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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.20.20 FW_ SYASL COVID-19 Update From:Ring, Brian To:Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly;Lambert, Steve;Lucero, Debra; McCracken, Shari;Paulsen, Shaina;Pickett, Andy;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;Rodas, Amalia;Sweeney, Kathleen; Teeter, Doug Cc:Pickett, Andy;Snyder, Ashley Subject:FW: SYASL COVID-19 Update Date:Tuesday, October 20, 2020 3:35:19 PM Attachments:SYASL COVID-19 Update 10.20.20.pdf Good afternoon – FYI from our State lobbyist. Brian Ring Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Administration 25 County Center Drive, Oroville, CA 95965 From: SYASL County Info <SYASLCountyInfo@SYASLpartners.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 2:47 PM To: SYASL County Info <SYASLCountyInfo@SYASLpartners.com> Subject: SYASL COVID-19 Update ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening .. attachments, clicking on links, or replying. To: County Administrative Officers and Interested Parties From: Paul J. Yoder and Karen Lange Date: October 20, 2020 RE: SYASL COVID-19 Update Please find attached our daily SYASL COVID-19 update. -Paul and Karen COVID-19 Updates www.covid19.ca.gov October 20, 2020 Newsom Administration - Resources / Mutual Aid / Executive Orders Today, Dr. Ghaly announced that theme parks, live professional sporting events at outdoor stadiums, and all personal care services may resume operations with modifications in Tier 1 (Widespread/Purple). Personal care includes tattoo parlors, hair removal, and massage. Dr. Pan provided the following update on the County Tier System: o New counties in Orange (Moderate): Butte, Napa o New county in Yellow (Minimal): San Francisco o New counties moving back to Purple (Widespread): Riverside, Shasta o Currently, three Southern California counties (Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino) are in Widespread/Purple Tier You may view slides from todays briefing here, and SYASL staff notes here. Please check the California Department of Public Health website here for the latest guidance documents. Evictions Today, the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and the California Department of Finance held a kick-off meeting for the Tenant, Homeowner, and Small Landlord Relief and Stabilization Act of 2020 (AB 3088). During the meeting, they released a survey to offer feedback on elements within each housing-related funding stream in proposed legislation where the State has decision making authority. The survey is due by 5pm on October 30, 2020͵ You may view further details here and SYASL staff here. CAL FIRE-CCI Fire Prevention Grants Update summer solicitation for awarding new projects in state budget does not include grant funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for these grant programs. Therefore, CAL FIRE will be unable to hold a new grant solicitation for the Fire Prevention Grant Program unless and until a new budget is passed. View here. Department of Insurance Investigatory Hearing Yesterday, the Department of Insurance held an investigatory hearing on homeownersinsurance availability and affordability. You may view the agenda here, and SYASL staff notes here. Wildfires Today, the Assembly held an informational hearing: Wildfire Mitigation Measures. You may view hearing materials here and SYASL staff notes here. October 20, 2020, here. Kick-off meeting for Tenant, Homeowner, and Small Landlord Relief and Stabilization Act of 2020 (AB 3088) Lourdes Castro Ramirez, Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Would like to acknowledge the leadership of the Governor and Legislature who created AB 3088 and the conversation taking place today New law provides eviction protections regardless of immigration status Protections are afforded through Feb 1, 2021 Data shows in August, 9% of mortgage owners were behind One puzzle piece is ensuring people know the law Our agency has created a set of comprehensive resources since law was passed There is a new website created to make sure we are providing all we can to renters and landlords We developed an app in partnership with UC Irvine to allow tenants to be able to access resource and protections under AB 3088 We need input and engagement Jason Elliot, Senior Counselor to Governor Gavin Newsom There were existing inequities and structural problems Irena Asmundson, Chief Economist, DOF 20% of households paid 50% or more for housing and then the pandemic hit If you are paying 50% in housing costs and one adult loses their job, they are instantly on the edge of homelessness There is a huge divergence in how CA is doing and how CA households are doing We have problems that were preexisting before the pandemic that federal stimulus cannot fox, it will help but not fix Lynn von Koch-Liebert, Deputy Secretary of Housing and Consumer Services, BCSH Federal relief act negotiations are extremely fluid and we are monitoring closely HEROES Act 2.0 Housing Related funds The survey will open this morning. See info below: We will have more information tonight on what kind of timeline we will be looking at We will produce a memo with feedback to the office The survey is currently in English, we are working on translating into Spanish as well Please take the survey and answer as you feel appropriate The survey is not anonymous. Please identify yourself There is a PDF of the survey so you can view it with colleagues before entering Survey Money to take the survey It is important to remember these are one time and separate from the annual programs though they have the same name There is a question on how should we best get the dollars out the door? The state has proposed a framework based on the 4 keys with a couple of funding strategies for each There is an open field for you to add something if you feel there is something we overlooked Need to identify projects that can be achieved within the 12mo time frame For one-time investments that can create jobs and housing th Survey is open and closes at 5pm on October 30 You can email with any questions Q&A: Q: Do you want one survey from each agency or multiple? A: Just one would be helpful Closing Info: You can find all slides from presentation at www.BCSH.ca.gov/AB3088 Will reconvene this group again in mid-November to discuss where we are at in the process To: County Administrative Officers and Interested Parties From: Paul J. Yoder and Karen Lange Date: October 20, 2020 RE: Survey Response Requested: Tenant, Homeowner, and Small Landlord Relief and Stabilization Act of 2020 (AB 3088) Today, the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and the California Department of Finance held a kick-off meeting for the Tenant, Homeowner, and Small Landlord Relief and Stabilization Act of 2020 (AB 3088). During the meeting, they released a survey to offer feedback on elements within each housing-related funding stream in proposed legislation where the State has decision making authority. They also discussed how to respond to the survey. We have attached SYASL staff notes from the meeting. You may also visit https://www.bcsh.ca.gov/ab3088/ for survey information and materials. ŷĻ ƭǒƩǝĻǤ Ǟźƌƌ ĭƌƚƭĻ ğƷ ЎƦƒ ƚƓ hĭƷƚĬĻƩ ЌЉͲ ЋЉЋЉ͵ Each agency is encouraged to respond to the survey as a whole, avoiding multiple responses, if possible. A PDF of the survey is available on the website so you may review it with colleagues and collaborate on feedback before entering feedback in the survey. A follow-up meeting will be scheduled for mid-November. Should you have any questions, you may email BCSH Housing at Housing@bcsh.ca.gov. -Paul and Karen COVID-19 Response and Statewide CHHS Update, October 20, 2020 /II{ {ĻĭƩĻƷğƩǤ 5Ʃ͵ ağƩƉ DŷğƌǤ Thank you for joining us Today we will give you data, talk through a question the Governor received yesterday on projections of hospitals, update on guidance for important sectors, then tier announcements Today o 3,286 cases 7-day average o 3,096 Total tests o 146,662 Test positivity rate o 2.6% o Many states across the nation are facing a new wave of cases In CA the Blueprint for a Safer Economy is working and CA is not facing increase today We must not let our guard down Blueprint for a Safer Economy o Slow and stringent o Guided by data and science o Sector based guidance o Adherence to public health guidelines Now short- hospitalizations in a month o Currently2,241 o Projected3,271 This is based on an ensemble of external models or forecasts to help give us directionality, all publicly available at calcat.covid19.gov o Theme parks o Live professional sporting events at outdoor stadiums o All personal care services may resume operations indoors with modifications in Tier 1 (Widespread/Purple) Tattoo parlors Hair removal Massage Theme Parks are a Higher Risk Setting than Outdoor Settings o Higher-risk setting Random large-scale mixing Tens of thousands of visitors from broad geographic base Visiting for a number of days Promotes mixing and congregating Many frequently touched surfaces Significant impact on surrounding sectors o Lower risk setting Controlled large scale mixing Thousands of visitors from same geographic base Visit for a number of hours Pre-assigned seating maintains physical distancing Fewer frequently touched surfaces Easier to monitor compliance at seated events o Important guiding principles Theme Parks o Smaller theme parks may resume operations in Tier 3 (Moderate/Orange) Limited capacity of 25 percent or 500 whichever is fewer May only open outdoor attractions Ticket sales limited to visitors in same county o All theme parks may resume operations in Tier 4 (Yellow/Minimal) Limited capacity of 25 percent o All theme parks Implement reservation system and screen guests for symptoms in advance Face covering mandatory throughout the park unless eating or drinking Professional Sporting Events at Outdoor Stadiums o May resume in Tier 3 (Moderate/Orange) at 20% and in Tier 4 (Minimal/Yellow) at 25% o Ticket sales restricted to customers within 120-mile radius o Advance ticket sales and assigned seats No day of or will-call ticket sales o Eating and drinking in assigned seats only o Face coverings are mandatory throughout the stadium unless eating or drinking o Tailgating prohibited however parking at stadium is required All requirements and modifications that we have worked hard on with industry and labor partners Supports Blueprint Look forward to more info that could be considered as we modify our approach Turn over to Dr. Erica Pan Dr. Erica Pan o Criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on activities Every county is assigned to a tier based on: o Test positivity o Adjusted case rate o Health equity metric New counties in Orange (Moderate): Butte, Napa New county in Yellow (Minimal): San Francisco o Benefitting from health equity metric New counties moving back to Purple (Widespread): Riverside, Shasta We continue to make overall progress in our slow and stringent reopening Three Southern California counties (Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino) are in Widespread/Purple Tier Based on lessons learned from focused Central Valley efforts, the state will partner with these counties: o Increased testing resources in key areas o Isolation resources o Community-based Organization partnerships Also, community-based leaders o Business education and enforcement in partnership with CalOES, Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, and the CA Department of Food and Ag Move counties forward Simple acts can make a big difference for COVID-19 and the flu: o Wear a mask o Maintain six feet of distance o Wash our hands o Minimize mixing o Get your flu shot Dr. Ghaly Thank you, Dr. Pan, thank you public health in those counties for the partnership Looking forward to what we can do together to address transmission Help those counties and continue to carry the state forward Next weeks critical Questions As far as the number of visitors limits? Concern with impacts of people travelling from far away? o It was really the nature of the smaller amusement theme parks is that they are local activities, o For all those reasons we set that difference o These are places where we are today as we carry through and learn lessons from what happens in the near future, it may change our approach For theme parks, how did officials arrive at dividing line between small and big theme parks? Response to never opening again? o We did look at capacity and nature of venue o Capacity limit at 15,000 or fewer o In SF County, large county very visible lots of different types of communities, they did today reach the Yellow tier o Many other large counties can reach this as well o We will be helping now in larger southern counties to help them progress o Larger counties are moving to yellow and we believe it is possible o Require a lot of work and vigilance o Support isolation in serious and real ways o No part of our population is lagging o We believe it is possible Could you give some more insight into what is going on in SD and other counties teetering between red and purple, some hospitals want credits for keeping rates low, why is that not happening? o Some counties are on the cusp, moving back and forth, moving deeper into the red tier and then they have an increase o In larger urban counties, you can see spread happen in dense settings o Close contact with SD county for many weeks o Make sure their info is right and each week we walk in and wonder which side of the threshold we will be on o Tremendous amount of testing will continue to be done o o Blueprint allows us to look at things and loosen and tighten up as necessary o Could you repeat your second question? o About hospitalization numbers, we have had lots of conversations with health professionals about a hospital preparedness metric, we decided against it but we do track it o We track staffing issues, they are absolutely numbers we track o In order to forecast where a county is and a tiering system, looking at hospitalizations is too lagging an indicator o Though we want to support hospitals, we know that if the case numbers themselves are used, we believe there is a much clearer view o use those metrics o We did in the past About youth sports, is there any movement here? o My kids ask that all the time o We are very interested in that o Working on that now with entities that operate youth sports o Each of the sport has its own independent story and we are working hard to get it right Can you talk about why CA is doing better than you expected and whether you still expect the pandemic to worsen in CA, is your tier system working? o You said better than expected, this is what we expected o We ex expect this to work and support the public health messaging, we have worked hard to hold onto o Taking lessons from earlier parts of the response o Takes two weeks be-4 weeks o We understand being outdoors is important o All of the lessons have been incorporated o Happy with progress made, but with every day we can see something change so we want Californians to continue to keep their guard up and limit activities as much as possible o o We are prepared for all scenarios but compared to other parts of the nation, our approach is helping us but I have to give credit to the Californians that continue to support us and carry us through, unlike other parts of the nation and globe There are hundreds, thousands of bay area college students studying on campuses, how much of a concern is it when those students start to return to bay area for thanksgiving or winter break, how much of a concern that they may be asymptomatic carriers? o Many cases with that story o Someone has tried to do a pretty good job of avoiding, but they end up going home, they are asymptomatic and affect someone who is older than we see hospitalization and death o It is a concern; we ask people not to just use testing to give them a sense that it is all clear o We need to maintain guidance protocols, limit mixing, keep face covering on, avoid high risk environments o Young students need to keep their risk down o I would caution against creating a potential spread or transmission o Very important and many national leaders are raising caution o More on that under capacity, main difference under your guidelines is it could operate attractions, is that correct? o To second question, yes main difference is around attractions and some of the capacity rules for specific parts in operating Zoo or Museum o o Lots of work we can do together to make sure we reduce transmission and there is a path forward there o o One county at a time Can you elaborate on the vision you see for assistance to the three counties? Team of enforcers? Will you try to deal o These are moments of partnership o DPH is working closely with public health leaders o Form of support will take many forms Tailored by needs identified by local leaders o Capacity, hard hit businesses and communities, focus on enforcement where we know transmission is occurring o Lead on support, compliance, education o Support of community-based organizations that have strong connections to communities and can support acceptance and understanding of things involved in contact tracing o Not replace county efforts o Making sure state staff continue to support county efforts o Add bilingual staff o Portion of it will be around support of isolation and making sure counties have the resources they need to make sure those that can be isolated have the resources to do that o Things like separation curtain, whatever it takes to limit transmission o State is committed to increase efforts in those counties o We hope we see those counties move into the red tier so businesses and schools can consider reopening It appears SD County has a week of purple data; can you confirm and are you considered about transmission in that county? o The second part of your question, absolutely we are concerned with transmission everywhere o SD is excellent at tracking outbreaks and that sort of knowledge allows them to have early warning flags for intervention o In some ways the notes of caution they provide is a fantastic tool to be able to communicate clearly o We did, to the first part, the adjusted case rate has been brought down o Hovering between fine line to make sure data is right o Transmission rates need to stabilize S we head into the depths of the flu and cold season? o o When the conditions the county meets the threshold that considering some in-person education is safe o Make sure schools are in partnership with local health authorities so cases are identified quickly and schools know what to do o There will be cases at schools, that will happen o To put the tools available and to make sure we are committed, we believe schools can make the o Ask important questions, thoughtful return o As a goal, many of you know that both Dr. Pan and I are pediatricians and we care deeply about this o That said, if the decision is held to wait a little longer, we are willing to take part in all of those Who will monitor theme parks and what would trigger closure? o All of the same procedures are all in place and will continue to be the responsibility of the theme park o We will ensure our public health teams and local teams have access to the parks to make sure there are no material violations o If through the normal process of working together, we are not able to meet the needs, following public health guidance, there will be standards and enforcements and potentially things to lead to partial or full closures o County transmission is important to follow on this You mentioned guidance for professional sports, for collegial sports, what guidance is there? o At this time, we are starting with professional sports but we will look at the experience and understanding how to use this new guidance to inform o urrent plans to release guidance for spectators at those events You mentioned that personal services are moving into tier 1, given that tier 1 is limited, what is the rationale? o Again, these are all parts of small, often small operated and well controlled environments where modifications can be put in place that reduce risk o We feel with modifications that all of those services can be like tier 1 o Now week 7 and we listened thoughtfully Ghaly (Close) Privilege to answer and update Exciting announcement by Governor on expanding testing capacities and tools around that As always, I wish you a safe and happy afternoon Asm. Bud Sub #3 re Wildfire Mitigation Measures October 20, 2020 I. Opening remarks and introductions. Bloom Good to see you all here on the opening day of the World Series, some of us will pay attention Welcome you all and thank you for being here, no action taken today just informational I think you all know that there are numerous aspects of wildfires that need to be discussed We have limited focus on wildfire prevention, specifically about investments Talking about fire prevention, we usually talk about fuel reduction and proscribed burnings, while normal for areas with fuel loads Might not be the same for areas in Southern California We will look into complexity and regionality Allocated millions for fire prevention and resource management, in contrast with 2.3 billion for But we need to fund fire prevention and fire reduction measures to protect property and prevent fires from spreading Time to take a serious look and the gaps in funding and ways to improve ome back next year to have the same conversations again Friedman Thank you for allowing me to participate, Natural Resources will have hearings, including th November 9 at 1 pm Certainly in reducing GHG emissions, contribute to fire issues, I believe state and local government need to embrace strategies more meaningful Reyes Want to thank you, for putting on timely hearing Shown that climate change making wildfires less manageable that past years Coming from community with poor air quality, the increased pollution from bad air quality concerns me We need more suppression efforts and make them more equitable and sustainable Mullin I see a number of members if climate working bond, may be opportunity in 2022 These climate issues will continue to be prevalent and look forward to robust discussions I know wildfire mitigation would be big part of doing anything on that front Bloom Thank you for reminding me on our efforts to pull together effort to fund items we will be talking about today Effort that ended up not going anywhere was a precursor to have the discussions today II. Historical and current funding levels for fire. Your staff asked that I provide introduction for hearing focused on States fiscal augmentation for wildfire prevention and mitigation This handout on LAO w2ebsite On handout, provide context for severity of wildfire problem, on the map see 26 fires that have been top 20 largest or most destructive since CAL Fire be tracking data How many have been in the most recent years signals a trend Point out geographic diversity, have many large destructive wildfires Context on illustration, talking about wildfire related activities, we talk about wide range of efforts In prevention and mitigation, number of activities undertaken, we have funded state grants for forest health, we have dedicated state staff that do proscribed fires, we also have staff that review wildfire mitigation plans from utilities Page 3, thinking about spending increase at CAL fire, the bulk of their budget, see over past 15 years increased from $18 million, to estimate of $3.3 billion Base fire protection budget, grown steadily, emergency fire spending and you can see this varies from year to year Last week administration released report on the E-fund, spending $1.8 billion which is all time record for that Note, you will see for 20-2 include discretionary plan Turn to page 4, staff asked to provide summary on augmentation for fire response and fire prevention and forest management Large augmentations, fire response, replacement of helicopter fleet Augmentation for relief staffing also Under fire prevention, SB 901, require GGRF to fund forest health and proscribed fire health totaling $200 million Last section of the handout, options available to increase funding should you choose Options; o Looking at general fund, maybe redirecting resources to spend more on forest management or fire prevention o Look at new taxes for fees to support mitigation o Can look at general obligation bonds to provide forest management resources Page 6, thinking about weighing options, first is really around identifying what activities you want to fund, wide range options to take What activities and at what level, is that one-time revenue or ongoing revenue sources Important to think about who should pay, often you want to think about who the beneficiaries are As example in thinking about wildfires, we saw how much the air impacts this year went far beyond the WUI or wildland areas Looking at improved forest management can impact better water quality and management, so you can think about water districts and agencies maybe contributing Think about polluter pays, looking at utilities and how they have contributed to fires in the past, been focus by legislator in the past There are no free lunches, trade-offs, redirecting funds that means fewer resources for other priorities Looking at GO bond option, but this is one-time source, recommend using infrastructure and not use for ongoing operations, also have to repay with interest over time Bloom government. There should be interest at the federal level Are there existing places to turn to for funding or will we have to go to congress? Brown We know the feds on most of the areas, but not much federal funding provided to states to do this type of work Sometimes we receive federal mitigation grants, after disasters Note in light of disaster we will probably see mitigation funds over the next few years The legislature could get more engaged in how money is prioritized Reyes In documents, points out fire prevention in state budget, given existing obligations and costs to COVID, what new revenue sources should the legislature consider addressing the gap? Brown example of the right revenue source is If you want to fund forest health, clearing and making healthy, or protect homeowners with fees revenue to protect communities You could look at different revenue source depending on what you want to accomplish general fund Bloom What was amount of money generated on the SRA fund? Also could you speak to the funds lost I think were replaced by cap and trade, have we been able to keep up? Brown In neighborhood of $40-50 million, extension of cap and trade program The SRA fee eliminated with cap and trade backfilling the revenues, for cap and trade, the SRA backfill comes off the top similar to continuous appropriations and is continuing to be funded Bloom Even in the lean auctions we had a year ago, the $40-50 million was funded Brown Fortunately the prior auction was able to cover as well, in current fiscal year the first quarter auction was better in May, we will have to see how the next auctions do Because SRA comes of top, we are confident it will be fully funded Rivas You have been discussing my concern, on the fire management is coming from auction proceeds, how do you anticipate we fund the prevention and management if auction is lower? Brown The things not being funded now are the forest management grants You are right, if auctions bring in little revenue, may not be able to fund all things we have been, if this is the case there are some options One option, revenue comes in go into fund, may not have discretionary expenditure plan If less revenue, will have to make choices on what to prioritize, if that is forest management grant it will take funds away from other areas III. Fire risk mitigation needs are dependent on variety of factors. Nick Jensen, Lead Conservation Scientist, Native Plant Society Thank you for this opportunity to present, I am lead conservation scientist with plant society Talk about relationship between wildfire, native plants and climate change As native Californian, I feel for the communities who have suffered in the wildfires, I also feel for the firefighters and other who protect Inheriting almost impossible situation, including land mismanagement and poor decisions plants, evolved with fire We are out of balance today because of complex reasons Spent time working in Tahoe national forest, I realize every project at that time was tied to wildfire and our mismanagement in forest management Pulled invasive species to north of truckee, it is invasive plant and is tough to deal with, introduced on fire fighting equipment but is directly tied to fire as well Thinking back to time period, we thought 20K acres was huge, now it wont make the news Governor Newsom recent EO, called attention that California is one of the world biodiversity hotspots Nearly all species, common and rare have adapted in habitats where wildfires are rare, each have their own response to fires Solutions we here is forest and fuel managements, its much more complicated than that, I think woodlands grasslands Habitats are complex, and our approaches should be diverse Talk about forest, chaparral and grassland Likely you all have one of these in your district The story of wildfire is linked to native flora of our state, how fire behaves on landscape related to plants Many forest areas, once burned at greater frequency, in Sierra Nevada area is thick with small trees, this is denser than we would have observed a century ago, this make later flows, which can contribute to fires reaching the canopy We need more fire in these areas, fire that is the right kind, there is room for optimism, listening to scientists and Native Americans and implement actions beneficial to habitats, like proscribed wildfire we can have win win situation Talking about shrub lands, dominated by shrub lands known as chaparral, occur in many places, prominent along the coast and in Southern California Plays large role is habitats and need fire at the right moment, but in contrast they have experienced to frequent of fire interval Fires like this can have drastic consequences, if fire return to quickly, invasive plants like native grasses can take over, leads to type conversion and leave habitats more vulnerable to wildfire Proscribed fire is not such a good thing and accidental fires need to be reduced in these habitats Need to focus on community preparedness and home hardening Lets talk about grasslands, wildflower super blooms to perennial grasslands, or wetlands, often interspersed with other habitats Most grassland plants evolved with fire, typically would have been low to moderate intensity in the past Unfortunately has been developed or converted into agriculture Often these non-native grasses act as flashy fuels Organizations worked on effort toward large development areas in high risk areas, Centennial Ranch in LA County Also worked on community in Lake County, designated in high fire severity zone Same area in southern half slated for development burned in fire Shifting gears talk about interplay between plants and climate change, climate change adding fuel to the fire, want to be honest to separate the effects from natural phenomena and lighting strike that occurred and the historic drought I will say things like all of these have been around for long time and may just be exacerbated by climate change Ideal burn condition with higher temperature and lower precipitation, start to look at this legacy of forest mismanagement In non-forest habit wildfires, due to fact that it is always hot enough and dry enough for fires to occur in southern California Essential pressure deficit acts as giant sponge, climate change has something to do with this, the climate has warmed Population increases so will fire starts, unless we change the way we act or plan future developments Want to leave you with conclusions, need to plan measures with nature and with biodiversity in mind and tailor by region Solutions like proscribed fire good for forests are not good for chaparrals Emergency fuel breaks can be conduit for invasive species, especially if not maintained in the long run Like to emphasize changes we can do now, need to correct funding imbalance between fire prevention and suppression We know wind driven fires are most destructive, these fires require integrated approach, prevent fires in the first place Need to do better job planning and enable to say no to development in high fire risk areas We need to ensure communities already existing are resistant to wildfire Hope to leave with optimism, time to learn in listen, this is all hands-on deck moment, we also need to go beyond simplistic fuel management and do tailored approach to habitat Bloom Ask you on speaking about need for planning, where and how you would recommend we change planning efforts? Jensen There are other areas in the country related to like flood risk, high disincentive for development in these areas At some point may be faced with decision to do similar thing related to wildfire risk Could do more to disclose to wildfire risk to potential buyers of homes I really think it should be upfront in those decision-making processes Bloom What about at state level? Are we structured the way we need to be to address these issues you have identified? Jensen Blanking on the bill that would have banned development in new high fire severity zones, this is something my organization supported, that is a step the state could take Friedman Outside of home hardening, do you have ideas about community wide resiliency? Second discussion about fuel reduction, less conversation about types of fuels, and how communities can look at fuel type? Last is fires near my area can be related to non-native plants and mixed in with others, and are more fire prone, do you have ideas on how this can happen to change out? What do we do to deal with this and get back to native plants? Jensen On community wide resilience, individual community could be made stringer if there was truly defensible space, could include plant landscaping Or planning for wildfire mitigation measures Home hardening is big deal, and enabling homeowners to create Maybe some sort of grant or low interest loan program for people to do the things needed Some cases where non-conventional approach, but maybe the best thing we can do is envision what we want to see out of the WUI and then talk to scientists and talk to fire prevention professional and develop integrated solutions for biodiversity and community prevention Getting rid of invasive species is easy to promote Reyes In one quote the most catastrophic have been wind dominated fires, clearly, we cant control certain things When I hear about what is happening with climate change and homeowners that want to develop in fire prone areas, takes away some of my hope But it is clear to me, we need to have the scientists and those who have studied and have people like you at the table Is it zoning, planning, is it a ten-year plan, or turn things around, what is it that we need so the State can achieve some normalcy toward fires? Jensen There is a real aspect of people are desperate at this time I know there is a struggle to come up with solutions amount we can do to prevent them from progressing Home hardening is he part of the solution, defensible space is a big thing We need to have discussion honestly of building on these high fire risk areas prevented new homes from being at risk Maybe we can incentivize conservation over development in these areas Reyes In the literature for forests, said proscribed fires and thinning, for grasslands you say home hardening, then you said for chaparral When I talk about ten-d to look to the future, are there things we can do to put together than long of plan and who would be in it? Jensen Focus on the forest portion of this, on prescribed burns and work with federal government Could start that now and invest in the future We also can start now as fire season hopefully dies down, start getting to preventative measures, includes community preparedness and home hardening Time to start preparing for fire season when rainy season starts, lots we can do and invest in things Rivas effort, is there region we are doing well in? or ones where we need to focus efforts? Jensen We can take lessons from national parks, like Yosemite where they have been doing forest management for decades, you will see conditions of those forests are much better There are examples on where we have done really good things I would say as we get to areas that are in the WUI, the communities at risk, we could do better job to prepare these areas for wildfire Ting You mentioned addressing dramatic funding imbalance, what would you propose in terms of wildfire prevention? Jensen We spend large amounts of fire suppression, and less on prevention Easy step would be to bring those two closers together If we do preventative measures it becomes cheaper to suppress these fires, we have Could relieve firefighters as well, for them to work for months and months on end and have fewer houses burn Ting One area we could reduce out of state resources we bring in One of the challenges have been regarding vegetation management or proscribed burns, or finding people or organizations to execute it If we increase funding, do you believe organizations or people could absorb he scale? Jensen I think we can, it may take a little time We also have opportunity to fund workforce development, also younger people who have grown up with wildfire crisis that may jump at opportunity to be part of the solution Michael O'Connell, Executive Director, Irvine Ranch Conservancy We are nonprofit organization in Orange County, spent 13 years with the Nature conservancy Also serve on Dean leadership council at the University of Irvine, been working in Southern California shrub land for years We manage about 30K acres of locally owned public land in Orange County and goal is to keep the land healthy and resilient As we began managing the land, we did analysis to the threats, no surprise the biggest threat is too frequent of fires Leave you with one point, California has two fire challenges, we are resourced and structured to address only one of them which is the fuel dominated fires Fuel dominated fires have to deal with too little fire and past practices that have created tinder box and making them larger, driven by fuel loads in system Solutions often vegetation management Important to know, ignitions are not necessarily human causes with fuel fires Spend time talking about wind dominated fires, fires in Southern California fire driven by strong season winds, usually independent of fuels Wind fires are nearly impossible to suppress from traditional means In our system, fires occur 90% more than natural return intervals We are getting fires in these systems every 7-10 years, this causes many problems, causes conversion of harder to burn fuels into more flashy fuels Also important to know in wind dominated system, 99% of fires are human caused whether accidental or not Fire prevention is paramount in wind driven system, infrastructure, 10% occur during wind events become catastrophic damage When looking for leverage and solving the problem, in wind system, leverage on ignition prevention in wind dominated areas If we can prevent or reduce ignitions during the 24 days a year, we have made huge difference Ones that occur outside wind events are usually easy to suppress We have two fire problems and spent most of our time trying to address the conventional forest fires Talk to you about what we have been doing to try and deal with that In 2013-14, Orange County fire Chief recognized that this is a problem for the fire department to solve alone He convened group that we call the County of Orange Safety Task Force, many stakeholders and everyone who has part in working on wind driven fires We want to reduce frequency and severity of wind driven fires, my role in this is to facilitate the group We have developed common agenda for what we are trying to get done The tricky thing is because it is not fuel based solution, means there has to be multiple groups together Similar with utility, bring San Diego Gas and Electric and Edison to the table to work together The last thing I want to mention is what are the solutions we are working on? Three things, heard about most of them today, all three must be done to get ahead of this issue o Ignition prevention during wind event, along roadways, power lines and in areas that are hot spots o Structure resilience, 80% of structures in OC do not meet basic fire codes I live in high fire prone area in OC, I put screening over my vents, I turned and looked at my next-door neighbor, she had cedar shake all over, and I thought there is my fire problem We have communities not prepared for fires is what this shows The cost of fixing my neighbors house, someone who cant afford it Have program funded called Orange County Fire watch, my organizations train the volunteer, we have 350 volunteers, during high wind events their goal is to prevent intentional ignitions or report other ignitions This program in place since 2007, enhanced from grant to build monitors that work as fire watch towers I cant say we have this thing licked, but we are all working together and that is the only way we will solve this Bloom The issue of ignition on roadways, this has vexed me, what strategies are being considered to deal with that serious issue? Sources are often complicated, we had one where a catalytic converter burst, and lit at least dozen places We have had people pulling off into tall grass If you focus on sources of ignition you will drive yourselves crazy We think about hardening the roadway, if you make it more difficult for fire to get off the road We need to think about roadways not pathways, they almost need to be like closed tunnels You could remove vegetation in certain places, or restoring heavier fuels in certain areas The main thing is we need to harden roadways to prevent ignitions from getting off them Bloom Maybe suggest that we also need to educate motorists Could be role for Caltrans in this and DMV, may be conversations we want to have going forward Sounds like you have made a lot of progress on solutions within coast, what are the next steos to implement plans? Getting everyone to collaborate and share the agenda Everyone is being responsive to the problem, bringing people together is key Identifying solutions is also important, the next step also is that these solutions need to be resourced and structured If we have solution to bring through Caltrans, it needs to be resourced and structured to implement Looking at the funding and policy solutions Friedman Question and observation It seems to me, as much as there are many sources of ignition that road crews seem to be responsible for a fair amount of ignitions I suggested a few years ago that these crews would have to have small fire extinguishers, do you have thoughts on whether that would be useful? I would note, we are not trying to prevent every ignition, only trying to prevent the ignitions during wind events that become catastrophic If a fire is started with no winds, our department in OC are well resourced to get on those fires Should we be doing maintenance or landscaping during wind events, probably not That is where you can focus I know District 12 of Caltrans have made changes to policies and practice to reduce roadside ignition and doing training on crews knowing how to use fire extinguisher The problem if there is one spark during wind event, that can be catastrophic catastrophic Friedman Rethinking the planting is something interesting you talked about, and maybe use native plants as a firebreak We have cycles who clear cut everything off the hill, and often nothing acts as buffer between Importance of plant material and I believe is something we should focus on People are not going to do the research into it and is the wrong thing Garcia On the education outreach on individuals, can you describe education to individuals around fire prone areas and what has been successful there? work with do lots of education Main thing people have been trying to get residents to realize that the emergency is when the wind starts blowing Example, Caltrans and toll road agency, use light up signs to educate motorists and other programs like Ready Set Go Having said all that, there needs to be more education like event based, and long-term Garcia I know you left us with figuring how to fund work and panning, do you have idea of how it will be done? One of the things we have looked at is that in Southern California many counties are contract counties, I think the challenge we have is the wildfire apparatus has been built around fire management and fire prevention and lots of work is being done on the ground Funding local authorities that is result of collaborative to suggest sources There is a huge amount in value in fire prevention, particularly in the wind systems Reyes When we talk about wind and climate change these are things, we control, then we have to deal with prevention and planning What zoning or planning policies would be helpful if stakeholder committee put together, who should be part of that? I would say with a couple of things, that climate change being the driver With wind driven fires, the wind will always be the problem, climate change may make it worse With solutions, they remain the same I have hope, because unlike a lot of other natural disasters, this is a preventable problem I think the people who need to be at the table are the ones who are responsive to this and share responsibility for the fire problem With planning I will say I think we need to stop building in areas that are fire prone If we never build house int eh fire prone wildlands, the estimate of houses vulnerable in WUI, went from 300K to over 3 million Nothing changed except our knowledge of the risks We have to work on those communities already there and address the fire front Reyes One comment you made is with your group that there is no finger pointing, in the end we want to find solutions and find as a group what are the best solutions and I appreciate that Thom Porter or representative, Department of Forestry and Fire Protection I am the state forester for California and the Director Talk about wildfire mitigation measures, stay concise on my notes and allow for questions to fill in the gaps Talk about fire season, still in the latter stages of peak season, not over yet We are over 8500 fires started in various types and places; every piece of the state has been impacted We have collectively burned more than 4.1 million acres August complex still burning, over 1 million acres 31 lives lost and right now we have six of the 20 largest fires that have occurred The siege started just before the lightning happened We had a few fires that had team deployments, near Fresno and Gilroy, those fires started things off Once we had the lightning siege had over 14K strikes all across the state That siege, been compared to big burn of 1910 and more than doubled that event Then we had Labor Day, that weekend gave us winds, and caused fuel driven fires that started to grow Those are some of the challenges we were seeing, I know you have seen more, but this was trying to summarize what happened I wanted to come back to the importance of the all of the above approach Talking about mitigation, it is all of the above approach, this year shows that fire can and does occur throughout the state and from Oregon to Mexico and can be anywhere at any time Certain populations are vulnerable to wildfire threats, many live in wildland urban intermix and WUI and those areas are vulnerable We have programs to reduce threats, one is defensible space and home hardening Cities are also not out of the woods, we have Oakland, Redding, Santa Rosa very much vulnerable to wildland fires during the wrong type of weather conditions Adapting to wildfire requires all of the above approaches, means we need to identify and map fire hazard zones and protect neighborhoods and communities We need planning and communities that plan for resilience and green belts We need to ensure communities have proper evacuation routes water supplies, and resources Building homes out of ember resistant materials and maintaining defensible space and removing vegetation We are not talking about moon scaping No task or program is a silver bullet, I believe the previous speakers talked to this, this is not and easy problem to fix We need to as practitioners need to have all the tools to tune the ability to reduce threat to the community appropriately over time Need to include maintenance once we have system in place Fires are dynamic and can be dominated by wind at one point, then move to fuels fire We have fires in oak woodland and grass intermix, recently as the SCU complex, almost entire state park burned in that event Lots of good fire occurred there, tragically too many structures burned in that event though, but is example of chaparral fire burning Wind can be something that helps with ignition, but it also can cause in other cases ignition of other types, many are electrical, some are arson Example of Riverside County fire, burned upslope and approached Idyllwild, that fire glanced off of that and was held Thomas fire is another example on fuel reductions on where fuel reduction, reduced in intensity and was rendered controllable on heel of the fire Wind driven system is something we are going to continue to contend with, once we have a system in place, we can hear fires around communities in method to live with wildfire as opposed to living against wildfire Complex system, the only thing we will be able to do is develop systematic approaches and reduce to our communities through a myriad of options Want to talk about our programs, I know you are aware on how CCI funds, and thank you for the Lao analysis We have three places where the fund sypher into, fire prevention, grant fuels projects, forest health management and pieces and part of SB 901 and that holistic approach Prevention piece is how do we reduce the threat of fire in and around the community, in some cases around the home, we have programs we can work with those vulnerable Our forest management programs pointed at larger landscape level management and reducing threat of wildfire tearing through forests The combination of programs gives grant opportunities throughout the state, we have grants for these processes and programs in 48 of the 58 counties, we look to increase those numbers We look to projects that have co-benefits we need to do the work We are working with Native Californians and they are the indigenous people who have ecological knowledge that we are funding them to increase management of the landscape and throughout the state We are managing a system and embarking on decades of work that need to be done under this system Point of interest, we have a climate goal to meet with these dollars Forest management for 2019, second most important work to sequester or store carbon, second only to climate smart agriculture This really does make a difference; we need to look at the value we are gaining This department is placed and uniquely staffed and running resource management programs, reforestation programs, fire prevention programs and fire engineering programs and others as well These are all working together to develop holistic approach with decades long view and a picture of the future that is Californians living with wildfire Mullin Thank you for your good work and I appreciate the call for an all of the above strategy Broad question, there have been high profile examples of fire sparks on national forest land, how can we ensure stronger collaboration between utilities and state agencies on both public or state lands and private land? Porter It is an ongoing effort, the CPUC and wildfire threat reduction program is part of the answer to this question This is the first year and it is just starting to stand up That whole department will move under the resource agency and we are working collaboratively and working through requirement with bankruptcy with PG&E we need to look at what the vegetation looks like that can cause fires, also need to ensure hardening of infrastructure and electrical system is occurring and we are doing that Friedman want to verify that Cal Fire prevention programs are not currently being funded right now, what did we miss by not funding these? Porter that is an open item, I believe the legislature will be looking at that item, the only piece occurred is the piece that covered the shift of funds after the SRA fee went away that there is a partial amount of funding that will come to us the book is open on that Friedman What other projects would be successful in Southern California to utilize Cal fire local assistance and grant program? Porter I will follow up with you, give you answer we will work with communities to tailor their projects to fit one of the programs Would be interested to see if they have conservancy partners or other fuel reduction treatments for restoration of natural habitats Reyes Want to thank you and the men and women who work with Cal Fire When we talk about educating the community Thank you for using one word which is hope, mentioned this early and seeing what is happening and things that are out of our control or regulate Knowing we have to do something together, there has to be a plan and asked this of the others, who were the stakeholders to put together a plan to take us to place of protection Porter a better job or more interaction examples to protect communities ere matters to you These are things that are broad, and we need to use as example to educate right now and have a culture VI. Public comment Humboldt and Mendocino Redwood Companies Applaud the state and GHG emission reductions, however we need to give serious attention to land and forest amendment in the state Have three suggestions o First, we need single individual responsible to organize projects around the state o Second thin thinning is important, we need to reintroduce proscribed fire, and establish limits on liability for landowner o Third we believe biomass will have to play a role Look forward to working with your subcommittee and the Natural resource committee California Air Pollution Control Officers Association Highlight importance for air pollution grants and other work required by 260 Having significant impact already Investment provide public health improvements and cost savings Endangered Habitats League The elephant in local land use, structure built to new codes burn anyways The legislature must limit local discretion for building in the fire zone Could stop subsidizing state responsibility areas Why continuing to issue FAIR plans for new homes in fire zones Vegetation treatment will spend billions that are ineffective in wind driven fire, make Cal Fire follow existing law and follow code to stop type conversion Legislature should convene scientific panel and enforce the laws being broken on the books Adjourn VIRTUAL INVESTIGATORY HEARING ON HOMEOWNERS’ INSURANCE AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY AGENDA October 19, 2020 1:00 p.m – 1:15 p.m. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s Welcoming Remarks 1:15 p.m. –1:45 p.m. Insurance Commissioner’s Wildfire Presentation Immediately following Public Comments of Participants Who Requested to Speak Commissioner’s Presentation Immediately following General Public Comments scheduled public comments 5 p.m. or once public Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s Concluding Remarks comments have ended. *This webinar will broadcast in English, American Sign Language and translated to Spanish in real time.