Senate Bill 1370 (Stern) seeks to streamline the state permitting process for wildfire risk reduction projects undertaken by the state, local governments, and utilities. The bill seeks to codify a recently expired Executive Order (N-38-25), which has expedited hundreds of critical wildfire prevention projects statewide.
SB 1370 is borne out of requests from utilities, local governments, and the California Earthquake Authority to allow this common sense and transformational program to continue. Eligible projects include removal of hazardous, dead, or dying trees, creation and maintenance of strategic fuel breaks and community defensible space, roadside vegetation management, fuel management to create more fire-resilient ecosystems, prescribed fire, and removal of vegetation around utility poles, lines, and rights of way. Eligible projects cannot involve the issuance of an Incidental Take Permit or the use of pesticides and must comply with an existing statewide environmental protection plan.
SB 1370 will reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires, response costs, emissions, and smoke exposure. SB 1370 also creates a CEQA exemption for those projects undertaken over the next several years. The bill also tasks the state with coming up with a new Nontimber Vegetation Management certified regulatory program, which should simplify permitting over the longer term for local and utility fuel management projects.
A joint RCRC, CSAC, and Cal Cities letter requesting the Governor’s signature can be found here.
For more information, contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, John Kennedy.