Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), and makes CAL FIRE responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in CAL FIRE to represent the state’s interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the board to maintain an adequate forest policy. The former Governor, Edmund G. Brown, Jr., issued Executive Order No. B-52-18 that, among other things, established a Forest Management Task Force, now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. The executive order also established a Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, to be located within the state board.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires every electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. The PUC refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff. The renewable feed-in tariff law, in part, requires the PUC to direct the electrical corporations, collectively, to procure at least 250 megawatts of cumulative rated generating capacity from developers of bioenergy projects that commence operation on or after June 1, 2013. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has established and revised the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program. On March 18, 2016, the PUC issued Resolution E-4770 to order investor-owned utilities to each hold a solicitation for contract with facilities that can use biofuel from high hazard zones to address an Emergency Proclamation using the Bioenergy Renewable Auction Mechanism (BioRAM) program.

This bill would establish the fire fuel reduction program to support sufficient procurement, transport, and beneficial use of forest biomass waste to reduce fuel for wildfires by up to 15,000,000 bone-dry tons of forest biomass waste per year. The bill would establish the FOREST and Wildfire Prevention Fund in the State Treasury, and would continuously appropriate the fund to the Natural Resources Agency for this program, as specified. By continuously appropriating moneys in the fund to the agency, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the fire fuel reduction program to grant funding priority to BioRAM and BioMAT fleets in operation on or before January 1, 2031.