Amended  IN  Senate  August 24, 2018
Amended  IN  Senate  July 03, 2018
Amended  IN  Senate  June 18, 2018
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 30, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill No. 2518
Introduced by Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry

February 14, 2018

An act to add Article 10 (commencing with Section 4630) to Chapter 8 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, relating to forestry.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2518, as amended, Aguiar-Curry. Innovative forest products and mass timber.
Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law declares that a thriving in-state forest products sector provides public benefits, including employment opportunities in both rural and urban areas, and economic development for rural communities. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to establish a working group on expanding wood product markets, as provided.
This bill would require, on or before January 31, 2020, the department, in consultation with the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to identify barriers to in-state production of mass timber and other innovative forest products, as those terms are defined, and develop solutions that are consistent with the state’s climate objectives on forest lands. The bill would require the department to collaborate with the working group described above, other state agencies, and independent experts, including with apprenticeship programs of organized labor, community colleges, and others with similar expertise, on innovative forest products and mass timber workforce training and job creation.

The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2020, to develop a plan that, among other things, proposes the development and construction of, among other structures, a mass timber production facility that can manufacture mass timber panels, as provided. The bill would require the plan to include a mechanism for grants, low-interest loans, or a cost-share formula to enable the commencement of construction of the above-described structures. The bill would require the department, when developing the plan, to the extent feasible, to prioritize support for structures built from mass timber that additionally reduce reliance on fossil fuels and advance technologies that improve forest health for those projects and associated properties. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature on the plan on or before July 1, 2020.

This bill would require the Forest Management Task Force, in consultation with specified entities, to develop recommendations for the siting of additional wood product manufacturing facilities in the state.
Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  
Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Dead trees and living small diameter trees and brush present significant wildfire risks and potentially eliminate the carbon dioxide reduction gains that have been made in the state. Additionally, they potentially undermine the long-term management of California’s forests by eroding management objectives designed to sequester maximum amounts of carbon in the ground and in vegetation, including trees.
(b) It is possible, through new technologies, to use some of this wood in new products, and it is equally possible to expand California’s wood products exports. The new and expanded markets will need a trained workforce that will provide benefits to the state, especially to rural communities where wood product manufacturing and milling has diminished over the years.
(c) After the devastating wildfires of 2017–18, California is focused appropriately on the many ways it should expand the pace and scale of activities in its forested landscape to reduce the risk of wildfires, to manage forestlands for improved climate resiliency, and to provide economic benefits especially to rural communities. One aspect of that work is to recognize the emergence of a new industry that is being developed in many western states that can transform high hazard and burned trees into products that can create new businesses, build needed buildings, and create jobs.
(d) The development of a mass timber industry in California will reduce the state’s reliance on imported timber and mass timber manufactured elsewhere. The use of mass timber building material is an important component for the construction and rebuilding of buildings in fire-damaged areas, future home and business construction, and public buildings such as fire stations and schools or modular classrooms.
(e) Based on work already undertaken by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.’s administration through the Timber Task Force and Executive Order B-52-18 in support of wood products innovation, it is appropriate to establish benchmarks and timelines for the state’s next steps to develop this industry within the state and to keep pace with the development of this industry in other states.
SEC. 2. Article 10 (commencing with Section 4630) is added to Chapter 8 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
Article  10. Innovative Forest Products and Mass Timber
4630. For purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) “Innovative forest products” means products made using small-diameter woody materials, brush, and dead trees removed from fire hazard areas identified by the department and that are milled and manufactured in California to the maximum extent possible.
(b) “Mass timber” means prefabricated wood products consisting of not less than three layers of solid-sawn lumber or structural composite lumber in which adjacent layers are cross-oriented and bonded with structural adhesives, dowels, or nails to form a solid wood element and that are milled and manufactured in California to the maximum extent possible.
4630.1. (a) On or before January 31, 2020, the department, in consultation with the board, shall identify barriers to in-state production of mass timber and other innovative forest products, and shall develop solutions that are consistent with the state’s climate objectives on forest lands.
(b) The department shall collaborate, in implementing this section, with members of the working group established pursuant to Section 717, other state agencies, and independent experts, including with apprenticeship programs of organized labor, community colleges, and others with similar expertise, on innovative forest products and mass timber workforce training and job creation.
4630.2.

(a)On or before January 1, 2020, the department shall develop a plan that does all of the following:

(1)Proposes the development and construction of a mass timber production facility that can manufacture mass timber panels that can be cross or dowel laminated or use similar mass timber technology. The department shall consider locating this facility, with the approval of the property owners, on a former mill site with zoning suitable for a mass timber production facility that is within 30 miles of two actively producing lumber mills that can provide feedstock needed to construct the panels.

(2)Proposes the development of three computer numeric control (CNC) machining operations that can cut mass timber panels to order with at least one operation colocated to the mass timber production facility described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1). Two of the CNC machining operations may be located elsewhere if they are located on a former mill site with zoning suitable to CNC operations, not more than 25 miles from a large landscape fire of greater than 50,000 acres, and in or adjacent to a community that is identified as a federal opportunity zone or has an average household income of 5 percent below the state’s median household income.

(3)Identifies communities, in addition to any requirements in Executive Order B-52-18, that have proposed to build public schools in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and fire stations that are in areas that are near large landscape fires of greater than 50,000 acres that have occurred since 2005 and in areas identified as federal opportunity zones or in areas that have an average household income of 5 percent below the state’s median household income. The department shall propose the development of two schools and two fire stations to be constructed, to the maximum extent practicable, with mass timber.

(4)Determines, after the department consults with the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, if one or more grants available pursuant to Item 3855-101-3212 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2018 may be available to pay all or part of the costs associated with this section and Section 4630.1.

(5)Proposes a mechanism for grants, low-interest loans, or a cost-share formula to enable the commencement of construction of the structures described in paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, as soon as practicable.

(b)The department shall, when developing the plan described in subdivision (a), to the extent feasible, prioritize support for structures built from mass timber that additionally reduce reliance on fossil fuels and advance technologies that improve forest health for those projects and associated properties.

(c)It is the intent of the Legislature that the Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation establish a formal relationship through a memorandum of agreement or other means with one or more rural nongovernmental organizations in order to link research and development of mass timber products with local economic development needs and opportunities. This memorandum of agreement may entail the development of a field station or similar entity.

(d)(1)On or before July 1, 2020, the department shall report to the Legislature on the plan developed pursuant to subdivision (a).

(2)The report requirement in paragraph (1) shall become inoperative on July 1, 2024, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

(3)A report submitted pursuant to this section shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

4630.2. (a) On or before July 1, 2020, the Forest Health Task Force pursuant to Executive Order B-52-18 or its successor entity shall, in consultation with the Governor’s Office of Business Development, the Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation in the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, private industry, investors, and other stakeholders it deems appropriate, develop recommendations for siting of additional wood product manufacturing facilities in the state. These recommendations shall include but are not limited to:
(1) A financially viable proposal for the development and construction of at least one new mass timber production facility that can manufacture mass timber panels that can be cross or dowel laminated or use similar mass timber technology.
(2) Identify and propose the necessary incentives needed to attract private investment to construct such a mass timber production facility in California.
(3) Identify other former manufacturing or wood processing sites that may be suitable for future investment.
(b) In developing the recommendations pursuant to subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature that the location and activities of the mass timber production facilities, to the extent feasible, meet the following:
(1) Be adjacent to a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, as identified by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and be capable of processing materials generated as a result of fuel treatments or other forest management practices.
(2) Generate mass timber workforce training and job creation opportunities.
(3) Be located in, or be proximate to, areas that are near the locations of large landscape fires of greater than 50,000 acres that have occurred since 2005 and in areas identified as federal opportunity zones or in areas that have an average household income of 5 percent below the state’s median household income.