BILL NUMBER: AJR 18	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JULY 2, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 25, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 16, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Patterson and Gatto
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Travis Allen  and Olsen
  , Olsen,   Achadjian,   Alejo, 
 Atkins,   Baker,   Bigelow,   Bloom,
  Bonilla,   Bonta,   Burke,  
Calderon,   Campos,   Chang,   Chau, 
 Chávez,   Chiu,   Chu,   Cooley,
  Cooper,   Dababneh,   Dahle,  
Daly,   Dodd,   Eggman,   Frazier, 
 Beth Gaines,   Gallagher,   Eduardo Garcia,
  Gipson,   Gomez,   Gonzalez,  
Gordon,   Gray,   Grove,   Hadley, 
 Harper,   Holden,  Irwin,   Jones,
  Kim,   Lackey,   Levine,  
Linder,   Lopez,   Low,   Maienschein,
  Mathis,   Mayes,   McCarty,  
Medina,   Melendez,   Mullin,   Nazarian,
  Obernolte,   O'Donnell,   Perea, 
 Quirk,   Ridley-Thomas,   Salas,  
Steinorth,   Mark Stone,   Thurmond,  
Ting,   Wagner,   Waldron,   Weber, 
 Wilk,   Williams,   and Wood  )
   (Coauthors: Senators Hertzberg and Runner)

                        MAY 27, 2015

   Relative to the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AJR 18, as amended, Patterson. Federal Wildfire Disaster Funding
Act.
   This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to
support H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in order
to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal
agencies to conduct the necessary fuels management on national forest
lands, while retaining resources to suppress catastrophic wildfires.

   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, According to the United States Forest Service,
approximately 58 million acres of national forest lands, or one-third
of the entire National Forest System, are in need of restoration due
to the high risk for catastrophic wildfire; and
   WHEREAS, California is home to 21 national forests; and
   WHEREAS, Over the last three decades, fire season lengths have
increased by 60 to 80 days, and annual acreages burned have more than
doubled to over seven million acres; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Forest Service plans to thin less than
3 percent of its high-risk acreage in the next federal fiscal year;
and
   WHEREAS, One percent of the wildfires fought on national forest
lands each year consume up to 30 percent of the annual fire budget,
and the wildland fire management appropriation has tripled its
portion of the United States Forest Service budget from 17 percent to
51 percent from 1995 to 2014, inclusive; and
   WHEREAS, Over seven of the last 12 years, the United States Forest
Service and the United States Department of the Interior have had to
divert over $2 billion in funds from other forestry and land
management programs to fund firefighting efforts; and
   WHEREAS, This "fire borrowing" has had adverse effects on other
United States Forest Service projects, with funds being transferred
from other programs that provide necessary hazardous fuel reduction
and vegetation management on national forest lands; and
   WHEREAS, This "fire borrowing," in 2012, consisted of $440 million
being transferred to the fire suppression account and projects at
all levels, including multiple fuel reduction projects on national
forest lands in California, being cancelled or deferred; and
   WHEREAS, It has been shown that post-wildfire rehabilitation costs
can exceed the costs of wildfire suppression by two to 30 times; and

   WHEREAS, Frequent, severe wildfires result in great environmental
damage, and the prevention of wildfires is necessary to decrease the
great risk posed to California due to drought, climate change, and
the large amount of overgrown national forest lands in the state; and

   WHEREAS, The Governors of California, Washington, and Oregon
requested the 113th Congress to support common sense wildfire
funding, as embodied in the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Acts of
2014, H.R. 3992 and S. 1875, but these pieces of legislation were
not signed into law; and
   WHEREAS, Catastrophic wildfires are an ongoing yet preventable
threat to California and its residents, and the inability of federal
agencies to manage national forest lands appropriately due to funding
constraints is a pressing issue that must be addressed as quickly as
possible; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California
respectfully urges the 114th Congress of the United States to support
H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in order to
provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal agencies to
conduct the necessary fuels management on national forest lands,
while retaining resources to suppress truly catastrophic wildfires;
and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to
the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.