california legislature—2025–26 regular session
ASSEMBLY BILL No. 2494
Introduced by Assembly Member Rogers
(Coauthor: Senator McGuire)
February 20, 2026
An act to amend Sections 4629.6, 4629.8, 4629.9, 4631, 4631.5, 4639, 4651, 4652, and 4656 of, and to add Section 4649.5 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to state forests.
legislative counsel’s digest
AB 2494, as introduced, Rogers. State forests: forest management. (1) Existing law authorizes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to engage in management of state forests and defines “management” for purposes of the state forests as a means of handling forest crop and forest soil to achieve maximum sustained production of high-quality forest products while giving consideration to values relating to, among other values, recreation, watershed, and wildlife, as provided.
This bill would redefine “management” for purposes of state forests as the handling of forest vegetation and soils within state forests for biodiversity conservation and fire resilience, while maximizing the promotion of durable onsite carbon storage and sequestration, climate resiliency goals, equitable forest access, wildlife and recreation opportunities, and compatible research efforts.
(2) Existing law declares it is in the interest of the welfare of the people of the state and their industries and other activities involving the use of wood, lumber, poles, piling, wood pulp, and other forest products that desirable cutover forest lands be made fully productive and that the holding and reforestation of such lands is a necessary
99 measure predicated on waning supplies of original old growth timber, as provided. Existing law further declares it is in the interest of the welfare of the people of the state that the state retain the existing land base of state forests in timber production for research and demonstration.
This bill would instead declare that desirable forest lands should be restored to fulfill ecological conditions and processes, and managed consistent with the definition of management, and would further declare policy of the state to be to respect California Native American tribal sovereignty and to seek opportunities for comanagement and integration of indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in forest management.
The bill would instead declare that the state should retain the existing land base of state forests primarily for research and demonstration purposes and allow the sale of timber and other forest products only when harvest occurs for ecological restoration or research purposes. (3) Existing law requires the management of state forests and the cutting and sale of timber and other forest products from state forests to conform with regulations prepared by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. Existing law requires the regulations to conform with forest management practices designed to achieve maximum sustained production of high-quality forest products while giving consideration to values relating to, among other values, recreation, watershed, and wildlife, as specified. Existing law authorizes state forest lands to be used for grazing and mining purposes pursuant to regulations established by the board. Under existing law, a person who violates the rules and regulations pertaining to the state forests established by the board is guilty of a misdemeanor.
The bill would prohibit the sale of timber and other forest products from state forests unless harvest occurs for ecological restoration or research purposes in a manner consistent with the definition of management, as provided. The bill would repeal the authorization for state forest lands to be used for mining purposes. The bill would require the regulations concerning the management of state forests and the cutting and sale of timber and other forest products to prioritize management practices, as specified. The bill would require the regulations permitting grazing on state forest lands to be updated to reflect the redefinition of management. Because a violation of these regulations would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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(4) Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the Secretary for Environmental Protection, to submit a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on the activities of all state departments, agencies, and boards relating to forest and timberland regulation, as specified.
This bill would, among other changes to the report, require the report include additional information including, among other things, any identified staffing needs, by department, and costs per position, to support a more efficient review of timber harvest plans. (5) Existing law authorizes the department to collect recreational user fees for overnight camping and reserved group activities in a demonstration state forest. Existing law requires all user fees collected by the department to be deposited into the Forest Resources Improvement Fund and requires the fees to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to reimburse the department’s cost of maintaining and improving the campground facilities, associated recreational facilities, natural environment, and access thereto. Under existing law, the Forest Resources Improvement Fund is the depository for all revenue derived from the receipts from the sale of forest products, as defined, from state forests to support specified operations. Existing law authorizes money in the Forest Resource Improvement Fund to only be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the cost of operations associated with management of lands held in trust by the state and operated as demonstration state forests, as specified.
Existing law creates the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund in the State Treasury and requires that specified revenues received from a lumber or engineered wood products assessment, less amounts deducted for refunds and reimbursements, be deposited in the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be used for specified purposes, including for forest resources improvement grants and projects administered by the department.
This bill would instead require that all recreational user fees received by the department be deposited into the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund, as provided. The bill would instead also require that all revenue derived from the receipts from the sales of forest products, and any other funds generated by a demonstration state forest, be deposited in the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund, except as provided. The bill would require moneys deposited in the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund to, upon appropriation by the 99 — 3 — AB 2494
Legislature, be expended to support demonstration state forests, as provided.
(6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Section 4629.6 of the Public Resources Code is line 2 amended to read:
line 3 4629.6. Moneys deposited in the fund shall, upon appropriation line 4 by the Legislature, only be expended for the following purposes:
line 5 (a) To reimburse the State Board of Equalization for its line 6 administrative costs associated with the administration, collection, line 7 audit, and issuance of refunds related to the lumber products and line 8 engineered wood assessment established pursuant to Section line 9 4629.5.
line 10 (b) To pay refunds issued pursuant to Part 30 (commencing line 11 with Section 55001) of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation line 12 Code.
line 13 (c) To support the activities and costs of the department, the line 14 Department of Conservation, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, line 15 the State Water Resources Control Board, and regional water line 16 quality control boards associated with the review of projects or line 17 permits necessary to conduct timber operations. On or after July line 18 1, 2013, except for fees applicable for fire prevention or protection line 19 within state responsibility area classified lands or timber yield line 20 assessments, no currently authorized or required fees shall be line 21 charged by the agencies listed in this subdivision for activities or line 22 costs associated with the review of a project, inspection and line 23 oversight of projects, and permits necessary to conduct timber line 24 operations of those departments and boards.
line 25 (d) For transfer to the department’s Forest Improvement Program line 26 for forest resources improvement grants and projects administered line 27 by the department pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 99 AB 2494 — 4 —
line 1 4790) and Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 4799.06) of Part line 2 2.5.
line 3 (e) To fund existing restoration grant programs, with priority line 4 given to the Fisheries Restoration Grant Program administered by line 5 the Department of Fish and Wildlife and grant programs line 6 administered by state conservancies.
line 7 (f) (1) As a loan to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for line 8 activities to address environmental damage occurring on forest line 9 lands resulting from marijuana cultivation. Not more than five line 10 hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) may be loaned from the fund line 11 in a fiscal year pursuant to this paragraph. This paragraph shall line 12 become inoperative on July 1, 2017.
line 13 (2) Any funds deposited into the fund pursuant to subdivision line 14 (d) or (f) of Section 12025 or subdivision (b), (c), (e), or (f) of line 15 Section 12025.1 of the Fish and Game Code shall be credited line 16 toward loan repayment.
line 17 (3) Moneys from the General Fund shall not be used to repay line 18 a loan authorized pursuant to this subdivision. line 19 (g) To support demonstration state forests.
line 20 (g)
line 21 (h) To the department for fuel treatment grants and projects line 22 pursuant to authorities under the Wildland Fire Protection and line 23 Resources Management Act of 1978 (Article 1 (commencing with line 24 Section 4461) of Chapter 7).
line 25 (h)
line 26 (i) To the department to provide grants to local agencies line 27 responsible for fire protection, qualified nonprofits, recognized line 28 tribes, local and state governments, and resources conservation line 29 districts, undertaken on a state responsibility area (SRA) or on line 30 wildlands not in an SRA that pose a threat to the SRA, to reduce line 31 the costs of wildland fire suppression, reduce greenhouse gas line 32 emissions, promote adaptation of forested landscapes to changing line 33 climate, improve forest health, and protect homes and communities. line 34 (i)
line 35 (j) To the Natural Resources Agency to provide a reasonable line 36 per diem for attendance at a meeting of the advisory body for the line 37 state’s forest practice program by a member of the body who is line 38 not an employee of a government agency.
line 39 SEC. 2. Section 4629.8 of the Public Resources Code is line 40 amended to read:
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line 1 4629.8. (a) Funds deposited in the fund shall be appropriated line 2 in accordance with the following priorities:
line 3 (1) First priority shall be for funding associated with the line 4 administration and delivery of responsibilities identified in line 5 subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive, of Section 4629.6. line 6 (2) Only after paragraph (1) is funded, the second priority shall line 7 be, if deposits are sufficient in future years to maintain the fund, line 8 by 2016, at a minimum reserve of four million dollars ($4,000,000), line 9 for use and appropriation by the Legislature in years during which line 10 revenues to the account are projected to fall short of the ongoing line 11 budget allocations for support of the activities identified in line 12 paragraph (1).
line 13 (3) Only after paragraphs (1) and (2) are funded, the third line 14 priority shall be in support of activities designated in subdivisions line 15 (d) to (f), inclusive, of Section 4629.6.
line 16 (4) Only after paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, are funded, the line 17 fourth priority shall be to support the activities designated in line 18 subdivisions (g) to (i), (j), inclusive, of Section 4629.6. line 19 (b) Funds shall not be used to pay for or reimburse any line 20 requirements, including mitigation of a project proponent or line 21 applicant, as a condition of any permit.
line 22 SEC. 3. Section 4629.9 of the Public Resources Code is line 23 amended to read:
line 24 4629.9. (a) On or before January 10, 2013, and on each January line 25 10 thereafter 10, and annually thereafter on January 10, in line 26 conjunction with the 2014–15 Governor’s Budget and each line 27 Governor’s Budget thereafter, Budget, the Secretary of the Natural line 28 Resources Agency, in consultation with the Secretary for line 29 Environmental Protection, shall submit to the Joint Legislative line 30 Budget Committee a report on the activities of all state line 31 departments, agencies, and boards relating to forest and timberland line 32 regulation. This report shall include, at a minimum, all of the line 33 following:
line 34 (1) A listing, by organization, of the proposed total costs line 35 associated with the review, approval, and inspection of timber line 36 harvest plans and associated permits. permits and agreements. line 37 (2) The number of timber harvest plans, and acreage covered line 38 by the plans, reviewed in the 2011–12 fiscal year, or and approved line 39 in the most recent fiscal year.
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line 1 (3) To the extent feasible, a listing of activities, personnel, and line 2 funding, by department, for the forest practice program for line 3 2012–13, or the most recent fiscal year, and the preceding 10 fiscal line 4 years. years, including, but not limited to, any other expenditures line 5 or transfers from the fund.
line 6 (4) The number of staff in each organization dedicated fully or line 7 partially to (A) review of timber harvest plans, and (B) other line 8 forestry-related activities, by geographical location in the state. line 9 (5) The costs of other forestry-related activities undertaken. line 10 (6) A summary of any process improvements identified by the line 11 administration as part of ongoing review of the timber harvest line 12 process, including data and technology improvement needs. line 13 (7) Workload analysis for the forest practice program in each line 14 organization. department, including, but not limited to, an line 15 assessment of whether there is adequate staff to efficiently and line 16 effectively review plans.
line 17 (8) Any identified staffing needs, by department, and costs per line 18 position, to support a more efficient review of timber harvest plans. line 19 (8)
line 20 (9) In order to assess efficiencies in the program and the line 21 effectiveness of spending, a set of measures for, and a plan for line 22 collection of data on, the program, including, but not limited to:
line 23 (A) The number of timber harvest plans reviewed. submitted, line 24 returned for incompleteness, accepted, reviewed, and approved. line 25 (B) Average and median time for plan review. review and time line 26 of review for any subsequent agreements or permits to support the line 27 conduct of timber operations under an approved timber harvest line 28 plan.
line 29 (C) Number of field inspections per inspector. and percentage line 30 of preharvest inspections attended by each review team agency. line 31 (D) Number of acres under active plans.
line 32 (E) Number of violations.
line 33 (F) Evaluating ecological performance.
line 34 (b) A report required to be submitted pursuant to subdivision line 35 (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the line 36 Government Code.
line 37 SEC. 4. Section 4631 of the Public Resources Code is amended line 38 to read:
line 39 4631. It is hereby declared to be in the interest of the welfare line 40 of the people of this state and their industries and other activities 99 — 7 — AB 2494
line 1 involving the use of wood, lumber, poles, piling, and other forest line 2 products, The Legislature finds and declares that desirable cutover line 3 forest lands, including those having young and old timber growth, line 4 should be made fully productive and that the holding and line 5 reforestation of such lands is a necessary measure predicated on line 6 waning supplies of original old growth timber. restored to fulfill line 7 ecological conditions and processes, and managed consistent with line 8 the definition of “management” in Section 4639. It is further line 9 declared to be the policy of the state to respect California Native line 10 American tribal sovereignty and to seek opportunities for line 11 comanagement and integration of indigenous traditional ecological line 12 knowledge in forest management. It is further declared to be the line 13 policy of the state to acquire by purchase, exchange, lease, or grant line 14 all of the following:
line 15 (a) Such cutover lands, the reforestation or restoration of which line 16 is not assured under private ownership, to reforest or restore such line 17 lands during periods of unemployment and at other times. with line 18 locally appropriate species.
line 19 (b) Liquidating Disposal of forest lands primarily suitable for line 20 timber production production, which may be acquired under line 21 precutting agreements.
line 22 (c) Demonstration forests of 2,000 acres or less adapted to line 23 furnish local needs of investigation, demonstration, and education line 24 in those timber counties where the ownership pattern is such that line 25 management of small areas is an important problem. throughout line 26 the state.
line 27 (d) One area, not to exceed approximately 40,000 acres, in each line 28 of the following forest districts, Coast Range Pine and Fir District, line 29 North Sierra Pine District and the South Sierra Pine District, for line 30 the purpose of demonstration of economical forest management. line 31 These areas shall not include virgin timber except that which is line 32 incidental to areas previously harvested.
line 33 SEC. 5. Section 4631.5 of the Public Resources Code is line 34 amended to read:
line 35 4631.5. It is further declared to be in the interest of the welfare line 36 of the people of this state that the state do all The Legislature line 37 further declares that the state should do both of the following:
line 38 (a) Retain the existing land base of state forests in timber line 39 production for research and demonstration purposes. primarily for line 40 research and demonstration purposes and allow the sale of timber 99 AB 2494 — 8 —
line 1 and other forest products only when harvest occurs for ecological line 2 restoration or research purposes.
line 3 (b) Cooperate with local governments in mitigating the impacts line 4 on school enrollment of geothermal development which that occurs line 5 in proximity to state-owned forest lands.
line 6 SEC. 6. Section 4639 of the Public Resources Code is amended line 7 to read:
line 8 4639. “Management” means the handling of forest crop and line 9 forest soil so as to achieve maximum sustained production of high line 10 quality forest products while giving consideration to values relating line 11 to recreation, watershed, wildlife, range and forage, fisheries, and line 12 aesthetic enjoyment. vegetation and soils within state forests, line 13 including, but not limited to, demonstration state forests, for line 14 biodiversity conservation and fire resilience, while maximizing line 15 the promotion of durable onsite carbon storage and sequestration, line 16 climate resiliency goals, equitable forest access, wildlife and line 17 recreation opportunities, and compatible research efforts. line 18 SEC. 7. Section 4649.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, line 19 to read:
line 20 4649.5. The sale of timber and other forest products shall be line 21 prohibited unless harvest occurs for ecological restoration or line 22 research purposes in a manner consistent with the definition of line 23 “management” in Section 4639.
line 24 SEC. 8. Section 4651 of the Public Resources Code is amended line 25 to read:
line 26 4651. The management of state forests and the cutting and sale line 27 of timber and other forest products from state forests shall conform line 28 to regulations prepared by the director and approved by the board. line 29 These regulations shall be in conformity with forest management line 30 practices designed to achieve maximum sustained production of line 31 high-quality forest products while giving consideration to values line 32 relating to recreation, watershed, wildlife, range and forage, line 33 fisheries, and aesthetic enjoyment. The sale of timber and other line 34 forest products is limited to raw materials only. prioritize line 35 management practices consistent with the definition of line 36 “management” in Section 4639.
line 37 SEC. 9. Section 4652 of the Public Resources Code is amended line 38 to read:
line 39 4652. (a) The department may collect recreational user fees line 40 for overnight camping and reserved group activities in a 99 — 9 — AB 2494
line 1 demonstration state forest. The department shall not charge a fee line 2 that exceeds the amount necessary to reimburse the department’s line 3 costs for maintenance and improvement of campground facilities, line 4 associated recreational facilities, natural environment, and access line 5 thereto.
line 6 (b) All recreational user fees received by the department during line 7 each fiscal year shall be deposited into the Forest Resources line 8 Improvement Fund Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration line 9 Fund established pursuant to Section 4629.3 and shall be used, line 10 upon appropriation by the Legislature, to reimburse the line 11 department’s cost of maintaining and improving the campground line 12 facilities, associated recreational facilities, natural environment, line 13 and access thereto.
line 14 (c) Receipts Notwithstanding Section 4799.13, receipts from line 15 the sales of forest products and recreational user fees shall be line 16 deposited monthly with the State Treasurer in the Forest Resources line 17 Improvement Fund. Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration line 18 Fund. The Controller shall keep a record of accounts of such line 19 receipts separately.
line 20 (d) Any other funds generated by a demonstration state forest, line 21 including, but not limited to, any funds that are deposited into the line 22 Forest Resources Improvement Fund, shall be transferred to the line 23 Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund.
line 24 SEC. 10. Section 4656 of the Public Resources Code is line 25 amended to read:
line 26 4656. (a) This chapter does not interfere with the reasonable line 27 use of state forests for hunting, fishing, recreation foraging, line 28 recreation, and camping, except as otherwise provided by law. line 29 The
line 30 (b) The use of state forest lands for grazing and mining purposes line 31 shall be permitted pursuant to regulations established by the board line 32 in accordance with Chapter 3. 5 3.5 (commencing with Section line 33 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. line 34 Code, and reflect the definition of “management” in Section 4639. line 35 The use and development of water facilities for irrigation and line 36 power shall be permitted as provided by law.
line 37 SEC. 11. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to line 38 Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because line 39 the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school line 40 district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or 99 AB 2494 — 10 —
line 1 infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty line 2 for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of line 3 the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within line 4 the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California line 5 Constitution.
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