AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 16, 2024
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 1, 2024
SENATE BILL No. 1101
Introduced by Senator Limón
February 13, 2024
An act to amend Sections 10295 and 10340 of the Public Contract Code, and to add Section 4114.4 to the Public Resources Code, relating to fire prevention.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 1101, as amended, Limón. Fire prevention: prescribed fire: state contracts: maps.
(1) Existing law requires all contracts entered into by a state agency for the acquisition of goods or services, as specified, to be void unless and until appro ved by the Department of General Services. Existing law requires a state agenc y to secure at least 3 competiti ve bids or proposals for each contract. Existing law establishes exceptions to these requirements for specified contracts.
This bill w ould include in the list of e xceptions a contract entered into by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for the purpose of providing logistical support for large-scale prescribed fire operations, as provided.
(2) Existing la w requires the Department of F orestry and Fire Protection to do certain things with respect to fires, including pro vide fire prevention and firefighting implements and apparatus, organize fire crew and patrols, and establish observation stations and other necessary structures.
This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to identify and map a comprehensive network of potential operational
97 delineations that can be used for strate gic wildfire response or the proactive use of prescribed fire, as provided. The bill would require the Fire and Resource Assessment Program in the department, on or before July 1, 2025, and updated annually thereafter , to develop maps of the severity of impacts from wildfires, as pro vided. The bill w ould also require the department to annually review the effects of recent fires in the context of community safety and ecological restoration goals to identify priority opportunities for prescribed fire that can further manage hazardous fuel conditions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. The Le gislature finds and declares all of the line 2 following:
line 3 (a) California’s plants and iconic landscapes e volved in line 4 conjunction with fire. Fire is as essential of a natural process as is line 5 rain. California, and its Mediterranean climate, is one of the most line 6 naturally fire-prone landscapes on Earth.
line 7 (b) A century of fire suppression has changed our landscapes. line 8 Areas that evolved with frequent low and mixed intensity fire have line 9 not seen fire in generations and ha ve become unnaturally dense line 10 with vegetation, creating the conditions for extreme fire behavior. line 11 Native biodiversity suffers as plants that depend on fire to maintain line 12 appropriate conditions are overtaken by species that thrive in the line 13 absence of fire.
line 14 (c) While California’s forests and rangelands generally suf fer line 15 from having too little fire, some ecosystems, such as the shrublands line 16 in densely populated southern California, ha ve frequent human line 17 ignitions, and therefore unnaturally frequent fires. Managing fire line 18 across California’s diverse landscapes requires knowing where we line 19 need more frequent fire, and where fires are already too frequent. line 20 (d) In many cases, prescribed fire is the only restoration and line 21 mitigation tool available, and is broadly understood to be the most line 22 ecologically appropriate and cost-ef fective w ay to address the line 23 unnatural landscape condition.
line 24 (e) The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) line 25 is the largest fire agency in California, with responsibility for nearly line 26 one-third of California. CAL-FIRE could achie ve dramatically 97 — 2 — SB 1101
line 1 more fuel reduction through prescribed fire if it could be more line 2 nimble and use f avorable weather conditions. Currently , line 3 nonemergency contracting, procurement, and travel requirements line 4 preclude many good opportunities for these risk reduction projects. line 5 (f) Proactive planning and increased use of beneficial fire will line 6 improve the resilience of landscapes and the safety of communities line 7 and will help moderate the costs and outcomes of future wildfires. line 8 Engaging in collaborati ve planning with communities will help line 9 build a shared understanding of ho w to manage the risk from line 10 wildfire.
line 11 SEC. 2. Section 10295 of the Public Contract Code is amended line 12 to read:
line 13 10295. (a) All contracts entered into by an y state agency for line 14 (1) the acquisition of goods or elementary school te xtbooks, (2) line 15 services, whether or not the services involve the furnishing or use line 16 of goods or are performed by an independent contractor , (3) the line 17 construction, alteration, impro vement, repair, or maintenance of line 18 property, real or personal, or (4) the performance of w ork or line 19 services by the state agency for or in cooperation with any person, line 20 or public body , are v oid unless and until appro ved by the line 21 department. Every contract shall be transmitted with all papers, line 22 estimates, and recommendations concerning it to the department line 23 and, if appro ved by the department, shall be ef fective from the line 24 date of the approval.
line 25 (b) This section applies to a state agenc y that by general or line 26 specific statute is expressly or impliedly authorized to enter into line 27 transactions referred to in this section.
line 28 (c) This section does not apply to any of the following:
line 29 (1) A transaction entered into by the Trustees of the California line 30 State Uni versity, by the Board of Go vernors of the California line 31 Community Colleges, or by a department under the State Contract line 32 Act or the California State University Contract Law. line 33 (2) A contract of a type specifically mentioned and authorized line 34 to be entered into by the Department of Transportation under line 35 Section 14035 or 14035.5 of the Government Code, Sections 99316 line 36 to 99319, inclusive, of the Public Utilities Code, or the Streets and line 37 Highways Code.
line 38 (3) A contract entered into by the Department of Transportation line 39 that is not funded by money derived by state tax sources but, rather, line 40 is funded by money derived from federal or local tax sources. 97 SB 1101 — 3 —
line 1 (4) A contract entered into by the Department of Human line 2 Resources for state emplo yee benefits, occupational health and line 3 safety, training services, or combination thereof. line 4 (5) A contract let by the Legislature.
line 5 (6) A contract entered into under the authority of Chapter 4 line 6 (commencing with Section 11770) of P art 3 of Division 2 of the line 7 Insurance Code.
line 8 (7) A contract entered into by the Department of F orestry and line 9 Fire Protection for the purpose of providing logistical support for line 10 large-scale prescribed fire operations, including, b ut not limited line 11 to, meals, lodging, hired equipment, and land use agreements, or line 12 any related subcontract.
line 13 SEC. 3. Section 10340 of the Public Contract Code is amended line 14 to read:
line 15 10340. (a) Except as pro vided by subdi vision (b), a state line 16 agency shall secure at least three competitive bids or proposals for line 17 each contract.
line 18 (b) Three competitive bids or proposals are not required in any line 19 of the following cases:
line 20 (1) In cases of an emergency where a contract is necessary for line 21 the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, or safety, line 22 or protection of state property.
line 23 (2) When the state agency awarding the contract has advertised line 24 the contract in the California State Contracts Re gister and has line 25 solicited all potential contractors kno wn to the state agenc y, but line 26 has received less than three bids or proposals. line 27 (3) (A) The contract is with another state agenc y, a local line 28 governmental entity, an auxiliary or ganization of the California line 29 State Uni versity, an auxiliary or ganization of a California line 30 community college, a foundation organized to support the Board line 31 of Governors of the California Community Colleges, or an auxiliary line 32 organization of the Student Aid Commission established pursuant line 33 to Section 69522 of the Education Code. These contracts, however, line 34 shall not be used to circumv ent the competiti ve bidding line 35 requirements of this article.
line 36 (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), until January 1, 2020, line 37 an interagency agreement that is in ef fect pursuant to an amount line 38 appropriated to the Office of Planning and Research for precision line 39 medicine, including a contract between the Office of Planning and line 40 Research, the Re gents of the Uni versity of California, or an 97 — 4 — SB 1101
line 1 auxiliary or ganization of the California State Uni versity, may line 2 include a subcontract not subject to an y competiti ve bidding line 3 requirements of this article for the limited purpose of researching line 4 or developing precision medicine.
line 5 (4) The contract meets the conditions prescribed by the line 6 department pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 10348. line 7 (5) The contract has been a warded without adv ertising and line 8 calling for bids pursuant to Section 19404 of the Welfare and line 9 Institutions Code.
line 10 (6) Contracts entered into pursuant to Section 14838.5 of the line 11 Government Code.
line 12 (7) Contracts for the development, maintenance, administration, line 13 or use of licensing or proficiency testing examinations. line 14 (8) The contract is for services for the operation, maintenance, line 15 repair, or replacement of specialized equipment at facilities of the line 16 State Water Resources Development System, as defined in Section line 17 12931 of the Water Code, and meets the conditions established by line 18 the Department of Water Resources for those contracts. line 19 (9) The contract meets the conditions prescribed by the line 20 Department of Water Resources for contracts subject to Section line 21 10295.6.
line 22 (10) A contract entered into by the Commission on Peace Officer line 23 Standards and Training or the Office of Emergency Services solely line 24 for the services of instructors for public safety training. F or the line 25 purpose of this paragraph, “public safety training” includes, b ut line 26 is not limited to, training related to la w enforcement, emergency line 27 medical response, emergency volunteers, and fire responders. line 28 (11) A contract entered into by the Department of Forestry and line 29 Fire Protection for the purpose of providing logistical support for line 30 large-scale prescribed fire operations, including, b ut not limited line 31 to, meals, lodging, hired equipment, and land use agreements, or line 32 any related subcontract.
line 33 (c) A state agenc y that has recei ved less than three bids or line 34 proposals on a contract shall document, in a manner prescribed by line 35 the department, the names and addresses of the firms or individuals line 36 it solicited for bids or proposals.
line 37 SEC. 4. Section 4114.4 is added to the Public Resources Code, line 38 to read:
line 39 4114.4. (a) (1) On or before January 1, 2026, the department, line 40 in coordination with the United States F orest Service and other 97 SB 1101 — 5 —
line 1 relevant state, federal, tribal, local, and private cooperators, shall line 2 identify and map a comprehensive network of potential operational line 3 delineations that can be used for strategic wildfire response or the line 4 proactive use of prescribed fire. This effort shall use existing tools, line 5 including, b ut not limited to, the open-sour ce tool known as line 6 Planscape, and build on existing plans, including, but not limited line 7 to, community wildfire protection plans, CAL-FIRE unit fire plans, line 8 and potential operational delineations for wildfires of the United line 9 States Forest Service.
line 10 (2) The map described in paragraph (1) shall comply with both line 11 of the following:
line 12 (A) Be included in outreach ef forts for state programs related line 13 to fire planning and community eng agement efforts, such as, but line 14 not limited to, the Re gional Forest and Fire Capacity Program line 15 (Article 11 (commencing with Section 4208)).
line 16 (B) Be assessed for potential impacts on tribal cultural resources line 17 and sensitive species in areas where there will be significant ground line 18 disturbance. The department, through local units of the department, line 19 shall engage with and consult tribal entities in the region for input line 20 on the potential netw ork of delineations described in paragraph line 21 (1). Tribal leadership in this process shall be supported and engaged line 22 with to the extent feasible. If an appropriation by the Le gislature line 23 has been made for these purposes, state resources may be used to line 24 support tribal engagement in developing, reviewing, and assessing line 25 proposed locations. This subparagraph does not alter any duty by line 26 the department to consult with tribal governments during a wildfire line 27 event.
line 28 (b) (1) In order to provide a nuanced understanding of postfire line 29 conditions, on or before July 1, 2025, and updated annually line 30 thereafter, the F ire and Resour ce Assessment Pr ogram in the line 31 department shall de velop maps of the se verity of impacts from line 32 wildfires that includes fires of significant size across all land line 33 ownerships. To the e xtent feasible, in de veloping the maps line 34 described in this paragraph, the department shall collaborate with line 35 the United States F orest Service Service , the United States line 36 Geological Survey, and other relevant parties. parties, and shall, line 37 where appropriate, use data from existing sources, including from line 38 the Burn Se verity P ortal maintained by the United States line 39 Geological Survey. For purposes of complying with this paragraph, line 40 the department may contract with a third party. 97 — 6 — SB 1101
line 1 (2) The department shall make the maps described in paragraph line 2 (1) available to the public on its internet website. line 3 (c) The department shall annually re view the effects of recent line 4 fires in the context of community safety and ecological restoration line 5 goals to identify priority opportunities for prescribed fire that can line 6 further manage hazardous fuel conditions.
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