Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of wildfire prevention and forest health legislation designed to speed up mitigation projects, expand prescribed burning, and reduce fire risk to homes and communities.
The bills codify temporary streamlining measures that have already fast-tracked more than 500 priority wildfire prevention projects covering nearly 130,000 acres. The new legislation creates a more durable process to move projects from planning to implementation faster while maintaining environmental protections.
The package establishes the Fire Innovation Unit within the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to research, coordinate, and deploy wildfire technology. It expands tools for prescribed and cultural burning by extending State-Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Bosses' certification from one year to three years.
The bills include a low-interest loan program to encourage home hardening and defensible space activities, addressing a major barrier for homeowners seeking to protect their properties. The legislation also creates the California Wildfire Preparedness Program to support county-level coordination of wildfire mitigation and prevention.
Utility companies are required to remove permanently abandoned transmission lines and account for active, inactive, and abandoned transmission infrastructure in wildfire-mitigation plans. Urban retail water suppliers serving high-fire-hazard areas must incorporate wildfire preparedness into emergency-response plans.
The state is supporting the legislation with substantial funding. Governor Newsom allocated $25 million from the climate bond for a statewide community wildfire mitigation program and $117 million in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds, with $135 million available for new and ongoing prevention projects.