Official Summary Text
AB 623, as amended, Dixon.
Fire prevention projects: California Environmental Quality Act: coastal development permits: exemptions.
Fire prevention: fuel modification or reduction projects: reports.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency during conditions of disaster or extreme peril to persons or property. Existing law authorizes the Governor, during a state of emergency, to suspend any regulatory statute, or statute prescribing the procedure for conduct of state business, or the orders, rules, or regulations of any state agency, if the Governor determines and declares that strict compliance with any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency.
Under the authority of the California Emergency Services Act, on March 1, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a
proclamation of a state of emergency that suspends applicable state statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements that fall within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency or the Natural Resources Agency to the extent necessary for expediting critical fuels reduction projects, as provided. The proclamation requires an individual or entity desiring to conduct a critical fuels reduction project to request the secretary of the appropriate agency to make a determination that the proposed project is eligible for the suspension and requires the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency to maintain on their respective internet website a list of all suspensions approved.
This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the California
Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency to each report to the Legislature information on the implementation of the above-described proclamation of emergency, as provided.
Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, requires any person wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone to obtain a coastal development permit and provides various procedures related to development control within areas of the coastal zone. The act provides for the certification of local coastal programs and public works plans by the California Coastal Commission. The act provides for limited review by the commission for projects contained in a public works plan after certification and for action taken by a local government on a coastal development permit application after certification of a local coastal program.
This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the commission to report to the Legislature certain information on fuel modification and reduction projects, including the acreage of fuel modification or reduction projects approved annually under coastal development permits from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2026, inclusive, among other information.
(1)
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.
This bill would exempt a fuel modification project to maintain defensible space of
500 feet from each side and from the front and rear of a building or structure and a fuel reduction project to prevent and contain the spread of wildfires from the requirements of CEQA. The bill would also exempt an electrical grid resilience or hardening project from the requirements of CEQA. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project qualifies for these exemptions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2)
The California Coastal Act of 1976, among other things, requires anyone wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, in
addition to obtaining any other permit required by law from any local government or from any state, regional, or local agency, to obtain a coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission or a local government, as provided. Existing law exempts certain emergency work and emergency projects from these requirements, as specified.
This bill would exempt a fuel modification project to maintain defensible space of 500 feet from each side and from the front and rear of a building or structure and a fuel reduction project to prevent and contain the spread of wildfires from these requirements.
(3)
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.