BILL NUMBER: AB 2146INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Patterson (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow, Brough, and Olsen) FEBRUARY 17, 2016 An act to add Section 4599 to the Public Resources Code, relating to forestry and fire protection. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2146, as introduced, Patterson. Forestry and fire protection: greenhouse gas emissions. Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention to implement various fire prevention programs intended to protect forest resources and prevent uncontrollable wildfires. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires that all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for greenhouse gas emissions reduction activities. This bill would provide that $200,000,000 from the fund shall be made available annually, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to the department for activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state caused by uncontrolled forest fires. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California continues to experience catastrophic wildfires of a magnitude previously unknown. Unlike traditional regenerative forest fires, modern forest fires are extremely destructive with devastating economic and environmental consequences, including loss of life and property destruction, job losses, erosion, downstream drinking water quality degradation, proliferation of nonnative and invasive species, nonnative species choking out reemerging native vegetation, soil sterilization, ecosystem destruction, and tremendous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. (b) While the state focuses its climate change efforts on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources, it is turning a blind eye to the equally significant greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions resulting from forest fires. (c) The 2015 calendar year brought disastrous fires of high intensity, including the Rough Fire, which burned over 150,000 acres over a two-months period, injuring 12 people; the 2015 Valley Fire, which caused four civilian casualties, four injured firefighters, over 1,000 destroyed homes, 27 destroyed multifamily structures, and over 600 other structures destroyed, prompting the declaration of a major disaster from the President of the United States; and the Butte Fire that continued for over a month, resulting in two deaths and destroying 475 homes and over 350 other structures. (d) The 2013 Rim Fire burned over 250,000 acres over 69 days and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in economic and environmental damage; destroyed significant habitat for a number of California's rarest species; and demanded more than $125 million in firefighting resources. It is estimated that the Rim Fire released over 11 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 2.3 million cars. Experts have attributed the fire's exponential growth to a century's worth of fuel left behind due to historical fire suppression policies and practices. (e) The 2007 Angora Fire resulted in roughly 143,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, or approximately 46.2 tons per acre. Studies indicate that those emissions could have been lowered to 12 tons per acre if the tree density were reduced from approximately 273 trees per acre to the natural 60 trees per acre level. SEC. 2. Section 4599 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 4599. The sum of two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the Government Code, shall be made available annually to the department, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, for activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state caused by uncontrolled forest fires, including, but not limited to, vegetation management, forest overgrowth reduction, and measures to ensure that future fires are more consistent with the historic regenerative fire regime.