AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 14, 2026
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2025
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 17, 2025
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
96
Introduced by Assembly Member Dixon
February 13, 2025
An act to amend Section 30600 of, and to add Sections 21080.08 and 21080.36 to, add and repeal Sections 4123.9 and 30618 of the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention.
Vote: majority Appropriation: no Fiscal committee: yes Local program: no
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
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.
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.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 4123.9 is added to the Public Resources Code, immediately following Section 4123.8, to read:
4123.9.
(a) On or before January 1, 2028, the Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency shall, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, each report to the Legislature on the implementation of the proclamation of a state of emergency issued by Governor Gavin Newsom on March 1, 2025, 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. The report from each of those agencies shall contain all of the following information:
(1) A list of all entities that requested the secretary of the reporting agency to make a determination that the requested activity is eligible for the suspension as a critical fuels reduction project under the proclamation.
(2) A list of all entities that used the suspension provided under the proclamation by either reporting agency or both reporting agencies after the reporting agency made the determination on eligibility for the suspension.
(3) Detailed information on the projects of each entity for which the suspension was provided, including location, treatment, and acreage.
(4) Information on how the project for which suspension was provided advances the state’s wildfire mitigation and forest health treatment goals.
(5) Information about instances in which any project for which suspension was provided failed to comply with the 2020 Statewide Fires–Environmental Protection Plan and to what extent the noncompliance is known.
(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2029, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 2.
Section 30618 is added to the Public Resources Code, immediately following Section 30617, to read:
30618.
(a) On or before January 1, 2028, the commission shall, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, report to the Legislature all of the following information:
(1) The number of coastal development permit applications for fuel modification or reduction projects received annually by the commission from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2026, inclusive, including, to the extent this information is available to the commission, both of the following:
(A) The number of applications for fuel modification or reductions projects that were approved or denied.
(B) The number of notices received from local governments with certified local coastal programs pursuant to Section 30603 for coastal development permit applications for fuel modification or reduction projects that the applicant acted upon.
(2) The acreage of fuel modification or reduction projects approved annually under coastal development permits from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2026, inclusive.
(3) The average time annually, from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2026, inclusive, for a coastal development permit to be approved by the commission for a fuel modification or reduction project after submission of a complete coastal development permit application.
(4) The number of fuel modification or reduction projects requested under a public works plan from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2026, inclusive.
(5) The average time annually, from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2026, inclusive, for the commission to approve a fuel modification or reduction project under a public works plan.
(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2029, and as of that date is repealed.
Section 21080.08 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
21080.08.
Except as specified in Section 4799.05, this division does not apply to 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 or a fuel reduction project to prevent and contain the spread of wildfires.
SEC. 2.
Section 21080.36 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
21080.36.
This division does not apply to an electrical grid resilience or hardening project.
SEC. 3.
Section 30600 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:
30600.
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (e), and in addition to obtaining any other permit required by law from a local government or from a state, regional, or local agency, a person, as defined in Section 21066, wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, other than a facility subject to Section 25500, shall obtain a coastal development permit.
(b) (1) Before certification of its local coastal program, a local government may, with respect to any development within its area of jurisdiction in the coastal zone and consistent with Sections 30604, 30620, and 30620.5, establish procedures for the filing, processing, review, modification, approval, or denial of a coastal development permit. Those procedures may be incorporated and made a part of the procedures relating to any other appropriate land use development permit issued by the local government.
(2) A coastal development permit from a local government shall not be required by this subdivision for a development on tidelands, submerged lands, or on public trust lands, whether filled or unfilled, or for a development by a public agency for which a local government permit is not otherwise required.
(c) If before certification of its local coastal program, a local government does not exercise the option provided in subdivision (b), or a development is not subject to the requirements of subdivision (b), a coastal development permit shall be obtained from the commission or from a local government as provided in subdivision (d).
(d) After certification of its local coastal program or pursuant to Section 30600.5, a coastal development permit shall be obtained from the local government as provided for in Section 30519 or Section 30600.5.
(e) This section does not apply to any of the following projects, except that notification by the agency or public utility performing any of the following projects shall be made to the commission within 14 days from the date of the commencement of the project:
(1) Immediate emergency work necessary to protect life or property or immediate emergency repairs to public service facilities necessary to maintain service as a result of a disaster in a disaster-stricken area in which a state of emergency has been proclaimed by the Governor pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(2) Emergency projects undertaken, carried out, or approved by a public agency to maintain, repair, or restore an existing highway, as defined in Section 360 of the Vehicle Code, except for a highway designated as an official state scenic highway pursuant to Section 262 of the Streets and Highways Code, within the existing right-of-way of the highway, damaged as a result of fire, flood, storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth movement, or landslide, within one year of the damage. This paragraph does not exempt from this section a project undertaken, carried out, or approved by a public agency to expand or widen a highway damaged by fire, flood, storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth movement, or landslide.
(3) 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.
(4) A fuel reduction project to prevent and contain the spread of wildfires.
SEC. 4.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.