Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection, until January 1, 2026, to establish a statewide program to allow qualifying 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 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 department 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 and contractors who conduct specified wildfire resiliency activities 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 investigations 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 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.

Statutes affected:
03/28/25 - Amended Senate: 4291.5 PRC, 4291.5 PRC, 4291.6 PRC, 4291.6 PRC
04/09/25 - Amended Senate: 4291.5 PRC, 4291.6 PRC
06/25/25 - Amended Assembly: 4291.5 PRC, 4291.6 PRC