Assembly Bill 1699<\/a>, known as the Good Fire Act. The measure seeks to ease rules and liability concerns that have limited the use of prescribed fires across the state.\u00a0<\/p>\nIt\u2019s co-sponsored by seven additional lawmakers, including Assemblymembers Jesse Arregu\u00edn, D-Berkeley, Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, and Tim Grayson, D-Concord. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill would make permanent emergency measures approved last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom that allow Cal Fire to assist with community-led prescribed burns without requiring additional environmental review.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Good Fire Act would also expand access to the state\u2019s Prescribed Fire Liability Claims Fund, which helps cover damage claims if a prescribed burn causes unintended harm. Tribal governments, volunteer fire departments and resource conservation districts would be eligible to use the fund for the first time. The bill would also remove the fund\u2019s scheduled 2028 expiration date.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill would also ease certification rules for burn bosses \u2013\u2013 the professionals responsible for planning and overseeing prescribed burns \u2013\u2013 by allowing prior federal or Cal Fire training to count toward state certifications and reducing renewal requirements from annually to every three years. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBy removing unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles and expanding liability protections, we\u2019re empowering tribes, land managers and communities to use fire the way it has been used for millennia \u2014 as a tool for stewarding our lands and protecting our communities,\u201d Rogers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the bill\u2019s sponsors is Pacific Forest Trust, a nonprofit focused on private forest conservation. Paul Mason, the organization\u2019s vice president for policy and incentives, said expanding prescribed burning is critical to reducing wildfire risk statewide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis legislation will help unlock the full potential of California\u2019s prescribed fire workforce and facilitate the use of beneficial fire that our forests need,\u201d Mason said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bill has not yet been scheduled for a committee hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, 2\/5\/26 \u2013 A bipartisan bill aimed at expanding the use of prescribed and cultural burning was introduced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2705,7,9,8,2748,79799,36802,79800],"class_list":["post-165256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-bay-city-news","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-state-legislature","tag-chris-rogers","tag-emergency-preparedness","tag-native-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}