Existing law establishes in the Department of Conservation the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes by improving ecosystem health, community wildfire preparedness, and fire resilience. Existing law requires the department, upon appropriation, among other things, to provide block grants to regional entities, as defined, to develop regional strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes, as provided.

This bill would authorize regional entities to form regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives, consisting of specified local government entities, special districts, and tribal governments, and would further authorize these collaboratives to take the form of a joint powers authority. The bill would require these collaboratives to form cooperative agreements with specified entities, as provided. The bill would authorize the collaboratives to develop wildfire mitigation plans to implement projects across the region that mitigate against the risk of wildfire, including projects related to, among other things, structure hardening and retrofitting. The bill would require the plans to consider projects that accomplish specified goals, including, among other things, improve the availability and affordability of property insurance in the region.

Existing law, the Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities, as provided.

This bill would authorize the I-Bank, in coordination with the Treasurer and the Department of Conservation, to issue revenue bonds to finance wildfire mitigation plans developed by regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives. The bill would establish the Regional Wildfire Mitigation Collaborative Revolving Fund (revolving fund) in the State Treasury, require moneys generated from the sale of bonds to be deposited in the revolving fund and used exclusively to support the regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives, and continuously appropriate moneys in the revolving fund to the I-Bank to support the regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives. By establishing a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require a regional wildfire mitigation collaborative receiving funds from the I-Bank to enter into a repayment and participation agreement with the bank, specifying the funding commitments and reporting obligations.

The bill would require a regional wildfire mitigation collaborative seeking funds from the Revolving Fund to submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Department of Conservation. The bill would authorize the department to consult with specified state entities to review the plans according to specified criteria. The bill would make the regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives eligible for funding from the Revolving Fund upon the department’s approval of the wildfire mitigation plan. The bill would also authorize the I-Bank to provide technical assistance to regional wildfire mitigation collaboratives.