Assembly panel reviews governor’s Prop 4 wildfire and forest resilience rollout, seeks prioritization

Chair Bennett opened the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 hearing by telling departments the panel would “review the administration's spending plan for wildfire and forest resilience chapter 4 and chapter 4 of, Prop 4.”

The administration presented a multiyear rollout for the climate bond27s wildfire chapter. Steven Benson of the Department of Finance said the governor proposes a $1.5 billion allocation for wildfire and forest resilience in the bond and a $325 million spending plan for 202526#8211;26. "We proposed as part of the governor's budget a multi year rollout for that 1,500,000,000.0 as well as the rest of the bond. In 2526, the proposal is $325,000,000," Benson said.

The 202526#8211;26 package described in the presentation includes funding targeted to a mix of forest health, landscape-scale grants, local wildfire prevention grants, defensible-space and home-hardening efforts, workforce development and other prevention activities. Benson identified several year-one allocations including funds for CAL FIRE27s forest health program, block grants for landscape-scale projects (to be administered by CAL FIRE and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy), local wildfire prevention grants, and payments to conservancies and the…