Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024: grants: improvements to public evacuation routes: mobile rigid water storage: electrical generators.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how the grants will be distributed or managed, leaving some uncertainty about these aspects.

Safe Drinking Water and Wildfire Prevention Bond Act

This act provides grants to improve public safety during wildfires by funding better evacuation routes, firefighting equipment, and backup power for water reservoirs.

What This Bill Does

• Provides money for improving roads that help people leave dangerous areas quickly during wildfires in very high or high fire hazard severity zones.
• Gives funds to buy special tanks that hold water for fighting fires.
• Supports the use of mobile rigid water storage units near places at risk of wildfire.
• Aids in getting better backup power systems for water reservoirs to ensure water supply during emergencies.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local agencies, state agencies, joint powers authorities, tribes, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, nonprofit organizations, and special districts.

Terms To Know

Mobile rigid water storage

Special tanks that can be moved around to store large amounts of water for firefighting purposes.

Backup electrical generators

Extra power systems used when regular electricity is not available, especially important for maintaining water supply during emergencies.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the funds will be distributed or managed.
• It relies on future legislative appropriations to make the grants available.
• Details about implementation and oversight are not provided in this summary.

Official Summary Text

SB 90, as amended, Seyarto.
Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024: grants: improvements to public evacuation routes: mobile rigid water storage: electrical generators.
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 and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. The act makes $135,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Office of Emergency Services for a wildfire mitigation grant program to provide, among other things, loans, direct assistance, and matching funds for projects
that prevent wildfires, increase resilience, maintain existing wildfire risk reduction projects, reduce the risk of wildfires to communities, or increase home or community hardening. The act provides that eligible projects include, but are not limited to, grants to local agencies, state agencies, joint powers authorities, tribes, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, and nonprofit organizations for structure hardening of critical community infrastructure, wildfire smoke mitigation, evacuation centers, including community clean air centers, structure hardening projects that reduce the risk of wildfire for entire neighborhoods and communities, water delivery system improvements for fire suppression purposes for communities in very high or high fire hazard areas, wildfire buffers, and incentives to remove structures that significantly increase hazard risk.
This bill would include in the list of eligible projects grants to the
above-mentioned entities for improvements to public evacuation routes in very high and high fire hazard severity zones, mobile rigid dip tanks, as defined, to support firefighting efforts, prepositioned mobile rigid water storage, as defined, and improvements to the response and effectiveness of fire engines and helicopters. The bill would also include grants, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission, to local agencies, state agencies, special districts, joint powers authorities, tribes, and nonprofit organizations for backup electrical generators for water reservoirs.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF