June 8, 2021

The Honorable Henry Stern Chair, Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee State Capitol, Room 5080 Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: Assembly Bill 276 (Valladares) – SUPPORT As Amended June 2, 2021

Dear Senator Stern:

On behalf of the California Forest Watershed Alliance (CAFWA), we are writing to offer our support for Assembly Bill 267, authored by Assembly Member Suzette Martinez Valladares, which would extend the sunset date by three years for current exemptions from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for wildfire risk reduction projects done on federal lands that have already been reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).

CAFWA is a unique coalition of diverse interests including organizations that represent water, environment, local government, timber, and agricultural interests all dedicated to finding a solution to California’s ever-growing forest health and fire risk issues. The members of CAFWA, the Association of California Water Agencies, California Farm Bureau Federation, California Forestry Association, The Nature Conservancy, and Rural County Representatives of California, are working together to seek new ways to promote proactive, science-based, and ecologically sound forest management practices that will reduce the risk of destructive megafires. Our goal is to protect our forests, our natural resources, and our local economies and communities by accelerating the pace and scale of forest restoration.

The California Forest Watershed Alliance (CAFWA) is an urban-rural coalition representing water interests, local governments, the conservation community, agriculture, and the forestry sector, created to promote the restoration and improvement of California’s forested watersheds. For more information, visit www.caforestsandwatersheds.org.

The members of CAFWA strongly supported the provisions in Senate Bill 901 (Dodd, 2018) providing exemptions from CEQA for projects on federal lands that already passed NEPA review. The NEPA review process is extensive and much of the CEQA process is duplicative to the environmental review already completed under the federal law. The additional review costs precious time for vital wildfire risk reduction projects that need to get accomplished for community protection, public safety, and forest health improvements. AB 267 would provide an extension of the exemptions to January 1, 2026 from CEQA for projects on federal lands that have already undergone the NEPA review process to allow a much faster realization of necessary forest resilience activities across the state in the near term.

For the above reasons, the members of CAFWA respectfully requests your ‘Aye’ vote when this measure is heard before your Committee. Sincerely,

Staci Heaton, Senior Regulatory Affairs Elizabeth Forsburg, Associate Advocate Director, External Affairs and Policy Rural County Representatives of California The Nature Conservancy

Yianni Kazanis, Communications Director Dave Eggerton, Executive Director California Forestry Association Association of California Water Agencies

Robert Spiegel, Governmental Affairs Advocate California Farm Bureau Federation

cc: The Honorable Suzette Martinez Valladares, Member of the State Assembly The Honorable , Member of the State Assembly The Honorable , Member of the State Assembly The Honorable Ian Calderon, Member of the State Assembly The Honorable Kelly Seyarto, Member of the State Assembly

The Honorable Jim Wood, Member of the State Assembly Members of the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee Consultant, Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee Todd Moffitt, Consultant, Senate Republican Caucus