Official Summary Text
SB 1370, as amended, Stern.
Wildfire Fund: report.
Covered wildfire mitigation projects: consolidated and expedited review.
Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which is known as and may be referred to as CAL-FIRE. Existing law establishes in CAL-FIRE the Office of the State Fire Marshal and requires that office to establish the Community Wildfire Mitigation Assistance Program to coordinate regional and local efforts with state policies, strategies, and programs for community wildfire mitigation in order to improve wildfire preparedness and prevention, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable communities.
This bill would require that, notwithstanding any other law, any state-level environmental and resource
permits, approvals, consultations, and reviews required for a covered wildfire mitigation project, as defined, be consolidated into a single coordinated review administered jointly by the consolidated review agencies, defined as the Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency. The bill would require an applicant seeking authorization to undertake a covered wildfire mitigation project to submit a single, consolidated application package to the consolidated review agencies. The bill would require the consolidated review agencies to establish timelines to complete their review and issue a determination on a complete application. The bill would require the project to be approved within 60 calendar days of receipt, as provided, and would authorize the applicant and the consolidated review agencies to agree to extend these timelines if both parties agree more information is required. The bill would require the determination to be in writing and to include specified information,
including, among other things, a description of the project and a list of permits, agreements, or authorizations covered by the authorization.
The bill would further provide for an expedited authorization, as defined, issued pursuant to these requirements, which would waive the requirement that the covered wildfire mitigation project comply with statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements, within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, and agencies within the consolidated review agencies. The expedited authorization would replace any other permit, agreement, or authorization required by state statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements that fall within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, and offices within the consolidated review agencies. The bill would require projects to be less than 3,000 acres in project size and completed within 2 years of
approval by the consolidated review agencies.
The bill would also require, on or before July 1, 2029, the consolidated review agencies to review specified state requirements, as provided, review projects and conduct inspections and monitoring of a subset of projects to develop recommendations required pursuant to those state requirements, and post the review and recommendations on the internet websites of the consolidated review agencies.
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 covered wildfire mitigation project authorized pursuant to these provisions from the requirements of CEQA.
Existing law establishes the Wildfire Fund, administered by the Wildfire Fund Administrator, and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to pay eligible claims, as defined, against participating electrical corporations arising from wildfires ignited on or after July 12, 2019. Existing law requires the administrator, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, the Department of Insurance, the Office of Emergency Services, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and with feedback solicited from stakeholders, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before April 1, 2026, that evaluates and sets forth recommendations on new models or approaches that mitigate damage, accelerate recovery, and responsibly and equitably allocate the burdens from natural catastrophes across stakeholders to complement or replace
the fund. Existing law requires that the report include specified recommendations including, recommendations on the accessibility and affordability of property insurance in California and an evaluation of alternative structures to socialize risk of damage from natural catastrophes, as provided.
This bill would require the administrator to present those recommendations to specified Senate committees.