SB 514

Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection, until January 1, 2026, to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, as defined, who have completed a specific training program developed and administered by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts. Existing law authorizes these qualified entities to, among other things, assess compliance with defensible space requirements applicable to the state responsibility area. Existing law requires the director to establish a common reporting platform that allows defensible space and home hardening assessment data, collected by qualifying entities, to be reported to the department, and authorizes the director to use this data for specified reasons. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by, among other things, indefinitely extending the operative date of both the above-described statewide program and the associated training program for qualified entities. The bill would add nonprofit entities focused on wildfire resiliency to the list of qualified entities. The bill would authorize qualified entities to additionally assess compliance with defensible space requirements applicable to local responsibility areas, as provided. The bill would require specified data obtained voluntarily from property owners for purposes of the common reporting platform to be anonymized and kept confidential if requested by the property owner, and would prohibit that data from being used for compliance or enforcement purposes associated with ordinances that directly relate to defensible space and home hardening inspections unless specifically requested by the property owner. The bill would limit the data the director may use for specified purposes to that data gathered in response to requests related to compliance with defensible space requirements, and other data voluntarily provided by a property owner if authorized by the property owner, as provided. Existing law establishes the California Fire Service Training and Education Program in the Office of the State Fire Marshal and requires the State Fire Marshal to make or encourage studies of any aspect of fire service training and education. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop and make available on its internet website a Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Safety Building Standards Compliance training intended for use in the training of local building officials, builders, and fire service personnel, as specified. This bill would authorize the Office of the State Fire Marshal, as part of the California Fire Service Training and Education Program, to allow certification of contractors who conduct defensible space, home hardening, fuel reduction, roadside clearance, and other contracting activities for wildfire resiliency efforts and who have completed the above-described training program for qualified entities to support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in its defensible space and home hardening and education efforts or an equivalent program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13159.5 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 1143 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1143 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 4291.5 and 4291.6 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 1457 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1457 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.