February 6, 2019

The Honorable Richard Bloom Chair, Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources & Transportation State Capitol, Room 2003 Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: Proposed 2019-2020 Disaster Response and Recovery Allocations

Dear Assembly Member Bloom:

On behalf of the Rural County Representatives of (RCRC), I offer RCRC’s support for specific disaster response and recovery allocations included in the Governor’s January 2019-20 proposed Budget. RCRC is an association of thirty-six rural California counties, and the RCRC Board of Directors is comprised of an elected supervisor from each of the member counties.

RCRC member counties have suffered the vast majority of the State’s most catastrophic events in the last decade, including the , the , the , the , the , the (Shasta County), the (Siskiyou County), the , and now the , which completely devastated the city of Paradise and stands on record as the most destructive wildfire in California history. While RCRC member counties have worked diligently to improve their emergency management and response capabilities, the increasing intensity and frequency each with which we see devastating only underscores the need to further fortify both State and local efforts to manage and respond to emergency events before and after they occur. Many of these fires also occurred in some of the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of the State, where economic resources to mitigate the impacts of such disasters and aid residents with recovery are extremely limited.

In particular, RCRC offers strong support for the following proposed disaster response and recovery allocations:

 The waiver of the usual 25 percent match locals must provide for debris removal in the Camp, Woolsey, and Hill fires, which would equate to approximately $155.2 million. RCRC would also request that the match for

1215 K Street, Suite 1650, Sacramento, CA 95814 | www.rcrcnet.org | 916.447.4806 | Fax: 916.448.3154

ALPINE AMADOR BUTTE CALAVERAS COLUSA DEL NORTE EL DORADO GLENN HUMBOLDT IMPERIAL INYO LAKE LASSEN MADERA MARIPOSA MENDOCINO MERCED MODOC MONO NAPA NEVADA PLACER PLUMAS SAN BENITO SAN LUIS OBISPO SHASTA SIERRA SISKIYOU SONOMA SUTTER TEHAMA TRINITY TULARE TUOLUMNE YOLO YUBA The Honorable Richard Bloom Proposed 2019-2020 Disaster Response and Recovery Allocations February 6, 2019 Page 2

debris removal be waived for the Carr Fire and the Klamathon Fire, two additional devastating fires which occurred earlier in 2018.  A one-time $20 million augmentation of the California Disaster Assistance Act (CDAA) from the General Fund, increasing the total to $82.6 million in 2019- 20. CDAA funds are most commonly accessed by local governments for use in response to emergency situations such as natural disasters like wildfires, floods, mudslides, etc., and are vital for local emergency cleanup and response efforts.  An ongoing $25 million ongoing General Fund allocation for prepositioning of existing CalOES and local government resources that are part of the statewide mutual aid system. RCRC worked as part of the Disaster Readiness for Safer Communities (D-RiSC) coalition to support this program in the 2018-19 State Budget Package and strongly supports its ongoing funding as an effective way to quickly respond to emergency events.  A $185.2 million allocation to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to continue to upgrade and modernize their fire suppression abilities by adding aircraft with increased tactical capabilities to their aviation fleet, purchasing new year-round fire engines, expanding heavy fire equipment operator staffing during emergency wildfire events, accelerating replacement of fire engines and other mobile equipment, and operating five additional CAL FIRE/California Conservation Corps fire crews. These additions will better enable CAL FIRE to adapt to the challenges of more severe wildfire activity.  A proposed $20.5 million allocation for implementation of the Wildfire Prevention and Recovery Legislative Package of 2018, which included Senate Bill 901 (Dodd), Senate Bill 1260 (Jackson), Senate Bill 1088 (Dodd), Senate Bill 894 (Dodd and McGuire), Senate Bill 824 (Lara), Senate Bill 917 (Jackson) and Senate Bill 833 (McGuire). RCRC supported most of these measures and strongly supports funding to facilitate their implementation moving forward.  A $4.5 million allocation to develop and implement the Forestry Corps Program, created by Assembly Bill 2126 (Eggman), which RCRC strongly supported. The funding will support four Forestry Corps crews at the California Conservation Corps (Corps) that will undertake vital forest health and hazardous fuel reduction projects in areas of high fire risk, as well as create educational and career pathways for corpsmembers to forestry and related fields.  Expansion of CAL FIRE’s health and wellness program to help maintain the long-term physical and mental health and wellbeing of CAL FIRE’s firefighters via a proposed $6.6 million allocation.  A $9.7 million allocation for CAL FIRE to improve use of technology to support development of more effective initial and extended fire suppression strategies, as well as the addition of 100 fire detection cameras linked into the existing command centers to provide additional data on conditions.

The Honorable Richard Bloom Proposed 2019-2020 Disaster Response and Recovery Allocations February 6, 2019 Page 3

RCRC applauds the Governor’s commitment to a robust investment in California’s capacity to respond to wildfires and other emergencies while improving the ability to aid local communities in recovery after a disaster. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you should have any questions or concerns regarding RCRC’s support of these items.

Sincerely,

STACI HEATON Regulatory Affairs Advocate

cc: The Honorable Phil Ting, Chair, Assembly Budget Committee Members of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources & Transportation Consultant, Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources & Transportation