Existing law establishes the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force and requires the task force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided. Existing law requires, on or before March 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, the task force to update the action plan. The Budget Act of 2025 provided for a community hardening program in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection that includes home hardening certification and a wildfire county coordinator program, appropriated $9,500,000 to the department to make available to the California Fire Safe Council for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, and required the county coordinators to prioritize home hardening, defensible space, planning, and education for community-level wildfire mitigation efforts. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish the California Wildfire Preparedness Program to (1) establish recommended guidance for the use of available wildfire risk modeling and analysis tools by organizations, as specified, (2) develop guidance and tools related to wildfire risk assessments, (3) support the development or updating of county-level wildfire risk assessments, (4) maintain oversight authority for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, as provided, and (5) develop guidance and templates for the creation or revision of county-level wildfire preparedness prioritization and implementation plans, and accompanying guidance for integrating these plans with related wildfire resilience programs, as provided. This bill would provide in code for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program to support countywide coordination of and capacity for community wildfire mitigation, prevention, preparedness, and recovery activities, as specified. The bill would require the department to enter into an agreement with the California Fire Safe Council to administer and deliver the program. The bill would require the program to, among other things, establish capacity in participating counties to plan and execute specified activities in support of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan and collect data on local mitigation and preparedness activities, including costs and outcomes, as provided.
Existing law, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, declares that the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is a critically important natural resource for California and the nation and it serves as both the hub of the California water system and the most valuable estuary and wetland ecosystem on the west coast of North and South America. Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Water Resources (department) . Existing law requires the department and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine the principal options for the Delta and requires the department to evaluate and comparatively rate each option for its ability to do specified things, including, among others, to maintain Delta water quality for Delta users, and to preserve, protect, and improve Delta levees. Existing law establishes in the agency the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. Existing law requires the conservancy to act as a primary state agency to implement ecosystem restoration in the Delta and to support efforts that advance environmental protection and the economic well-being of Delta residents. Existing law provides for the preservation of specified management areas of the Suisun Marsh, pursuant to a protection plan prepared and adopted by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, as provided. Existing law establishes the Delta Stewardship Council, and requires the council to develop, adopt, and implement a comprehensive long-term management plan for the Delta, known as the Delta Plan, as provided. Existing law requires the department, upon appropriation, to reimburse an eligible local agency for costs incurred for the maintenance or improvement of specified levees, in an amount not to exceed 75% of costs incurred in excess of a set amount per mile, as provided. This bill would require the department to reimburse 100% of the excess costs if a local agency demonstrates economic hardship and the reimbursement is for a project that addresses a threat to life, property, water supply, or habitat. This bill would establish the Delta Levees and Canal Subsidence Fund in the State Treasury and, upon appropriation, would make the moneys in the fund available to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for expenditure consistent with the allocations described below. The bill would authorize the secretary to seek out, and the fund to accept, state moneys from, among other sources, any bond funds, the General Fund, or the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The bill would authorize the fund to accept moneys from nonstate sources, including federal and private moneys, and would continuously appropriate those moneys without regard to fiscal year, for allocation as described below, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the secretary to allocate moneys in the fund, as specified, subject to funding availability, as follows: (1) to the department for the purposes of supporting capital improvements to restore the original design water conveyance capacity for state water conveyance systems, as defined, impacted operationally by land subsidence, and (2) to the department for projects in the Delta or Suisun Marsh to improve existing levees, as specified. The bill would require the conservancy to convene a working group with specified representation to develop a list of recommended projects, as provided. The bill would require the conservancy to publish the list on its internet website, allow 45 days for public comment, and hold at least one community meeting before the list is approved by the conservancy's governing board. The bill would require the department to administer any grants or funding agreements from the list of projects. The bill would require at least 15% of the funds for projects in the Delta or Suisun Marsh, as described in (2) above, to be for Delta levee projects from the list developed by the working group, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to impose additional requirements on projects to meet the conditions of the funding source, as provided. The bill would prohibit these moneys from being expended to pay the costs of the design, construction, operation, mitigation, or maintenance of any additional Delta conveyance facilities, as provided. The bill would require the secretary, no later than January 1, 2032, and by January 1 every 5 years thereafter, to report to the Legislature on expenditures, as provided. This bill would also require the department to provide a report to the budget committees of the Assembly and Senate no later than May 1, 2027, and biennially thereafter, that contains a 5-year spending plan detailing the engineering and capital improvements necessary to address state water conveyance systems impacted operationally by land subsidence, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to charge the state water supply contractors for the actual and reasonable cost of developing the plan.
Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to enter into a joint powers agreement, as specified, with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program, that, among other things, encourages cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting that creates fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to provide alternative methods of financing in providing and promoting the establishment of facilities using alternative methods and sources of energy and facilities needed for the development and commercialization of advanced transportation technologies, as provided. This bill would establish the California Wildfire Resilience Loan Program and would require the authority, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to administer the program to provide financial assistance for projects and activities to reduce wildfire-related risks and losses, including home hardening and defensible space improvements, as provided, and would make related changes.
The Capital Programs and Climate Financing Authority Act establishes the Capital Programs and Climate Financing Authority, consisting of the Director of Finance, the Treasurer, and the Controller. Among other things, the act authorizes the authority to establish one or more small business assistance funds to do various things, including fund a capital access program for small businesses pursuant to specified law, provide various forms of financial assistance, and make or acquire loans or guarantee commercial loans to participating parties eligible for assistance from those funds. The act requires any moneys repaid or returned to the authority in connection with or as a result of any loan or financial assistance made pursuant to these provisions to be deposited in the small business assistance fund from which the loan or assistance was originally provided. For the purpose of establishing and maintaining small business assistance funds, the act authorizes the authority to levy fees or other charges on, or require deposits from, participating parties receiving financing for a project under the act, as specified. The act requires the authority to establish the California Investment and Innovation Program for the purpose of providing grants to enhance the capacity of community development financial institutions to provide technical assistance and capital access to economically disadvantaged communities in the state, as specified. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would authorize the authority to establish one or more small business assistance funds to fund a grant program for community development financial assistance pursuant to the California Investment and Innovation Program. The bill would include in the list of allowed financial assistance that the authority may provide under the act grants made to community development financial institutions in furtherance of that program. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated fund may be used, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law establishes methane emissions reduction goals that include a target to reduce landfill disposal of organics by 75% of the 2014 level of the statewide disposal of organic waste by 2025. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to adopt regulations to achieve the organic waste reduction goals. Existing law authorizes a local jurisdiction to count specified recovered organic waste products towards up to 10% of its recovered organic waste procurement target. This bill would additionally authorize a local jurisdiction to count a beneficial agricultural amendment derived from organic waste that may include biosolids towards up to that 10% of its recovered organic waste procurement target if the material meets the requirements to be deemed to constitute a reduction in landfill disposal, the material is registered or approved for end use as a fertilizing material by the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the material is not derived from, or processed using, specified activities relating to the final deposition or management of solid waste, as provided. The bill would require the amount of the procured materials to be calculated using the dry weight of the materials. Existing law authorizes a local jurisdiction to count compost produced and procured from specified compost operations towards its recovered organic waste procurement target, including, under specified conditions, operations composting green material, agricultural material, food material, and vegetative food material if the total amount of feedstock and compost onsite at any one time does not exceed 100 cubic yards and 750 square feet. This bill would repeal that authorization, but would instead authorize a local jurisdiction to count towards its procurement target compost produced and procured from certain composting operations, including the composting of green material, agricultural material, food material, and vegetative food material if the total amount of feedstock and compost onsite at any one time does not exceed either 200 cubic yards or, for a composting activity owned by a public agency, as defined, 500 cubic yards, amounts that may be increased by regulation, as specified.
Existing law allows an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of their personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds and accounts, including, among others, to the Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2033, allow an individual to designate on their tax return that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the continuously appropriated California Sea Otter Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, which would be created by this bill. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the tax return form to include a space for the designation of contributions to the fund. By establishing a new continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also require the fund to appear on the personal income tax return for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2033. The bill would require that the above provisions remain operative only until December 1, 2033, and be repealed as of that date. However, the bill would provide for an earlier repeal if the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be received during the 2nd and later calendar years after its first appearance on a return will not at least equal the minimum contribution amount, in which case these provisions would be repealed on December 1 of that year. The bill would require, notwithstanding the repeal of the bill's provisions, that any contribution amounts designated prior to the repeal of the bill's provisions be transferred and disbursed in accordance with those provisions, as specified.
Existing law, the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025, authorizes a local agency to enact an ordinance to require a short-term rental facilitator, as defined, to report, in the form and manner prescribed by the local agency, the physical address of each short-term rental, as defined, during the reporting period. Existing law requires a short-term rental facilitator, in a jurisdiction that has adopted an ordinance, to include in the listing of a short-term rental any applicable local license number associated with the short-term rental and any transient occupancy tax certification issued by a local agency. Existing law authorizes a local agency to, if the short-term rental facilitator is responsible for collecting and remitting the transient occupancy tax to the local agency pursuant to a local ordinance or collection agreement, conduct an audit or otherwise examine the records of the short-term rental facilitator documenting the receipt of the transient occupancy tax due and payable to the local agency. This bill would enact the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2026. The bill would authorize an Indian tribe, as defined, to exercise the same powers a local agency has under the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025. The bill would provide that an "ordinance" under the act refers to a tribal law of an Indian tribe imposing a transient occupancy tax.
Existing law, the Farmer Equity Act of 2017, requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to ensure the inclusion of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, as defined, in the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of food and agriculture laws, regulations, and policies and programs, as specified. This bill would authorize the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to establish 2 advisory committees, known as the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Producer Advisory Committee and the Small-Scale Producer Advisory Committee, for the purpose of advising the secretary and the department with respect to their responsibilities under the Farmer Equity Act of 2017. The bill would authorize the advisory committees to advise the secretary and the department on programs, policies, education, outreach, technical assistance, and general needs for small-scale producers, medium-scale producers, and socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers in California. The bill would require the members of the advisory committees to be small-scale or medium-scale socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers, as provided.
Existing law establishes the Atmospheric Rivers Research and Forecast Improvement Program: Enabling Climate Adaptation Through Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations and Hazard Resiliency (AR/FIRO) Program in the Department of Water Resources. Existing law requires the department to operate reservoirs in a manner that improves flood protection, and to reoperate flood control and water storage facilities to capture water generated by atmospheric rivers. Existing law requires the department to research, develop, and implement new observations, prediction models, novel forecasting methods, and tailored decision support systems to improve predictions of atmospheric rivers and their impacts on water supply, flooding, post-wildfire debris flows, and environmental conditions. This bill would, for novel forecasting methods researched, developed, and implemented by the department, require the department to include the use of experimental tools that produce seasonal and subseasonal atmospheric river forecasts, as defined.
(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.
