Wildfire: vegetation management.

Existing law also requires the State Fire Marshal to identify areas of the state that are local responsibility areas where a local government or district is responsible for fire protection as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria. Existing law requires a local agency to designate, by ordinance, fire hazard severity zones in its jurisdiction within 120 days of receiving recommendations from the State Fire Marshal, as described above.

This bill would, on or before January 1, 2028, and every 2 years thereafter, require the department or a local entity to conduct an assessment, as provided, of all undeveloped public lands for which it is primarily responsible for preventing and suppressing fires to ensure that the public land is not a severe fire hazard. The bill would require this assessment to be posted on the department's and local entity's internet website and would require a local entity conducting the assessment to submit its assessment to the department. The bill would require all of these lands, on or before January 1, 2028, to have 200-foot firebreaks on all borders with private property.

This bill would, when the state or a local government acquires private undeveloped land, require the department or a local entity that is primarily responsible for preventing and suppressing fires on that land to create a plan on how the land will be managed with regard to fire prevention, and to report the cost of keeping the land managed. The bill would require the department and the local entity to post this information on its respective internet website and would require a local entity preparing this information to submit it to the department.

To the extent that this bill would impose new duties on local government agencies, the bill would create 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.