Forest Organic Residue, Energy, and Safety Transformation (FOREST) and Wildfire Prevention Fund Act., the official text

An act to add Article 12 (commencing with Section 4773) to Chapter 10 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, relating to forestry.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) and makes CAL-FIRE responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in CAL-FIRE to represent the state’s interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the board to maintain an adequate forest policy. Former Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., issued a proclamation of a state of emergency on October 30, 2015, that required CAL-FIRE, the Natural Resources Agency, the Department of Transportation, and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), among other things, to identify areas of the state that represent high hazard zones for wildfire and falling trees, known as Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires every electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation.
This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, make moneys from the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund or from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund available to the state board to establish the Forest Organic Residue Energy and Safety Transformation (FOREST) program in order to maintain and expand biomass power generation in the state, to revitalize idle facilities for biomass power generation, and to support biomass power generation facilities by creating additional capacity for power generation or feedstock utilization in strategically located regions of the state. The bill would make a facility’s solid fuel biomass electrical generation eligible for reimbursement at an incentive rate determined by the state board if, among other things, the facility uses solid fuel biomass or forest biomass waste, as defined, to generate electricity and the electricity is sold to specified retail sellers. The bill would require, among other things, that no less than 60% of the feedstock used by a facility originate from Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones, as defined. The bill would create an application process for an operator of a facility to seek this reimbursement that also requires the operator to demonstrate the facility is certified by the Energy Commission as an eligible renewable energy resource for purposes of the California Renewable Portfolio Standards Program, as provided, and would require the state board to adopt regulations to implement the FOREST program, as provided.
This bill would establish the FOREST and Wildfire Prevention Fund in the State Treasury, and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation, to the Natural Resources Agency for the FOREST program, as specified.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Forest waste has accumulated dramatically across California over the last many years. The State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission estimates California has 47,000,000 bone-dry tons of biomass resource potential.
(b) Since Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., issued Executive Order No. B-52-18 on May 10, 2018, all partners, including federal, state, tribal entities, and nongovernmental organizations, have worked diligently to attempt to treat 1,000,000 acres annually to ameliorate the wildfire crisis.
(c) The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force reports that as of at least 2023, the state has not yet met that goal, indicating that 727,269 acres are treated across the state.
(d) Wildfire impacts of the last several years require California to make forest recovery efforts for millions of acres of forest.
(e) According to the research of the State Air Resources Board and the United States Forest Service, wildfires release vast amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and black carbon into the atmosphere that negate the benefits of renewable energy adoption and emissions regulations.
(f) The destruction of millions of acres of forest lands depletes natural carbon sinks, reducing the state’s ability to sequester future emissions.
(g) Without proactive forest management strategies, including fuel reduction and biomass utilization, wildfires will continue to erode California’s climate gains.
(h) The Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, an advisory committee to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, reports that meeting the 1,000,000-acre treatment goal will require removal and subsequent disposal of an estimated 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 bone-dry tons of dead forest biomass waste annually from a range of vegetation management projects for forest restoration and identifies a conservative estimate that since 2018, at least 1,000,000 tons of material is stored on the landscape, with a significant amount of that accumulation accessible for removal and disposal.
(i) A report published by Bain and Company in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, entitled “Accelerating Forest Restoration: Stimulating a Forest-Restoration Economy and Rebuilding Resilience in California’s Fire-Adapted Forests” concluded that the expanded use of existing technologies, including bioenergy and sawmills, offers the most promising means of accelerating forest restoration, in addition to forest waste materials that need to be disposed of from wildfire scars to support resiliency.
(j) The current Bioenergy Renewable Auction Mechanism (BioRAM) procurement, as stated by the Public Utilities Commission, is currently allocated to all customers given that there are broad social benefits that are realized from supporting wildfire mitigation and the limited energy procurement standards of the program have been or are nearly fully subscribed.
(k) Senate Bill 1122 of the 2011–12 Regular Session of the Legislature (Chapter 612 of the Statutes of 2012), mandates the development of 250 megawatts (MW) of small-scale bioenergy projects using organic waste, including at least 50 MW from forest waste removed for wildfire mitigation or restoration. Very few of these required megawatts are currently in operation. Despite this shortfall, the Public Utilities Commission ended the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program that was established to meet the requirements of Senate Bill 1122 of the 2011–12 Regular Session of the Legislature (Chapter 612 of the Statutes of 2012) on December 31, 2025, stalling the development of new projects.
(l) To meet the 1,000,000-acre-per-year goal would require California to remove 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 bone-dry tons of forest biomass waste annually, enough for the procurement of between 625 MW to 1,875 MW of bioenergy annually.
(m) Given that only 135 MW of BioRAM and BioMAT plants are operational, California must procure an additional 1,740 MW of bioenergy to get to the point of 15,000,000 bone-dry tons of forest waste removal annually.
(n) Biomass is primarily managed through open pile burning that produces significantly more emissions than biomass energy facilities. Processing biomass in a cogeneration facility reduces particulate matter emissions by as much as 98 percent, nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions by as much as 54 percent, and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by as much as 97 percent.
(o) A study entitled “Up in smoke: California’s greenhouse gas reductions could be wiped out by 2020 wildfires” found that wildfires in 2020 negated 18 years of greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
(p) Oversight of biomass plant emissions in California is conducted by local air pollution control districts and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which reserve issuing authority for plant operating permits known as Title V Operating Permits as part of the 1990 amendments to the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7661 et seq.), which requires continuous emissions monitoring for ozone, CO, and NOx.
(q) Continuously monitoring these critical parameters ensures consistent and efficient combustion in the boilers and safe air quality levels.
(r) A recent report by the Clean Air Task Force found that bioenergy creates more jobs than other renewable resources and a higher proportion of those jobs are permanent and high-paying jobs.

SEC. 2.
Article 12 (commencing with Section 4773) is added to Chapter 10 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
12.
Forest Organic Residue, Energy, and Safety Transformation (FOREST) and Wildfire Prevention Fund Act4773.
(a) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Forest Organic Residue, Energy, and Safety Transformation and Wildfire Prevention Fund Act, or the FOREST and Wildfire Prevention Fund Act.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares that supporting new and existing biomass power generation resources in the state and revitalizing idle facilities by creating additional capacity for power generation and feedstock utilization in strategically located regions of the state will help the state to meet its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide clean power, improve electrical grid resiliency, protect jobs, reduce the risk of wildfire, support forest recovery efforts, improve forest resiliency, and provide waste disposal benefits.

4773.1.
For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Biomass” means the materials described in subdivision (a) of Section 40106.
(b) “Forest biomass waste” means the byproducts of forest management for wildfire mitigation, wildfire prevention, forest resiliency, forest restoration, or the protection of public safety or infrastructure. Forest biomass waste does not include purpose-grown crops.
(c) “FOREST fund” means the FOREST and Wildfire Prevention Fund established in Section 4773.3.
(d) “FOREST program” means the Forest Organic Residue Energy and Safety Transformation program.

4773.2.
(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys from the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund, created by Section 4629.3, or from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created by Section 16428.8 of the Government Code, shall be made available to the board to establish the Forest Organic Residue Energy and Safety Transformation program in order to maintain and expand biomass power generation in the state, to revitalize idle facilities for biomass power generation, and to support biomass power generation facilities by creating additional capacity for power generation or feedstock utilization in strategically located regions of the state.
(b) A facility’s solid fuel biomass electrical generation is eligible for reimbursement under the FOREST program at the incentive rate determined pursuant to subdivision (c) if it satisfies all of the following requirements:
(1) (A) The facility uses feedstock that is solid fuel biomass or forest biomass waste to generate electricity, pursuant to the requirements in subparagraphs (B) and (C).
(B) The facility shall use forest biomass waste that is a byproduct of sustainable forestry management, including, but not limited to, removal of dead and dying trees from Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones, as those terms are defined in Section 399.20.3 of the Public Utilities Code, and shall not use forest biomass waste from lands that have been clear cut.
(C) No less than 60 percent of the feedstock used by a facility shall originate from Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones, as those terms are defined in Section 399.20.3 of the Public Utilities Code.
(2) The electricity is generated on or after January 1, 2027.
(3) The electricity is generated within the state and sold to a retail seller, including a community choice aggregator, local publicly owned electric utility, electrical corporation, or electrical rural cooperative.
(c) (1) An operator of a facility may seek reimbursement by submitting an application to the board that demonstrates that the facility processes solid fuel biomass to generate electricity and by submitting supporting documentation that demonstrates the facility is certified by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission as an eligible renewable energy resource for purposes of satisfying the renewable portfolio standard pursuant to Chapter 8.6 (commencing with Section 25740) of Division 15.
(2) An application shall include monthly invoices that document eligible electricity generation. The board shall review the submitted invoices and make monthly incentive payments to each applicant for the electricity generation that is eligible for reimbursement at the incentive rate. The board shall determine, maintain, and make publicly available the incentive rate for eligible electricity generation.
(3) (A) In prioritizing reimbursement for eligible applications pursuant to this section, the board shall maximize the disposition of forest biomass waste.
(B) The board, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, shall ensure that an applicant receiving reimbursement pursuant to this section operates a solid fuel biomass facility that achieves a net reduction in short-lived climate pollutants.
(d) (1) Upon establishment of the FOREST program pursuant to subdivision (a), the board shall adopt regulations, as necessary, to implement the FOREST program.
(2) (A) The board may readopt any emergency regulation adopted pursuant to this section, as necessary, that is the same as or is substantially equivalent to an emergency regulation previously adopted pursuant to this section.
(B) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, any emergency regulation adopted or readopted pursuant to this section shall remain in effect until revised by the board.
(3) The adoption or readoption of a regulation pursuant to this section does not constitute a project for purposes of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000).

4773.3.
(a) The FOREST and Wildfire Prevention Fund is established in the State Treasury, and moneys in the fund shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Natural Resources Agency for the purpose identified in subdivision (b).
(b) The purpose of the FOREST fund is to reduce organic fuel sources that increase fire risk by providing funding for the FOREST program established pursuant to Section 4773.2.

4773.4.
Ratepayer funds shall not be used to fund the FOREST fund.