain land uses, including the installation or use of a solar energy system or construction or use of an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit on certain lots. Existing law authorizes a person who holds or is acquiring an ownership interest of record in property that the person believes is the subject of an unlawfully restrictive covenant, as specified, to record a restrictive covenant modification document. Before recording the document, existing law requires the county recorder to submit the modification document and the original document to the county counsel, who is required to determine whether the original document contains an unlawful restriction. This bill would make void and unenforceable against an interested party any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, lease, or other recorded or unrecorded instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property that effectively prohibits or restricts the use of that property as a grocery store or supermarket, as defined, if a grocery store or supermarket either previously operated on the property and has ceased operations or is no longer in actual operation within a commercial project or shopping center and an approved restrictive covenant modification document has been recorded in the public record. The bill would entitle an interested party, as defined, to establish that an existing restrictive covenant is unenforceable by submitting a restrictive covenant modification document to the county recorder, in accordance with certain procedures, to allow the grocery store or supermarket development to proceed. The bill would prohibit a person or entity, beginning on January 1, 2027, from creating or recording any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, lease, or other recorded or unrecorded instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property that effectively prohibits or restricts the use of that property as a grocery store or supermarket if a grocery store or supermarket either previously operated on the property and has ceased operations or is no longer in actual operation within a commercial project or shopping center, except as prescribed. By imposing additional duties on county officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings and declarations relating to 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.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to adopt a process for each load-serving entity, as defined, to file an integrated resource plan, adopt a schedule for periodic updates to the plan, and ensure each load-serving entity takes specified actions, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to determine if there is a need for the procurement of eligible energy resources, as described, requires the commission to specify the eligible energy resources that should be procured to meet that need, and authorizes the commission, within 6 months of making that determination, to request the Department of Water Resources to procure those specified resources that meet the portfolio of resources, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department to procure those resources pursuant to that request only before January 1, 2035, as provided. Existing law authorizes the department to procure resources from a pump hydroelectric facility pursuant to these provisions if the pump hydroelectric facility does not exceed 500 megawatts and was directly appropriated funding by the state before January 1, 2023. This bill would eliminate the requirement that a pump hydroelectric facility be directly appropriated funding by the state before January 1, 2023, in order for the department to procure resources from the facility. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 454.52 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by AB 2369 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2369 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(1) Existing law creates the California Coastal Sanctuary and provides that it includes all state waters subject to tidal influence, except as provided. Existing law authorizes the State Lands Commission to enter into any lease for the extraction of oil or gas from state-owned tidelands and submerged lands in the California Coastal Sanctuary if the commission determines both that oil and gas deposits in the California Coastal Sanctuary are being drained by means of producing wells upon adjacent federal lands and that the lease is in the best interest of the state. This bill would prohibit the commission from entering into leases for the extraction of oil or gas, as described above, in areas designated as California marine protected areas or national marine sanctuaries, as provided. (2) Existing law prohibits the commission or a local trustee, as defined, of granted public trust lands from entering into a new lease or other conveyance authorizing new construction of oil- and gas-related infrastructure upon tidelands and submerged lands within state waters associated with Pacific Outer Continental Shelf leases issued after January 1, 2018, except as provided. Existing law requires the commission or a local trustee when approving or disapproving a lease renewal, extension, amendment, or modification authorizing new construction of oil- and gas-related infrastructure upon tidelands and submerged lands within state waters associated with Pacific Outer Continental Shelf leases issued after January 1, 2018, to follow a specified process. This bill would additionally prohibit leases and oil- and gas-related infrastructure located upon tidelands and submerged lands within state waters from being used to support Pacific Outer Continental Shelf leases issued after January 1, 2026, except as provided. The bill would additionally require the commission or the local trustee, in considering approval or disapproval, to consider additional factors, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local trustees in the consideration of a lease renewal, extension, amendment, or modification, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , to provide transmission-focused guidance to the Independent System Operator (ISO) about resource portfolios of expected future renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources, including the allocation of those resources by region based on technical feasibility and commercial interest in each region to allow the ISO to identify and approve transmission facilities needed to interconnect resources and reliably serve the needs of load centers, as specified. On December 23, 2022, the PUC, the Energy Commission, and the ISO entered into a memorandum of understanding related to resource and transmission planning, transmission development and permitting, procurement, and interconnections to achieve reliability and policy needs and to coordinate the timely development of resources, resource interconnections, and needed transmission infrastructure. Existing law requires the Energy Commission and the PUC, in coordination with the ISO, every 5 years, to review the memorandum of understanding and a related workplan to ensure the memorandum and workplan reflect the coordination that is needed to help meet the state's energy goals. This bill would require those entities, on or before January 1, 2028, to update the memorandum and workplan to, among other things, ensure that the memorandum and workplan reflect the requirements of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 1920, as applicable. (2) Existing law vests the PUC with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to identify a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy and resource diversity in a cost-effective manner, as specified. This bill would require that the portfolio provide optimal integration in a cost-effective and risk-prudent manner, as specified. (3) Existing law requires that the above-described transmission-focused guidance provided to the ISO provide projections each year to support planning and approvals by the ISO in its annual transmission planning process, including projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region for at least 15 years into the future, as specified. Existing law expresses the state policy that planning for new transmission facilities include consideration of the goal of increasing systemwide reliability and cost efficiency, among other state policy goals. This bill would require that the transmission-focused guidance takes into account uncertainty and optionality, is risk prudent, and supports compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders, as specified. The bill would remove the requirement that the projections be provided annually and would require the projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region to be for at least 20, rather than 15, years into the future. The bill would add to those state policy goals reducing resource interconnection timelines and supporting achievement of the state's energy, climate change, and air quality goals. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by AB 2369 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2369 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a PUC action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.
